DESSERT AND ICES

_Note._--Dinners à la Russe are scarcely suitable for small establishments; a large number of servants being required to carve; and to help the guests; besides there being a necessity for more plates, dishes, knives, forks, and spoons, than are usually to be found in any other than a very large establishment. Where, however, a service à la Russe is practicable, there it, perhaps, no mode of serving a dinner so enjoyable as this.

2139. Much may be done in the arrangement of a supper-table, at a very small expense, provided _taste_ and _ingenuity_ are exercised. The colours and flavours of the various dishes should contrast nicely; there should be plenty of fruit and flowers on the table, and the room should be well lighted. We have endeavoured to show how the various dishes may be placed; but of course these little matters entirely depend on the length and width of the table used, on individual taste, whether the tables are arranged round the room, whether down the centre, with a cross one at the top, or whether the supper is laid in two separate rooms, &c. &c. The garnishing of the dishes has also much to do with the appearance of a supper-table. Hams and tongues should be ornamented with cut vegetable flowers, raised pies with aspic jelly cut in dice, and all the dishes garnished sufficiently to be in good taste without looking absurd. The eye, in fact, should be as much gratified as the palate. Hot soup is now often served at suppers, but is not placed on the table. The servants fill the plates from a tureen on the buffet, and then hand them to the guests: when these plates are removed, the business of supper commences.

2140. Where small rooms and large parties necessitate having a standing supper, many things enumerated in the following bill of fare may be placed on the buffet. Dishes for these suppers should be selected which may be eaten standing without any trouble. The following list may, perhaps, assist our readers in the arrangement of a buffet for a standing supper.

2141. Beef, ham, and tongue sandwiches, lobster and oyster patties, sausage rolls, meat rolls, lobster salad, dishes of fowls, the latter _all cut up_; dishes of sliced ham, sliced tongue, sliced beef, and galantine of veal; various jellies, blancmanges, and creams; custards in glasses, compôtes of fruit, tartlets of jam, and several dishes of small fancy pastry; dishes of fresh fruit, bonbons, sweetmeats, two or three sponge cakes, a few plates of biscuits, and the buffet ornamented with vases of fresh or artificial flowers. The above dishes are quite sufficient for a standing supper; where more are desired, a supper must then be laid and arranged in the usual manner.

2142.--BILL OF FARE FOR A BALL SUPPER FOR 60 PERSONS (For Winter)

Boar's Head, garnished with Aspic Jelly. Lobster Salad Lobster Salad. Fruited Jelly. Mayonnaise of Fowl. Charlotte Russe.

Small Ham, garnished.

Small Pastry. Iced Savoy Cake. Biscuits.

Vanilla Cream EPERGNE, WITH FRUIT. Fruited Jelly.

Two Roast Fowls, cut up. Two Roast Fowls, cut up.

Prawns Two Boiled Fowls, with Béchamel Prawns Sauce. Biscuits Small Pastry Tongue, ornamented.

Custards, TRIFLE, ORNAMENTED. Custards, in glasses. in glasses. Raised Chicken Pie.

Tipsy Cake Lobster Salad. Lobster Salad. Fruited Jelly. Swiss Cream. Roast Pheasant.

Meringues. EPERGNE, WITH FRUIT. Meringues.

Raspberry Cream. Galantine of Veal. Fruited Jelly.

Tipsy Cake. Small Pastry. Biscuits. Raised Game Pie.

Custards, TRIFLE, ORNAMENTED Custards, in glasses. in glasses.

Two Roast Fowls, cut up. Two Roast Fowls, cut up. Tongue, ornamented. Prawns. Prawns. Two Boiled Fowls, with Béchamel Sauce. Biscuits. Small Pastry. EPERGNE, WITH FRUIT. Lobster Salad. Lobster Salad. Fruited Jelly. Iced Savoy Cake. Blancmange.

Small Ham, garnished.

Mayonnaise of Fowl. Charlotte Russe. Fruited Jelly. Larded Capon.

_Note:_ When soup is served from the buffet, Mock Turtle and Julienne may be selected. Besides the articles enumerated above, Ices, Wafers, Biscuits, Tea, Coffee, Wines and Liqueurs will be required. Punch a la Romaine may also be added to the list of beverages.

