Part 1

_What to Eat_

_How to Serve it_

BY

CHRISTINE TERHUNE HERRICK

AUTHOR OF "HOUSEKEEPING MADE EASY" "CRADLE AND NURSERY" ETC.

NEW YORK HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE 1891

Copyright, 1891, by HARPER & BROTHERS.

_All rights reserved._

CONTENTS

PAGE

THE DINING-ROOM 1

AT THE BREAKFAST-TABLE 16

MORE ABOUT BREAKFAST 24

THE INVALID'S BREAKFAST 32

A BREAKFAST-PARTY 40

FAMILY BREAKFASTS FOR SPRING 48

FAMILY BREAKFASTS FOR SUMMER 58

FAMILY BREAKFASTS FOR AUTUMN 68

FAMILY BREAKFASTS FOR WINTER 77

AT LUNCHEON 88

A SMALL LUNCHEON 96

A LARGE LUNCHEON 104

A STANDING LUNCH 112

THE LUNCH BASKET 120

FAMILY LUNCHES FOR SPRING 128

FAMILY LUNCHES FOR SUMMER 137

FAMILY LUNCHES FOR AUTUMN 147

FAMILY LUNCHES FOR WINTER 157

DINNER AT NIGHT 165

DINNER AT NOON 173

THE SUNDAY DINNER 181

THE SMALL DINNER-PARTY 188

A LARGE DINNER 196

FAMILY DINNERS FOR SPRING 204

FAMILY DINNERS FOR SUMMER 213

FAMILY DINNERS FOR AUTUMN 221

FAMILY DINNERS FOR WINTER 230

WHAT SHALL WE EAT? 239

THE CHILDREN'S TABLE 247

THE FAMILY TEA 255

AFTERNOON TEA 263

HIGH TEA 271

SOME HINTS ABOUT SUPPER 279

CHINA AND GLASS 288

LINEN AND SILVER 296

INDEX 305

_WHAT TO EAT_

_HOW TO SERVE IT_

THE DINING-ROOM

The apartment in which the members of a family assemble three times a day for meals must be pleasant. There is a chance to escape from any other part of the house. The business man rarely sees his drawing-room until after the shades are drawn and the lamps lighted. The wife and mother divides her time between nursery, sewing-room, and kitchen, while school-children are out of the house nearly as much as they are in it—at least during their waking hours. But no matter how widely the little flock may be scattered by their different employments, always twice and often three times a day they are all together in this common rallying-place of the home.

Only in the houses of the wealthy, or of those possessed of exceptionally large dwellings, is there found a breakfast-room other than that in which are eaten all the meals of the family. English mansions frequently possess both a family and a state dining-room, and the same custom prevails in some of the private palaces of our own millionaires; but in the average American home one room must do duty for every repast, whether simple or superb; and in our large cities this apartment is too likely, alas! to be situated in the basement.

The immeasurable superiority of a dining-room built above-ground over one even partially beneath it hardly needs demonstration—it is more cheerful, more airy, and as a consequence more healthful, better lighted, of finer proportions, and more susceptible of effective decoration and furnishing—the advantages might be continued _ad infinitum_. No one who has ever had the pleasure of using an up-stairs dining-room can contentedly descend to one below the level of the street. Apart from every other consideration, such rooms are very liable to be damp. It is not uncommon to have carpets grow musty and mouldy on their floors, or to find a perceptible dampness on their walls. These faults may be to some extent remedied by a layer of thick felt paper under the carpet, and by good fires and constant and thorough ventilation.

A few housekeepers express their preference for basement dining-rooms because of the nearness of these to the kitchen, and the work saved thereby. This is an important consideration in houses where but one maid is kept. Her work as cook and waitress is almost doubled when she has to run up-stairs to remove the dishes from the dumb-waiter, and then fly back to her kitchen between the intervals of waiting on the table. In the country and in country towns it is the rule rather than the exception to find the kitchen in the L, or as an extension, and on the same floor with the dining-room and parlor, but in the majority of city houses the apartment in which the family gathers at meal-times is a little below ground. When this is the case, and when there is no possibility of converting the back parlor up-stairs into a dining-room by introducing a dumb-waiter and pantry, or when expediency or want of space precludes such a change, the best must be made of existing circumstances, and the efforts redoubled to render the despised basement as pleasant as possible.

The wall-paper must never be dark in a room like this, which at the best of times is never too light. Choose instead a creamy ground well covered with some small figure, or, better still, an ingrain paper of a solid color—a soft gray, a pale green, a cream, or one of those indescribable neutral tints that make good backgrounds, and furnish well but not obtrusively.

