If a lady wish to eat lobster, let her request the waiter that
attends her, to extract a portion of it from the shell, and bring
it to her on a clean plate, also to place a castor near her. Nov-
ices in lobster sometimes eat it simply with salt, or with vinegar
only, or with black pepper. To prepare it according to the
the usual custom — cut up, very small, the pieces of lobster,
and on another plate make the dressing. First, mash together
some hard-boiled yoke of egg, and some of the red coral of
the lobster, with a little salt and cayenne. Mix in, with a fork,
mustard to your taste, and then a liberal allowance of salad oil,
finishing with vinegar✪ Lobster Dressing. Transfer the bits of lobster to the plate
that has the dressing, and combine the whole with a fork.
Lettuce salad is dressed in the same manner.
At a public table a lady should never volunteer to dress salad
for others of the company. Neither should she cut up a pie
and help it round. These things ought only to be done by a
gentleman, or a servant.
If a gentleman with whom you are acquainted has dressed
a salad, and offers the plate to you, take what you want, and
immediately return to him the remainder, and do not pass it
on to persons in your vicinity. It is his privilege and not yours
to offer it to others, as he has had the trouble of dressing it.
And it is just that he should have a portion of it for himself,
which will not be the case if you officiously hand it about to
people around you.
It was formerly considered ill-bred to refuse to take wine
with a gentleman. Now it is no longer an offence to decline
these invitations. If you have no conscientious scruples, and
if you are acquainted with the gentleman, or have been intro-
duced to him, you may comply with his civility; and when both
glasses are filled, look at him, bow your head, and taste the
wine.
If a stranger, whom you do not know, and to whom you
have had no introduction, takes the liberty of asking you to
drink wine with him, refuse at once, positively and coldly, to
prove that you consider it an unwarrantable freedom. And so
it is.
If you are helped to anything whose appearance you do not
like, or in which you are disappointed, when you taste it, you,
38 ETIQUETTE.
of course, at a hotel table, are not obliged to eat it. Merely
leave it on your plate, without audibly giving the reason, and
then, in a low voice, desire the waiter to bring you something
else. It is well, while at table, to avoid any discussion of the
demerits of the dishes. On the other hand, you may praise
them as much as you please.
Page 23 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1883. 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
If a lady wish to eat lobster, let her request the waiter that attends her, to extract a portion of it from the shell, and bring it to her on a clean plate, also to place a castor near her. Novices in lobster sometimes eat it simply with salt, or with vinegar only, or with black pepper. To prepare it according to the the usual custom — cut up, very small, the pieces of lobster, and on another plate make the dressing. First, mash together some hard-boiled yoke of egg, and some of the red coral of the lobster, with a little salt and cayenne. Mix in, with a fork, mustard to your taste, and then a liberal allowance of salad oil, finishing with vinegar. Transfer the bits of lobster to the plate that has the dressing, and combine the whole with a fork. Lettuce salad is dressed in the same manner.
At a public table a lady should never volunteer to dress salad for others of the company. Neither should she cut up a pie and help it round. These things ought only to be done by a gentleman, or a servant.
If a gentleman with whom you are acquainted has dressed a salad, and offers the plate to you, take what you want, and immediately return to him the remainder, and do not pass it on to persons in your vicinity. It is his privilege and not yours to offer it to others, as he has had the trouble of dressing it. And it is just that he should have a portion of it for himself, which will not be the case if you officiously hand it about to people around you.
It was formerly considered ill-bred to refuse to take wine with a gentleman. Now it is no longer an offence to decline these invitations. If you have no conscientious scruples, and if you are acquainted with the gentleman, or have been introduced to him, you may comply with his civility; and when both glasses are filled, look at him, bow your head, and taste the wine.
If a stranger, whom you do not know, and to whom you have had no introduction, takes the liberty of asking you to drink wine with him, refuse at once, positively and coldly, to prove that you consider it an unwarrantable freedom. And so it is.
If you are helped to anything whose appearance you do not like, or in which you are disappointed, when you taste it, you,
of course, at a hotel table, are not obliged to eat it. Merely leave it on your plate, without audibly giving the reason, and then, in a low voice, desire the waiter to bring you something else. It is well, while at table, to avoid any discussion of the demerits of the dishes. On the other hand, you may praise them as much as you please.
Records on this page
Lobster Dressing