2143.--BILL OF FARE FOR A BALL SUPPER,

Or a Cold Collation for a Summer Entertainment, or Wedding or Christening Breakfast for 70 or 80 Persons (July).

[Columns 1 and 5] 4 Blancmanges, to be placed down the table. 4 Jellies, to be placed down the table. 3 Dishes of Small Pastry. 3 Fruit Tarts. 3 Cheesecakes. 3 Compotes of Fruit. 3 English Pines. 20 Small Dishes of various Summer Fruits.

[Column 2] Dish of Lobster, cut up. Charlotte Russe à la Vanille. Lobster Salad Pigeon Pie. Lobster Salad. Dish of Lobster, cut up. Larded Capon. Lobster Salad. Pigeon Pie. Dish of Lobster, cut up. Savoy Cake. Lobster Salad.

[Column 3] Tongue. Ribs of Lamb. Two Roast Fowls. Mayonnaise of Salmon. Epergne, with Flowers. Mayonnaise of Trout. Tongue, garnished. Boiled Fowls and Béchamel Sauce. Collared Eel. Ham. Raised Pie. Two Roast Fowls. Shoulder of Lamb, stuffed. Mayonnaise of Salmon. Epergne, with Flowers. Mayonnaise of Trout. Tongue. Boiled Fowls and Béchamel Sauce. Raised Pie. Ham, decorated. Shoulder of Lamb, stuffed. Two Roast Fowls. Mayonnaise of Salmon. Epergne, with Flowers. Mayonnaise of Trout. Tongue, garnished. Boiled Fowls and Béchamel Sauce. Collared Eel.

[Column 4] Veal-and-Ham Pie. Lobster Salad. Savoy Cake. Dish of Lobster, cut up. Lobster Salad. Boar's Head. Pigeon Pie. Lobster Salad. Dish of Lobster, cut up. Lobster Salad. Charlotte Russe à la Vanille. Veal and Ham Pie. Dish of Lobster, cut up.

_Note_.--The length of the page will not admit of our giving the dishes as they should be placed on the table; they should be arranged with the large and high dishes down the centre, and the spaces filled up with the smaller dishes, fruit, and flowers, taking care that the flavours and colours contrast nicely, and that no two dishes of a sort come together. This bill of fare may be made to answer three or four purposes, placing a wedding cake or christening cake in the centre on a high stand, if required for either of these occasions. A few dishes of fowls, lobster salads, &c. &c., should be kept in reserve to replenish those that are most likely to be eaten first. A joint of cold roast and boiled beef should be placed on the buffet, as being something substantial for the gentlemen of the party to partake of. Besides the articles enumerated in the bill of fare, biscuits and wafers will be required, cream-and-water ices, tea, coffee, wines, liqueurs, soda-water, ginger-beer, and lemonade.

BREAKFASTS.

2144. It will not be necessary to give here a long bill of fare of cold joints, &c., which may be placed on the side-board, and do duty at the breakfast-table. Suffice it to say, that any cold meat the larder may furnish, should be nicely garnished, and be placed on the buffet. Collared and potted meats or fish, cold game or poultry, veal-and-ham pies, game-and-Rump-steak pies, are all suitable dishes for the breakfast-table; as also cold ham, tongue, &c. &c.

2145. The following list of hot dishes may perhaps assist our readers in knowing what to provide for the comfortable meal called breakfast. Broiled fish, such as mackerel, whiting, herrings, dried haddocks, &c.; mutton chops and rump-steaks, broiled sheep's kidneys, kidneys à la maître d'hôtel, sausages, plain rashers of bacon, bacon and poached eggs, ham and poached eggs, omelets, plain boiled eggs, oeufs-au-plat, poached eggs on toast, muffins, toast, marmalade, butter, &c. &c.

2146. In the summer, and when they are obtainable, always have a vase of freshly-gathered flowers on the breakfast-table, and, when convenient, a nicely-arranged dish of fruit: when strawberries are in season, these are particularly refreshing; as also grapes, or even currants.