Unless the room is wainscoted with wood, a very pretty and inexpensive substitute can be made of India matting, secured at the top by a narrow band of wood moulding. The matting can be washed off with salt and water whenever it needs cleansing. An excellent plan is that of having the walls done in hard finish, and then painting this. The surface can then be scoured as often as it becomes stained or specked, and will always look neat and fresh. An additional coat of paint can be put on when the first becomes worn or faded.

In a rented house the tenants must, of course, take what they can get, and in many cases the landlord is unwilling to make changes. Still, pretty pictures, draperies, neat furniture, and a well-set table will do wonders, even for a room that appears unpromising at the outset.

It never pays to purchase an expensive carpet for the ordinary dining-room. Something durable should be selected, like an ingrain of a mixed color, or with a minute, closely-set figure. Better still is a rug, an art square, or a Smyrna rug, neither of which is high-priced, while either is satisfactory both in appearance and in wearing qualities.

The floor should be stained or painted, for a distance of from two to three feet from the wall all around the room, in a neat dark color. Borders of wood-carpeting are handsome and last a long time, but are costly, and one does not often find hard-wood floors in a rented house. The rug may be either laid loosely or tacked down around the edges.

The draperies in a dining-room should not be heavy. Not only do such darken the room, but they catch and retain the odors of food, and hold constantly in their folds depressing reminders of former feasts. Scrim, lace, or light Madras or China silk, decorates the room and softens outlines without impeding the entrance of light or air. Shades are essential, and so should be also window-screens from the appearance of the first fly in the spring until the last one has vanished in the fall.

An open fireplace in a dining-room is unsurpassed for cheer and comfort there, as it is everywhere. A screen should always be in readiness to temper the glow and glare while the family are at meals. The chimney is a potent aid to ventilation, and helps to disperse those odors that will collect in the best-ventilated _salles à manger_, and which are so appetizing before meals and so unpleasant afterwards.

Basement dining-rooms are seldom too cold. If they are heated by a register or a stove, or even by a coal fire in the grate, the constant struggle of the housekeeper is to prevent their becoming uncomfortably warm. Vicinity to the kitchen has much to do with this, and is in summer-time a serious draw-back to comfort. An equable temperature must be striven for by frequent airing at all seasons, and during the heated term by shading the windows, and by keeping, as much as possible, the doors shut that communicate with the kitchen. One advantage at least is possessed by the basement dining-room in summer. In common with the cellar, or with any other partially subterranean chamber, it is cooler than one that is above ground and thus unprotected from the hot air without.

The best method of artificially lighting a dining-room is hard to decide. Nothing is prettier or pleasanter than candle-light, and it is preferable to gas or lamps in that it does not heat a room perceptibly. But candles are expensive, if enough are used to produce a respectable illumination, and nothing is more dismal than eating by a dim light. Good candles are costly, and cheap ones not only give a poor light, but drip and smoke and smell, and are otherwise intolerable. A new style of candle has recently been introduced which is pierced through its length with three holes. These tiny pipes are supposed to carry off the melted wax, and their advocates claim that these candles will not drip on the outside.

Except on state occasions, candles are barred out for people of moderate means, and they must have recourse to lamps or gas. The light should always be suspended above the table, except, of course, where candles and candelabra or a tall-stemmed lamp are used. A side-light does not serve the purpose of a central one, for some one must always sit with his back towards it, and his plate is thus in a perpetual eclipse. Pretty hanging lamps come at all prices, but it never pays to get a cheap one. It may do very well for a time, but before long the burner will be out of order; the machinery by which the wick is turned up or down will prove refractory, and repairs will do little good. The only efficient way of mending a poor lamp is by buying a new one.

Among the best-known makes of lamps there is one with a powerful burner which gives a clear, steady flame, equal to two or three ordinary gas-jets. The only draw-back connected with it is the intense heat it radiates, which makes it objectionable in summer. Such a lamp costs about seven dollars, is furnished with a large ground-glass shade, and supplied with fixtures and a chain, by means of which it may be raised and lowered at pleasure.

Whichever is used, gas or kerosene, the glare should always be softened by a shade of some kind. Globes of ground or colored glass may be used on gas-burners, or, if they are of clear glass, the light may be subdued by the Japanese half-shades, which can be slipped over the lower half of the globe. A pretty fashion is that of fastening a Japanese umbrella, stick upwards, under the chandelier, although this darkens the table too much, unless there is a strong light above it. If any member of the family suffers from weak eyes, and is distressed by the light that is none too brilliant for the others, quaint paper-screen shades, also of Japanese make, may be hung on the side of the globe towards the sufferer. The long pliable wires attached to these shades permit them to be twisted at almost any angle. Or the fancy paper screens which imitate roses, pond-lilies, sunflowers, and the like may be hung on the globes.

