Part 112

Plover.--The plover calls for no special directions. Larger than the snipe, but smaller than the woodcock, he may be treated according to the appetites--halved, trebled, or presented upon one plate whole, with the toast as a matter of course. If for plover or snipe we read “quail,” what has been said above will be all that is necessary. The ortolan also might be included. The hints anent the disposal of the liver, &c., on the toast, under the woodcock, may be taken to apply, more or less, to all similar arrangements. The carver should be careful to eliminate the little sandbag or crop, which sometimes may be found in close proximity to the liver; otherwise, if spread upon the toast, its grit will render the whole entirely uneatable.

Wild fowl.--Like turkey or goose, wild duck (and indeed all wild fowl, including the teal and widgeon) offers to the carver the most tempting of breasts, whence to cut away a succession of delicate slices; but he may not remove these until he has inserted sparingly a sprinkling of cayenne pepper between the scorings he has made with his knife, and given an ample squeeze of lemon over them, to drive the pepper well into the interstices. The breast alone is held to be the choice portion of the bird, though there is pretty picking elsewhere, but further dissection of him, when necessary, for immediate or future purposes, such as hashes, &c., may be carried on upon the oft-referred-to chicken principles.

Landrail.--The landrail, not often met with at table, may be easily carved by treating him like a snipe; he is trussed in the same manner, but of course is trailless.

Hare.--The hare stands pre-eminent amongst game, and is so generally popular, and yields so much capital eating, that it should be looked upon as a very special dish for the carver. The head on the left of the carver and the body lying at right angles to the line of sight, slices are cut out of the back all along its length from left to right. Clean, neat, and regular should they be, each with its nice little edge of brown skin; and when, from both sides of the spine, all the meat has been cut away, both the legs must be disengaged by a sharp incision, much after the manner in which the wing of a chicken is removed. Then the shoulders, by a semicircular cut round the joint, are displaced, the point of the knife feeling for the junction at the socket of the bone. Next, in the same way, let the knife travel to about the centre of the back, the carver feeling with its point for a favourable nick in the vertebræ through which, with some little exercise of strength, he may drive the blade, and so divide the body in two. The stuffing must be served in moderation with each portion; and, as the remnants of a hare are generally turned to good account, it is as well, except under extraordinary circumstances, not to serve any of the bones upon the plates, but to cut as neat-looking slices as may be from shoulders and legs. Plenty of gravy should also be helped from the dish by the carver, in addition to that served separately; otherwise the portions may look unattractively dry when first placed before the guest. All parts of a hare are so full of flavour, that, beyond the fact that the back is usually the most tender, there is little superiority in it. The ears and brain are amongst the extra little tit-bits affected by the connoisseur.

Partridge.--Roast partridge usually coming, as it does, at the close of the feast, a very small portion of bird should be served to each guest; in this case, cut him up precisely as you would a chicken, and all at once, without removing the fork; and, by thus making him go as far as possible, you do as much justice to the excellence of the bird as the vagaries of custom will allow. Of course, the choicest morsels, the wings, the breast, and the merrythought, that is, should go to the more delicate appetites; but that is no reason why legs and back should be comparatively wasted, as they often are, when accompanied on the plate by more fleshy pieces, or be left neglected by the carver on the dish. He who knows anything of the flavour of game will be as well contented with the head and back, or leg of a young partridge in good condition as with any other part of it, if it come at the customary tail end of a dinner, and when a mere taste is all that is expected or desirable. But when the partridge appears as a very important element at a choice repast, then hand him over bodily one bird on a hot-water plate to each guest, and so evade all carving responsibilities; or, short of this, cleave him in twain, fairly from beak to tail, as a pigeon, and let no more than two discuss him; or, once again, at the most, cut him into three, as also directed with the pigeon.

