A cup of coffee may be put at the right of each person,
and cream and sugar passed at his left, or the coffee service
may be carried into the parlor, or the dessert may be re-
moved, and the coffee served as indicated for breakfast.
The directions for washing dishes have been given under
breakfast.
Cut glass is of course not a part of the school outfit, yet
direction for its care should certainly be given with the
washing of the dinner dishes.
Cut glass may be most easily washed in warm water to
which a little ammonia has been added. Use a soft brush
— one comes for the purpose — to clean it thoroughly, and
as it is wiped place it on a towel, or better still, in a bed of
box or basswood sawdust. Pine sawdust will not do, be-
cause of the rosin which it contains, which will stick to the
glass.
When the glass is removed from the sawdust, or from the
towel, polish it with a soft cloth.
This is, of course, the simplest of dinners. To make it
more elaborate, add raw oysters or clams on the half shell
at the beginning, and fish after the soup,
Q
226 HANDBOOK OF DOMESTIC SCIENCE
Oysters should be served on top of a bed of finely cracked
ice, and not covered with it. They should be put before
each place just before dinner is announced. Pass at once
to the left of the hostess and then from her right, a tray on
which quarter lemons, horse-radish, red pepper, and crackers
have been arranged.
Fish is served with a sauce, and sometimes with cucum-
bers, and sometimes with potatoes.
Each of these courses necessitates an extra fork. These
may be placed on the table when it is set, but it is more
usual nowadays to place at each place at the most two
forks, and to put the others on just before bringing in the
later courses.
If a still more elaborate dinner is required, it is usual to
insert an entree after the fish, and to put game or perhaps
another entree after the roast, preceding this often with a
sherbet. This particularly American custom of introducing
a half-frozen dish into the middle of the dinner amuses the
epicures on the other side of the water.
"Why do you do it?" they say. And the only answer
there has ever been given them is the decidedly fatuous
reply : —
'' Oh, to enable us to go on ! "
And thus do we make a labor of our pleasures, and, in
passing, ruin the digestion.
But with such dinners as these, we, as teachers, are not
concerned.
Method. — Make use of the facts given with chapter on
Foods to give the children the key to the making of
menus.
Have clearly in your own mind, not an ideal dinner, but
the best to which you can hope to train the children.
Put on the board the skeleton menu. Allow them to
suggest other dishes that might be substituted. Lay em-
THE DINING ROOM 227
phasis on the relative food values, but do not forget at the
same time the necessity for variety.
Let the children make out menus for spring, for summer,
for autumn, and for winter.
What dishes are needed for each course? Where shall
we put them ? Why ? How ?
Let each girl prepare a menu, a list of the dishes for
serving it, a plan for the setting of the table ; also a
plan for the setting of the side table and the sideboard, if
these are to be considered.
Give them all the experience in practical work possible.
See also the section on "Breakfast."
The Third Meal
Page 107
Presented as published in 1900. 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 cup of coffee may be put at the right of each person, and cream and sugar passed at his left, or the coffee service may be carried into the parlor, or the dessert may be removed, and the coffee served as indicated for breakfast.
The directions for washing dishes have been given under breakfast.
Cut glass is of course not a part of the school outfit, yet direction for its care should certainly be given with the washing of the dinner dishes.
Cut glass may be most easily washed in warm water to which a little ammonia has been added. Use a soft brush — one comes for the purpose — to clean it thoroughly, and as it is wiped place it on a towel, or better still, in a bed of box or basswood sawdust. Pine sawdust will not do, because of the rosin which it contains, which will stick to the glass.
When the glass is removed from the sawdust, or from the towel, polish it with a soft cloth.
This is, of course, the simplest of dinners. To make it more elaborate, add raw oysters or clams on the half shell at the beginning, and fish after the soup, Q
Oysters should be served on top of a bed of finely cracked ice, and not covered with it. They should be put before each place just before dinner is announced. Pass at once to the left of the hostess and then from her right, a tray on which quarter lemons, horse-radish, red pepper, and crackers have been arranged.
Fish is served with a sauce, and sometimes with cucumbers, and sometimes with potatoes.
Each of these courses necessitates an extra fork. These may be placed on the table when it is set, but it is more usual nowadays to place at each place at the most two forks, and to put the others on just before bringing in the later courses.
If a still more elaborate dinner is required, it is usual to insert an entree after the fish, and to put game or perhaps another entree after the roast, preceding this often with a sherbet. This particularly American custom of introducing a half-frozen dish into the middle of the dinner amuses the epicures on the other side of the water.
"Why do you do it?" they say. And the only answer there has ever been given them is the decidedly fatuous reply : —
'' Oh, to enable us to go on ! "
And thus do we make a labor of our pleasures, and, in passing, ruin the digestion.
But with such dinners as these, we, as teachers, are not concerned.
Method. — Make use of the facts given with chapter on Foods to give the children the key to the making of menus.
Have clearly in your own mind, not an ideal dinner, but the best to which you can hope to train the children.
Put on the board the skeleton menu. Allow them to suggest other dishes that might be substituted. Lay em-
phasis on the relative food values, but do not forget at the same time the necessity for variety.
Let the children make out menus for spring, for summer, for autumn, and for winter.
What dishes are needed for each course? Where shall we put them ? Why ? How ?
Let each girl prepare a menu, a list of the dishes for serving it, a plan for the setting of the table ; also a plan for the setting of the side table and the sideboard, if these are to be considered.
Give them all the experience in practical work possible. See also the section on "Breakfast."
The Third Meal