There has been a good deal of discussion among furnishers as to what style of picture should be hung in a dining-room. One declares that the stereotyped paintings and engravings of fruit, fish, and fowl are the only appropriate works of art for this room; while another argues that it is enough to see the food in its prepared condition upon the table, without being forced to contemplate it in its natural state upon the walls. The wise course to follow seems to lie between the two. Really pretty pictures of game birds or fish, or of fruit or flowers, are undoubtedly in their place in a dining-room, but there is no reason why every other kind of picture should be excluded. Pastoral or marine scenes, _genre_ pictures, almost anything except family portraits, may fitly be placed there. _Their_ place is in the library, the sitting-room, or in the large hall, if there be one.

Nothing should hang in the dining-room that is not good of its kind. A cheap chromo, a poorly executed drawing or water-color, or an indifferent photograph annoys beyond words the unfortunate wight who has to sit opposite it for an hour or two each day.

The furniture of a dining-room should be durable, even if its owners cannot afford to have it very handsome. Cheap chairs and table are out of place here. Even those who cannot afford leather-upholstered chairs and a heavy mahogany or black-walnut or oak dining-table may get solid, durable substitutes. Cane seats for the chairs, and an unpolished top for the table, are better than showy—and cheap—elegance. A square table generally allows more space to those seated about it than does a round one. Almost any amount of money may be expended upon a sideboard, but a good one may be purchased at no great outlay. In addition to this, if space permits, there should be a table, with a shelf or two above it, to serve as a dinner-wagon. This is almost a necessity when the vegetables are passed instead of being placed on the table, and it is also useful for holding relays of clean plates, etc.

The amount of furniture that is useful and appropriate in a dining-room is of necessity limited. Besides the articles already named, there may be a china press or cabinet, an easy-chair or two, or even a sofa. The last is a boon to an invalid or convalescent, who grows weary of a long _séance_ in a high, straight-backed chair. The couch may be forced to serve a double purpose by being made in the form of a long box, broad and low, covered with cretonne, denim, or any other durable material, and provided with a hair mattress on the top. When two or three square pillows are added to this, behold a comfortable divan, that will at the same time be a receptacle for the table-linen. Some such coffer as this is almost a must-have in a dining-room, unless the china closet is provided with drawers.

A wall cabinet for choice pieces of china is a pretty ornament for a dining-room, and so is an over-mantel. The latter may consist of two, three, or more shelves, and should be solid at the back, as small hooks may then be screwed in, upon which to hang tea or coffee cups. These shelves may extend the full length of the mantel, or occupy only part of the space. In any case they are excellent for displaying such pieces of china as one may not wish to keep concealed in the depths of a china closet. Nothing very delicate that will be injured by dust should stand here.

A corner cupboard adds to the beauty of a room, and may either be bought ready-made, or built to fit some especial corner. The lower part of the cupboard may have a solid wooden door, while glass doors for the upper part permit a view of the glass or silver stored there.

Blessed is that woman whose house contains a butler's pantry. Too often the fine china and glass must either be washed in the kitchen, or else in a dish-pan brought into the dining-room. When a pantry is lacking, there should be a butler's tray to hold the solid dishes. Such a tray may be closed, and put out of the way when not in use. A folding screen covered with Japanese pictures, with wall-paper, or with some textile fabric, may conceal the door to the pantry, or the slide by which dishes enter the dining-room, or may cut off the corner in which stands the butler's tray.

To the woman of quick wit and ready fingers countless are the opportunities provided for beautifying her dining-room. She may drape her mantel and conceal the ugly marble, using for this stamped Madras, or silkolene, both of which are pretty and cheap; she may make covers for her sideboard, rich with drawn-work and embroidery; she may set a box of growing plants in the window, and tend them, so that she may always have a vase of fresh blossoms or of green sprays for the centre of the table; and she may expend boundless energy in the manufacture of doilies, tray-cloths, and the thousand and one dainty pieces of linen dear to the housewife's soul.

AT THE BREAKFAST-TABLE

Everything in reason should be done to make the breakfast a tolerably pleasant meal. Very cheerful or jovial it seldom is. The father is in a hurry to get to his office or business, and usually buries himself in the morning paper; the children are burdened with the thought of approaching school duties; the mother is silently mapping out the line of her day's operations, and is disinclined to conversation. Add to this that all are apt to be more or less dominated by the physical depression of tone and passive discomfort so well known that one judge is fabled to have refused to ordain capital punishment for a man convicted of having committed a murder before breakfast. Until after that meal, even the best-tempered are prone to petulance, while those of a taciturn nature are quiet to the verge of what _looks_ like sullenness.