Pheasant.--Treat the pheasant with similar deference; for, if young and in good condition, though one part may be better than another, there is no part open to disdain. According to the size of the bird so may you cut him up, but, as a rule, his breast will yield a sufficient number of slices to make it advisable to deal with him in the manner advocated for a turkey; otherwise he has to be dissected entirely as if he were a chicken, remembering at the same time that, according to the position he occupies in the menu, so should your helping be proportioned. If he represent in any way the _pièce de résistance_, be fairly bountiful, not giving a slice of the breast alone to one person, but some extra “snack” of picking with it, thus letting the choice, and the less choice, morsels be duly blended. On the other hand, if the pheasant come up to table at the usual conventional time, the slices from the breast will be generally enough to go round, if the carver allows no slice to reach the magnitude of anything beyond a taste. He may know if a cock pheasant (cock pheasants are generally the better) be young or old by a glance at the spurs--the short and blunt indicating youth, sharp and long the reverse; and it is well for the carver to note this at starting, as it will prepare him for the amount of strength he will have to put forth in separating the joints. Bread sauce and gravy, as with the partridge, are served separately; but should there be a toast beneath the bird upon the dish, a piece of the toast must go with each portion, a search for the stuffing be entered on, and some of it dispensed.

Grouse.--Beyond putting a very strong emphasis on the value of the back of the grouse, we need only refer to what has been said of the partridge to know how to deal with him. He is worthy in every way of the same high consideration, either as one, two or three portions; but if cut up into this latter or more quantities, a piece of the back must go with each, if the carver regard justice as a leading element of his craft. The habit now of not sending up the bird’s head is, some think, reprehensible; as, like that of the pheasant and partridge, the skull if split in two offers a delicate morsel in the shape of the brain. A piece of the toast, too, usually to be found beneath the grouse should find its way to everybody’s plate.

Blackcock.--Being of the genus grouse, here will be the place to say what one has to say about the blackcock; and once more a knowledge of the chicken’s anatomy will be the key to the whole position. The tenderness and delicacy of the flesh, however, of game birds make them less favourable subjects for the young carver to experimentalise upon. The thigh of this bird is held by the epicure as the portion which attains the culminating flavour. Therefore, though slices may be cut from the breast to begin with in the usual fashion, they may not trench upon this tit-bit, which should be preserved intact for the special friend or friends, since there are two thighs. To decapitate this bird, and to send him to table headless, is to deprive some one of an exquisite _bonne bouche_. When cut in two, there is very pretty picking about the head; and whilst on the dish it serves at once to mark this distinguished member of the feathered community.

Capercailzie.--The capercailzie, though very seldom met with at the ordinary English dinner table, may not be overlooked here, for, though a very much larger bird than grouse or blackcock, it is yet to be ranked amongst the same species. In fact, it is a woodland grouse, and sometimes attains the size of a goodly turkey; which is as much as to say, from our point of view, that we should treat him accordingly.

Ptarmigan.--Ptarmigan, too, though less uncommon and smaller than the capercailzie, would not need any especial dissection, and has merely to be cut up according to his size; whilst of course the buttered toast on which he is served may, or may not, be partaken of; and it is just as well for the carver to inquire.

In dispensing any rare or unusual bird it is quite essential that the carver should point out to those at table who are unacquainted with its precise character what it is, and recommend this or that particular part to their consideration. Also in the matter of toast, when it may contain the trail of game, the carver should be very careful not to give any of it to those who may happen to dislike it. There are many people who will only eat game when it is quite fresh, and who would shudder at the thought of consuming the trail.

=Dinners.=--To commence with the manner of eating soup. In olden days it was customary to “drink” it out of a basin. In these days no one “drinks” soup--it is “eaten”; whether it be mock turtle or the clearest Julienne, it is eaten out of a soup plate at dinner, and with a tablespoon. To use a dessertspoon for this purpose is not _comme il faut_. There is a reason in this: soup is nothing if not hot; and, as it is the custom to give but a very small help of soup--about half a ladleful to each person--it is eaten quicker and hotter with a large spoon. The reason for small helps of soup is that the various courses to follow do not render it expedient to commence with a plateful of soup. At ball suppers, when soup is served in soup plates, it is also eaten with a tablespoon; but when served in small cups a spoon is not used, and it is actually drunk, although fashion does not sanction the expression “I have drunk some soup.”

