If these remarks be correct, as far as a small dinner of eight is concerned, how much more do they apply to large banquets ? In the case of official entertainments, success is too frequently marred by very indifferent service. The indirect cause of this is, as a rule, an over-crowded menu. With a great many guests it is, of course, necessary to call in a quantity of waiters who have never worked THE MENU, 11 together before, and an undisciplined crowd of native servants will most certainly ruin the best dinner that ever was cooked, unless you reduced the work they have to per- form to the best of youi' ability. At such dinners as these even I would never give more than two really good entrees, served separately, and with- out any dishes of vegetables accompanying them ; then, say, a white vegetable with potatoes for the turkey, and French beans, or peas, with potatoes for the saddle. The menu should invariably indicate the particular vege- table you intend to serve with the releve, thus : — Selle de mouton aux haricots verts, Fricandeau au chou-fleur, Piece de hoeuf hraisee au celeri, Quartier d'agneau aux jpetits pois, §x. To save time, a portion of the vegetable named should be helped with the meat, potatoes alone being handed round. It is the essence of ignorance, and of bad taste to send a number of vegetables round with the joint. Almost as bad. in fact, as the practice of serving them with the entrees. At a large dinner, you sometimes see tuimips, cabbages, cauliflowers, French beans, and potatoes (occupying five waiters) going round together. For the Anglo-Saxon delights in quantity, and his soul loveth display exceed- ingly. Masses of incongimous diet may be necessary at a yeomanry festival, or after an Agi^icultural Show at the county town ; but educated people who have travelled, and who have had opportunities of forming refined notions of human nature in general, and of food in particular, ought surely to be better satisfied with a little, really well considered, than with abundance inartistic in its arrange- ment, and indifferently served. OZE^I^^IPTEPB ZI- The Cook and his Management. FTER some years of observation I have come to the conclusion that if you want to put nice little din- ners upon your table, you must not only be pre- pared to take an infinite amount of trouble, but you must make a friend of your chef. Unless amicable relations exist between the cook and his mistress or master, the work will never be carried out satisfactorily. There will be a thousand and one annoying failures, your mind will never know what repose means", and, in the end, — utterly wearied with the daily struggle against petty larceny, carelessness, ignorance, stupidity, and an apparently way- ward desire to thwart your desires to the utmost, — you will resign the baton to your butler, and submit in sheer desperation to that style of dinner unto which it may please him to call you.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

If these remarks be correct, as far as a small dinner of eight is concerned, how much more do they apply to large banquets ? In the case of official entertainments, success is too frequently marred by very indifferent service. The indirect cause of this is, as a rule, an over-crowded menu. With a great many guests it is, of course, necessary to call in a quantity of waiters who have never worked THE MENU, 11 together before, and an undisciplined crowd of native servants will most certainly ruin the best dinner that ever was cooked, unless you reduced the work they have to perform to the best of your ability. At such dinners as these even I would never give more than two really good entrees, served separately, and without any dishes of vegetables accompanying them ; then, say, a white vegetable with potatoes for the turkey, and French beans, or peas, with potatoes for the saddle. The menu should invariably indicate the particular vegetable you intend to serve with the releve, thus : — Selle de mouton aux haricots verts, Fricandeau au chou-fleur, Piece de beef braisee au celeri, Quartier d'agneau aux petits pois, &c. To save time, a portion of the vegetable named should be helped with the meat, potatoes alone being handed round. It is the essence of ignorance, and of bad taste to send a number of vegetables round with the joint. Almost as bad. in fact, as the practice of serving them with the entrees. At a large dinner, you sometimes see turnips, cabbages, cauliflowers, French beans, and potatoes (occupying five waiters) going round together. For the Anglo-Saxon delights in quantity, and his soul loveth display exceedingly. Masses of incongruous diet may be necessary at a yeomanry festival, or after an Agricultural Show at the county town ; but educated people who have travelled, and who have had opportunities of forming refined notions of human nature in general, and of food in particular, ought surely to be better satisfied with a little, really well considered, than with abundance inartistic in its arrangement, and indifferently served. [illustration: Chapter heading] The Cook and his Management. FTER some years of observation I have come to the conclusion that if you want to put nice little dinners upon your table, you must not only be prepared to take an infinite amount of trouble, but you must make a friend of your chef. Unless amicable relations exist between the cook and his mistress or master, the work will never be carried out satisfactorily. There will be a thousand and one annoying failures, your mind will never know what repose means", and, in the end, — utterly wearied with the daily struggle against petty larceny, carelessness, ignorance, stupidity, and an apparently wayward desire to thwart your desires to the utmost, — you will resign the baton to your butler, and submit in sheer desperation to that style of dinner unto which it may please him to call you.

Culinary jottings