Here, as everywhere, upon the mother devolves the burden of the family well-being. If her face is cast down and gloomy, its reflection is seen in the countenances of all those about her; while if she is bright and sunny, there is a perceptible rise in the spiritual thermometer. Only by making a positive duty of cheerfulness is it practicable sometimes for the mother to conquer the weariness and languor, the aching head, and the loathing for food, that are so frequently a woman's morning portion. The discomfort the other members of the family know is increased tenfold in her case if a restless child, an ailing baby, or worry over financial or domestic matters has robbed her of part of her night's sleep.

A good deal may be done to create an atmosphere of pleasantness by due attention to the condition of the room. Unless it has been left in spotless order the preceding evening, either the maid or one of the family must bestow some attention upon it beyond putting the breakfast on the table. No crumbs from the last repast should disfigure the carpet; no dust of yesterday's raising should be thick upon the furniture. The windows should have been open long enough to change the air of the room; then, in cold weather, been closed a sufficient length of time before the entrance of the family to allow the atmosphere to become comfortably warmed. The vase of flowers or the growing plant that ought to grace the centre of every table should have a drink of fresh water, and be ready to do its part in brightening the board. The table should be carefully set, the food well cooked, and promptly served. And, above all, there should be a sincere and conscientious endeavor on the part of each member of the household to sink his own disagreeable feelings, and to do all in his power to contribute his share towards the sum total of the family cheerfulness. Conversation on pleasant topics should be encouraged, and the items of morning news distributed to all, not monopolized by the one in possession of the paper.

No amount of accustomedness should ever induce the mistress of the house to condone carelessness on the plea that there is no one present but the family. Just because it _is_ "only home folks," everything should be at its brightest. There is no necessity for urging the parade of pretty china, the preparation of tempting dishes, when an honored guest is to be served. Should not even more pains be taken to have everything attractive and appetizing when those are to be fed who have not the charm of novelty to act as sauce, and to whom the ordinary methods of cookery may seem stale and hackneyed?

The table should always appear at its best at breakfast-time. A colored cloth is economical as well as pretty, for it does not show every spot or splash with the readiness of a white cloth. There is a large variety of these table coverings from which the housekeeper may make her selections, ranging in beauty and price from the plain, comparatively cheap red cloth with light figures to the exquisite pieces of fine damask, gorgeous with embroidery, and with a lace-like border of drawn-work. For common daily use, the judicious choice will probably lie somewhere between these, either in a buff, a buff and scarlet, a buff and blue, or one of the beautiful Holbein cloths that come, with the dozen napkins, at about eight dollars the set. The ground in these is well covered, and they have the advantage of being nearly as pretty on the wrong side as they are on the right. Another recommendation is that they wear admirably, one at least within the writer's knowledge having been in constant use for between four and five years without showing a sign of old age, except in the thinning of the fringe, while the body of the cloth remained without a break. The delicate tints of the worked pattern will fade with frequent washing, so that blue and pink would better be avoided, and the preference given to the scarlets and buffs, which hold their own well.

The cloth is saved by the use of mats under dishes. Those of straw or wicker-work are apt to become soiled and stained, and are not readily cleansed. On the contrary, those which are knitted, netted, or crocheted may be washed every week, if necessary. It is almost impossible to find a waitress so careful that once in a while a dish will not be brought to the table with a black rim on the bottom, or wet or greasy with something spilled where it has been standing on the kitchen-table. Wherever this touches, the cloth beneath is disfigured, and it is better to protect it against such misadventures by the use of mats in the first place than to be forced to conceal the blemishes afterwards by "setting the table to humor the spots."

Worked and fringed doilies are pretty substitutes for mats, and when there is a cover of felt on the table under the damask cloth—as there should always be—they are thick enough to guard the varnished table-top from injury from the hot dishes. A carving-cloth should be spread under the meat-platter, and will generally by the close of the meal bear upon its surface eloquent testimony to the service it has done in saving the table-cloth.

While it is no sign of stinginess not to have one's best and most fragile china for constant use, poor judgment is shown when only plain heavy white ware is employed for the family when they are alone. Decorated porcelain is cheap nowadays, and makes a table look extremely pretty. Each one of the household should have his own especial oatmeal set, either the bowl, plate, and pitcher, or one of the deep saucers that come for this purpose in dark blue and white ware, with a plate to match, while the cream or milk may be held for common use in one good-sized pitcher, to be served by the mother, or passed to each, as may seem best. Every tea or coffee drinker should have his own cup and saucer, and in his imagination his favorite beverage will taste better from that cup than from any other.