For fish, the two dinner forks are now superseded by the little silver fish knife and fork. When oysters are given, however, they precede the soup, and are eaten with an ordinary dinner fork, and not with the fish fork. In eating oysters the shell is steadied on the plate with the fingers of the left hand; the oysters are not cut, but are eaten whole. Large dinners are ordered mainly with a view to please the palates of men with epicurean tastes; it is not expected that ladies should eat of the most highly seasoned and richest dishes, but should rather select the plainest. This particularly applies to young ladies and young married ladies; and there are certain things that young ladies are not supposed to eat of at dinner, although handed to them in their turn--as, for instance, marrow patties, foie gras patties, snipe with trail, woodcock with trail, caviare, bloater cheese. Small helps of fish are always given.

Some entrées are eaten with a knife and fork, others with a fork only. All entrées that offer any resistance to a fork being passed through them require the aid of both knife and fork, such as cutlets, filet de bœuf, sweetbreads, &c.; but when rissoles, patties, quenelles, boneless curry, vol-au-vents, timbales, minces, &c., are eaten, the fork is used and the knife is discarded. In the case of the lighter entrées, the contact of the knife is supposed to militate against their delicate flavour, and with regard to the pastry of patties and vol-au-vents, it would be considered bad style were a knife to be used in addition to the fork.

When game is eaten, it is needless to say that the old licence for holding a bone delicately between the fingers and thumb has long since expired. The leg of a chicken, pheasant, duck, or wild duck is never given to a guest as a help, save on those occasions when there are more guests present than there are helps from breasts and wings to offer them. Under these circumstances the carver is reduced to the necessity of falling back upon the legs; but in this case only the upper part of the thigh is given, the drumstick being cut off--thus a guest has little difficulty in separating the meat from the bone. The wing of a bird, however, is a very usual help given to a lady. Formerly it was thought a correct thing to sever the wing at the joint, and then to cut the meat from the bone; but this required a certain amount of strength in the wrist and dexterity of action, as, if the bird happened to be not of the youngest, there was a chance that a nervous or clumsy young lady would lodge one half of the wing on the tablecloth; so the fair recipients of a wing in the present day do not run this risk or take this trouble, but simply cut off from the bone the meat that is easily got at, leaving those morsels about which there is the slightest difficulty. An inexperienced carver occasionally gives the gizzard with the wing, and some inexperienced young ladies make an attempt to eat it; the gizzard should not be left in the wing by the carver. In the case of small pigeons, golden plovers, snipe, quails, larks, &c., a whole bird is given to each help, and the proper way to eat these birds is to cut the meat from the breast and wings, and to eat each morsel at the moment of cutting it; the bird should not be turned over and over on the plate, or cut in half, or otherwise dissected. The legs of Bordeaux pigeons are not as a rule eaten, and half a bird only is given, as there is sufficient meat on the wing and breast to satisfy an ordinary second-course appetite; when the legs of smaller birds are eaten, such as snipe or golden plover, the meat is cut off as from breast or wing. Young ladies, as a rule, do not eat these birds, or any second-course delicacy of this description; a help of chicken or pheasant, on the contrary, is usually accepted by them.

On the subject of vegetables there is but little to be said; when large potatoes are served in their skins, a salad plate is offered at the same time, so this difficulty is thus provided for. When asparagus first comes into season, it is often given in the second course instead of in the first, in which case it is eaten as a separate dish; when it is handed with meat or poultry, it is eaten on the same plate containing either; and although served on toast, the toast is not meant to be eaten, and it is merely intended to receive the superfluous moisture from the asparagus. In eating asparagus, elderly gentlemen still hold the stalks in their fingers; the younger generation cut off the points of the asparagus with a knife and fork; but asparagus tongs render helping an easy matter. Seakale is often given in the second course when first in season; the toast on which this is served is also not eaten. When mushrooms are served on toast, this toast is generally eaten. Seakale is eaten with a knife and fork. Artichokes are an awkward and untidy vegetable to eat: they are only given in the second course as a separate vegetable. The outside leaves are removed with the knife and fork, and the inner leaves, which surround the heart or head of the artichoke, are conveyed to the mouth with the fingers, and sucked dry; epicures consider these a “dainty morsel,” but at a dinner party young ladies would not attempt to eat them.

