A breakfast table should never be crowded by flowers or
fruit, but should depend for its charm on the brightness of
china and silver, and on the cleanliness of the cloth. A
dumb waiter is a decided convenience, if, as will be invariably
the case where the mistress is wise, servants are not allowed
to stay in the room at breakfast. It should never be a set
meal ; and even if the English plan of helping oneself cannot
be fully carried out, it is at least not necessary to have a
tribe of servants dancing round the table ready to snatch
away your plate at the least pause. Breakfast is par excellence
a family meal, a special opportunity to show forth mutual
helpfulness, an occasion when the hostess can make her
guests feel at home by admitting them to the familiar friend-
liness of the vie iniime. If the servants after handing round
45
46 The Complete Indian
the first dish wait outside, a touch on the handbell will bring
them back when they are wanted. Then, if the bread,
butter, tea, sugar, milk, and jam are (as they should be) on
the table, it is surely no great hardship so far to remember
tlie wants of others as to pass an empty cup ?
When there is a large party at breakfast, it greatly con-
duces to the familiar comfort of all to have small sugar basins
and cream or milk jugs at intervals down the table, and there
should be at least two plates of butter and toast. In regard
to the former, the khitmutgar should be generally discouraged
from making it the medium for a display of his powers in
plastic art ; it is doubtless gratifying to observe such yeai-ning
after beauty, even in butter, but'it is suggestive of too much
handling to be pleasant.
Most of the recipes given under fish and eggs are suitable
for breakfast, while a variety of appetising little dishes can
be made by using white China scallop shells, and filling them
with various mixtures. An inch or two deep of nicely-
minced chicken, covered with tomato or brinjal scallop, or
with a nicely-seasoned batter — the whole to be crumbed
over and baked — is always liked. Hunter’s sandwiches,
kromeskys, and croutons of all descriptions are also suitable ;
but it should be remembered that any elaborate side-dish
has too great an apparent connection with yesterday’s dinner
to be agreeable to the fastidious. Indeed, this lingering
likeness to the immediately preceding meal is always to be
striven against; and the mistress of the house where you
have duck for dinner, and duck stew next morning at break-
fast, may be set down as a bad manager.
In regard to tea and coffee, it may be possible to get
these made satisfactorily by the servants in India ; but, except
in the largest establishments at home, the mistress usiuallj'
does it herself.
Luncheons should invariably be laid on the table as lunch,
and not as dinner ; that is to say, most of the dishes should
be on the table and not on the sideboard. lake breakfast,
it is not a set meal, and the courses need not be observed
strictly; unless indeed it is a formal entertainment. It is
absurd to see peojile at lunch or breakfast sitting with empty
plates before them, because some one else is eating an cnirce.
Apart from comfort, luncheon in a large family is far more
Housekeeper and Cook 47
Page 30
Presented as published in 1898. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
A breakfast table should never be crowded by flowers or fruit, but should depend for its charm on the brightness of china and silver, and on the cleanliness of the cloth. A dumb waiter is a decided convenience, if, as will be invariably the case where the mistress is wise, servants are not allowed to stay in the room at breakfast. It should never be a set meal ; and even if the English plan of helping oneself cannot be fully carried out, it is at least not necessary to have a tribe of servants dancing round the table ready to snatch away your plate at the least pause. Breakfast is par excellence a family meal, a special opportunity to show forth mutual helpfulness, an occasion when the hostess can make her guests feel at home by admitting them to the familiar friendliness of the vie iniime. If the servants after handing round
46 The Complete Indian
the first dish wait outside, a touch on the handbell will bring them back when they are wanted. Then, if the bread, butter, tea, sugar, milk, and jam are (as they should be) on the table, it is surely no great hardship so far to remember tlie wants of others as to pass an empty cup ?
When there is a large party at breakfast, it greatly conduces to the familiar comfort of all to have small sugar basins and cream or milk jugs at intervals down the table, and there should be at least two plates of butter and toast. In regard to the former, the khitmutgar should be generally discouraged from making it the medium for a display of his powers in plastic art ; it is doubtless gratifying to observe such yearning after beauty, even in butter, but'it is suggestive of too much handling to be pleasant.
Most of the recipes given under fish and eggs are suitable for breakfast, while a variety of appetising little dishes can be made by using white China scallop shells, and filling them with various mixtures. An inch or two deep of nicelyminced chicken, covered with tomato or brinjal scallop, or with a nicely-seasoned batter — the whole to be crumbed over and baked — is always liked. Hunter’s sandwiches, kromeskys, and croutons of all descriptions are also suitable ; but it should be remembered that any elaborate side-dish has too great an apparent connection with yesterday’s dinner to be agreeable to the fastidious. Indeed, this lingering likeness to the immediately preceding meal is always to be striven against; and the mistress of the house where you have duck for dinner, and duck stew next morning at breakfast, may be set down as a bad manager.
In regard to tea and coffee, it may be possible to get these made satisfactorily by the servants in India ; but, except in the largest establishments at home, the mistress usually does it herself.
Luncheons should invariably be laid on the table as lunch, and not as dinner ; that is to say, most of the dishes should be on the table and not on the sideboard. lake breakfast, it is not a set meal, and the courses need not be observed strictly; unless indeed it is a formal entertainment. It is absurd to see peojile at lunch or breakfast sitting with empty plates before them, because some one else is eating an entrée. Apart from comfort, luncheon in a large family is far more
Housekeeper and Cook 47