Ingredients
- 11 beginning of dinner what they are going to have to eat
- ten people
- two dishes of fish are placed upon the table
- four entrees
- two releves
Directions
beginning of dinner what they are going to have to eat.
When by the force of circumstance it happens that a score or more people assemble at the same table to dine, the least disagreeable way of getting through the cere- mony is to serve the dinner a la Russe ; but even in this case I would spare the dessert, and only put it on the table when it is wanted.
For dinners propei'ly so called, where people meet to enjoy their food and the society of their friends, the style called by the French demi-Russe is the best mode of serving. It is a compromise between the entire Russian, and the old English fashion of placing every dish upon the table. I will describe the proceeding, giving at the same time a sort of skeleton bill of fare for a dinner of ten people.
The soup having been handed round and disposed of, two dishes of fish are placed upon the table and helped by the host and hostess. Upon the removal of the fish four entrees, judiciously selected, and each a complete dish in itself, are handed round, and when the consumption of these is drawing to an end, two releves or pieces de resis- tance appear on the table, each being likewise a complete dish in itself. These give place to a couple of roasts of poultry or game, and then two or more entremets de legumes (not vegetables a VAnglaise ) should be served.
A well-made salad should always be handed round with roasts of all kinds, except game. Neither does a salad go badly with plain boiled or fried fish.
The French counterchange this order of things : they would serve the pieces de resistance after the soup, then the fish, then the entrees, &c. ; this is according to the teaching of Brillat-Savarin, who says, that the order of food should be from the most substantial to the lightest, and that of drinks from the lightest to the strongest.