Savouries are not eaten by young ladies when they dine out, and seldom in the home circle. Savouries of the description of macaroni with cheese, cheese fondus, cheese straws, cheese soufflés, _choufleur au gratin_, olives, &c.--these things are not supposed to suit the palates of young ladies. In eating sweets, a dessertspoon is only used for compotes of fruit or fruit tarts, or those dishes where juice or syrup prevails to the extent of rendering a dessertspoon necessary. But whenever it is possible to use a fork in preference to a spoon, it is always better to do so; and jellies, creams, blancmanges, ice puddings, &c., are always eaten with a fork.

As a matter of course, young ladies do not eat cheese at dinner parties. The usual mode of eating cheese is to cut it in small square pieces, and place it with the knife on a morsel of bread, and then convey the bread to the mouth with the fingers. When celery is given with cheese, it is cut into fair-sized mouthfuls, which are put in the mouth with the fingers, and bites are not taken from a stick of celery held between the fingers schoolboy fashion. Salad is always eaten with the joint, off small salad plates, placed on the left side of the dinner plate; it is eaten with the knife and fork.

To turn from dinner to dessert. Ices are eaten with a small gold ice spoon. Fruits that require peeling--such as peaches, apricots, nectarines, &c.--are peeled with a dessert knife and fork, and eaten with a spoon and fork, as are oranges. Pears and apples are peeled and eaten with a knife and fork, as is pine or melon; with the latter a spoon also is required. Strawberries are also eaten with a spoon and fork when cream is given with them, otherwise they are held by their stalks and dipped into powdered sugar. Cherries, gooseberries, grapes, and currants are also eaten with the fingers, and so on down the gamut of fruit. A slice of dessert cake is broken and eaten as bread would be, and is not cut with the knife into small pieces. The finger glasses are used after fruit has been eaten, and the tips of the fingers are then dipped into the water and dried on the serviette with as little parade as possible, always bearing in mind that the serviette is not a chamber towel or the finger glass a washhand basin, and also that, when the serviette is used for wiping the lips, it should be done quickly and deftly, attracting as little notice as possible, as it is not a pretty sight to see a person deliberately occupied in wiping their mouth or their moustache again and again during dinner; a lady must be a very untidy eater who requires to wipe her mouth constantly during dinner.

When liqueurs are handed with the ices, young ladies are not expected to take them, and, as a rule, a young lady would not drink more than half a glass of sherry with soup or fish, one glass of champagne during dinner, or a glass of sherry if champagne is not given, and half a glass of sherry at dessert. A married lady would perhaps drink a glass and a half of champagne at dinner, in addition to a glass of sherry with fish or soup. Some ladies drink less than this, and others perhaps a little more, and if a lady does not intend drinking more wine than remains in her glass, she should make a little motion of dissent when the butler is about to replenish it. Otherwise a good glass of wine is sent away untasted; and in all cases when a lady only intends drinking half a glass of wine, it would be no breach of etiquette for her to say to the butler at the moment of his offering her wine, “Only half a glass, please;” good wine is a costly luxury, and should never be unnecessarily wasted, even by a guest at a dinner party.

_Bills of Fare._--The following are selected from a very large number, which have been published from time to time in the _Queen_.

For 2.--(_a_) Brunoise. Sole au gratin. Filets de bœuf aux champignons. Pommes de terre sautés. Roast blackcock. Stuffed tomatoes. Tartelettes Piémontaises. (_b_) Potage à la Cussy. Perches sur le gril. Poule au riz à la Milanaise. Haricots verts en salade. Omelette au jambon. (_c_) Consommé au riz. Filets de soles à la Béchamel. Côtelettes du mouton panées aux tomates. Haricots verts à la Lyonnaise. Parmesan. Tourte de Reine-claudes. (_d_) Brunoise. Friture d’éperlans. Hachis de veau aux œufs pochés. Cailles rôties. Salade de laitue et cresson. Gateau de pommes de terre.

