As- sume, with ‘Wyvern,’ that the ‘ modem ’ menu were placed before us in two services, it will still retain the eight varieties of dishes which could properly be called courses, or be ranged under such. Now, if the word ‘ service ’ have any real meaning, it must be derived from the manner in which the .dinner is served; there must be a change on the table by SERVICES AND COURSES OF 7J/NNERS 639 which the division is manifested or characterized. In England, as well as on the Continent, just before the dessert the table is almost cleared, and a new set of plates, knives and forks, and glasses are set before the diners-, constituting a change which may well be termed a service. On great occasions the dessert is served in a new room, to which the guests adjourn from the dining-room ; in this case the dessert could by no means be called a part of a single service dinner, but would constitute a second service, unless it was con- tended, which would be absurd, that dessert was no part of the dinner at all. For ourselves, we adhere to the French system of three services* so called, meaning by services convenient divi- sions of the various courses of the dinner, between which there might even be a slight pause. We hold that soup, hot and cold hors d’oeuvres, fish, releves, and entrees com- pose the first service ; the second service is composed of the roasts and entremets, the third of cheese and dessert. We will now consider these courses a little more in detail, enumerating them first in succession, and classifying them on the left in two services, so called, on the right in three. Parallel of the Two and Three Service System, the Courses remaining the same. rSoup. hot and cold hors d’cnuvres. First I Fish. fervice. j Entrees (side-dishes). ^Joints or removes (releves). (■Roasts, prame or fowl (rftts). 1 Second Savoury and sweet dislies (entremets). /' service. Cheese. y Third Dessert. ^ j service. In treating of the first dish of the first service, namely, the SOU]), we shall not consider the question raised by some, whether or not soup ought to be the first dish partaken of * Of. ‘Nouv. Almanach des Gourm.,’ iii. (1827), p. 164; Rumohr, »oc« J nov0s* i ) First service. 640 THE SEIRIT OF COOKERY at dinner, as we hold that it always will act beneficially, provided it be good. Any disrepute of soup can only be owing to its frequently low quality. Nothing is rarer than good soup at grand dinners. The grand cooks either attri- bute little importance to soup, or they do not know how to make it; enough, it may be stated, as a fact ascertained by frequent observation, that they produce bad soup. Some of them employ most of the bouillon for their ragouts ; others give no time to the production of the soup, and fill up the diminished contents of the stock-pot with water. A French author, in affirming and lamenting that state of affairs, praised the pot-au-feu as a preventive of bad soup ; but the modern essence of meat, Proust’s immortal discovery, has made even this unnecessary, and has put the smallest menage in a position to produce as good soup as the largest establishment, and, what is of still greater importance, in a short time.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Assume, with ‘Wyvern,’ that the ‘ modem ’ menu were placed before us in two services, it will still retain the eight varieties of dishes which could properly be called courses, or be ranged under such. Now, if the word ‘ service ’ have any real meaning, it must be derived from the manner in which the .dinner is served; there must be a change on the table by SERVICES AND COURSES OF 7J/NNERS 639 which the division is manifested or characterized. In England, as well as on the Continent, just before the dessert the table is almost cleared, and a new set of plates, knives and forks, and glasses are set before the diners,, constituting a change which may well be termed a service. On great occasions the dessert is served in a new room, to which the guests adjourn from the dining-room ; in this case the dessert could by no means be called a part of a single service dinner, but would constitute a second service, unless it was contended, which would be absurd, that dessert was no part of the dinner at all. For ourselves, we adhere to the French system of three services* so called, meaning by services convenient divisions of the various courses of the dinner, between which there might even be a slight pause. We hold that soup, hot and cold hors d’oeuvres, fish, releves, and entrees compose the first service ; the second service is composed of the roasts and entremets, the third of cheese and dessert. We will now consider these courses a little more in detail, enumerating them first in succession, and classifying them on the left in two services, so called, on the right in three. Parallel of the Two and Three Service System, the Courses remaining the same. Soup, hot and cold hors d'oeuvres. First I Fish. fervice. j Entrees (side-dishes). ^Joints or removes (releves). (■Roasts, game or fowl (rôts). 1 Second Savoury and sweet dishes (entremets). /' service. Cheese. y Third Dessert. ^ j service. In treating of the first dish of the first service, namely, the SOU]), we shall not consider the question raised by some, whether or not soup ought to be the first dish partaken of * Of. ‘Nouv. Almanach des Gourm.,’ iii. (1827), p. 164; Rumohr, »oc« J nov0s* ) First service. at dinner, as we hold that it always will act beneficially, provided it be good. Any disrepute of soup can only be owing to its frequently low quality. Nothing is rarer than good soup at grand dinners. The grand cooks either attribute little importance to soup, or they do not know how to make it; enough, it may be stated, as a fact ascertained by frequent observation, that they produce bad soup. Some of them employ most of the bouillon for their ragouts ; others give no time to the production of the soup, and fill up the diminished contents of the stock-pot with water. A French author, in affirming and lamenting that state of affairs, praised the pot-au-feu as a preventive of bad soup ; but the modern essence of meat, Proust’s immortal discovery, has made even this unnecessary, and has put the smallest menage in a position to produce as good soup as the largest establishment, and, what is of still greater importance, in a short time.

The spirit of cookery