For 2 or 3.--(_a_) Croûte au pot. Boiled salmon, fennel sauce. Roast quails. Watercress salad. Asparagus. Cream cheese. Gooseberry tartlets. (_b_) Bonne femme soup. Sole au gratin. Boiled mutton cutlets. Carrots à la maître d’hôtel. Rice soufflé. (_c_) Potage aux pointes d’asperges. Whitebait. Filet de bœuf rôti à la Française. New potatoes au beurre. Lettuce salad. Cheese fondue. (_d_) Spring soup. Red mullets in papers. Fricandeau with spinach. Asparagus. Macaroni cheese. Iced gooseberry fool. (_e_) Potage à la jardinière. Saumon grillé à la Tartare. Côtelettes de mouton aux concombres. Roast grouse. Watercress. Salad of French beans. Greengage tartlets. (_f_) Grouse soup. Fried eels. Stewed steak. Mashed potatoes. Vegetable marrow au gratin. Macaroni cheese. Apple tart. (_g_) Tomato soup. Grey Mullet. Sauce blanche. Braised loin of mutton. Potatoes à la Lyonnaise. Stuffed vegetable marrow. Cheese fritters. Plum tart. (_h_) Julienne. Fried fillets of sole, tartare sauce. Hashed venison. French beans au beurre. Macaroni au gratin. Apricot omelet. (_i_) Consommé aux haricots verts. Filets de maquereaux à l’Italienne. Croquettes de volaille. Côtelettes de mouton à la Nivernaise. Tomates farcies. Gruyère. Tourte aux abricots. (_j_) Consommé au riz. Truite saumonée grillée à la Tartare. Grenadins de bœuf à l’Espagnole. Salade de homard en aspic. Génoises. Compôte de framboises et groseilles. (_k_) Potage au vermicelle. Rougets sauce aux câpres. Rissoles de homard. Fricassée de poulet. Haricots verts à la Lyonnaise. Omelette au parmesan. Salade de fruits. (_l_) Potage au pauvre homme. Côtelettes de mouton, pommes de terre à la maître d’hôtel. Asperges, sauce poivrade. Omelette au jambon. (_m_) Croûte au pot. Filets de sole à l’Italienne. Braised loin of mutton. Navets glacés. Salade de choufleurs. Cheese straws. Caramel custards. (_n_) Potage au macaroni. Saumon sauté au beurre. Cuisses de poulets au riz à la Turque. Broccoli sprout salad. Fondue au Parmesan. (_o_) Potage aux œufs pochés. Croustades de volaille à la suprême. Filets de bœuf grillés aux pommes de terre. Choufleurs au gratin. Chartreuse de pêches. (_p_) One dozen oysters. Consommé de volaille aux quenelles. Chartreuse de perdrix. Grenadins de bœuf à l’Espagnole. Petits soufflés au Parmesan. Salade d’oranges. (_q_) Purée of celery. Fried smelts. Lark, steak, and kidney pudding. Mashed potatoes. Spanish onions stuffed. Cheese. Apple fritters. (_r_) Purée of lentils. Boiled haddock and egg sauce. Hashed mutton. Mashed potatoes. Seakale. Cheese. Ginger pudding. (_s_) Potage au pauvre homme. Raie au beurre noir. Côtelettes de mouton au naturel. Purée de pommes de terre. Omelette au Parmesan. Tartelettes de pommes. (_t_) Julienne. Cabillaud à la crème. The legs of a turkey devilled, purée of chestnuts. Cauliflower salad. Mince pies. (_u_) Potage au macaroni. Sole au gratin. Civet de lièvre aux champignons. Choux de Bruxelles à la maître d’hôtel. Mirlitons aux confitures. (_v_) Onion soup. Broiled whiting. Stewed steak. Haricot bean salad. Fig pudding. (_w_) Chestnut soup. Mutton croquettes and cauliflower. Roast teal. Celery à la sauce blanche. Cheese. Sweet omelet. (_x_) Potage à la purée de laitues. Vol-au-vent of cod. Epigrammes de mouton aux tomates. Chartreuse de perdrix. Œufs au gratin. Biscuit au mocha. (_y_) Croûte au pot. Côtelettes de mouton en papillote. Stewed steak. Mashed potatoes. Vegetable marrow au gratin. New Forest cream cheese. Pommes au beurre. (_z_) Purée of endives. Slices of cod, Italian sauce. Quenelles of rabbit, with minced olives. Roast partridges. Tomatoes stuffed with mushrooms. Fondue. Génoise pastry, with whipped cream.

For 3 in August.--Lazagne. Rougets en papillote. Côtelettes de mouton à la Soubise. Grenadins de chevreuil, sauce groseille. Artichauts, sauce blanche. Roast grouse. Croûte d’ananas.