Baskets edged with ferns and vines and filled with roses make very
pretty pieces for the ends of the table, or three of them, one built upon
another, make a beautiful center piece. A large sheet of glass, edged
with grasses and moss, upon which lie water lilies, is both a novel and
cool decoration for summer, especially as water lilies come in the warm
season. A high glass dish filled with floating lilies and leaves is also a
pleasing decoration. Where candlesticks are used small garlands of
ferns and flowers en wreathing the standards add greatly to their beauty,
particularly if the blue flowers are used upon the silver candlesticks and
scarlet on the brass or bronze. Small vases with but a single flower
and a few green leaves or ferns are all the flower decoration needed for
a small dinner or lunch party.
The two great points to be remembered in arranging flowers are to
use enough green and not to place the flowers too formally. Avoid
stiffness and " set " bouquets ; try to dispose them lightly and gracefully,
giving to each flower its own leaves. There must, however, always be
more green than is afforded by the leaves attached to the flowers them-
selves. Ferns always look well, and harmonize with everything, and
when not attainable, the leaves of azalea or spiraea are extremely useful.
Common field grasses can also be used with great advantage, and as a
background some pieces of box will often be found extremely useful.
In placing flowers in troughs it will be found very convenient to use
THE ART OF CARVING. 43
damp sand instead of water, as the flowers remain exactly in the posi-
tion in which they are placed, and, as they do not lean against each
other, fewer of them are required.
THE ART OF CARVING,
In preparing meat for the table, and in laying out the table, reference
ought first to be had to the carving department, a very onerous one to
all and to some a very disagreeable one. The first requisite is a sharp
knife, and if to be used by a lady, light and handy, dexterity and
address in the manner of using it being more required than strength,
either in the knife or the carver. First a napkin should be spread
under the platter so that the edges are hardly discernible, and yet large
enough to protect the cloth, so that it may be clean when the platter is
removed. The seat should be sufficiently high for the carver to have a
complete command over the joints, and the dish should be sufficiently
deep and capacious so as not to endanger the splashing of the gravy.
It should also be placed as near to the carver as possible, leaving room
for his or her plate. A knife with a long blade is required for a large
fleshy joint; for ham or bacon, a middling sized, sharp-pointed one is
preferable, and for poultry or game a short knife and sharp-pointed is
the best. Some like this knife a little curved.
As fish is the first thing to be carved or served, it has first place. In
helping fish take care not to break the flakes, which in cod and fine,
fresh salmon and some other sorts, are large. A fish trowel is necessary,
not to say indispensable in serving many kinds of fish, particularly the
larger sort.
Page 38
Presented as published in 1886. 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
Baskets edged with ferns and vines and filled with roses make very pretty pieces for the ends of the table, or three of them, one built upon another, make a beautiful center piece. A large sheet of glass, edged with grasses and moss, upon which lie water lilies, is both a novel and cool decoration for summer, especially as water lilies come in the warm season. A high glass dish filled with floating lilies and leaves is also a pleasing decoration. Where candlesticks are used small garlands of ferns and flowers enwreathing the standards add greatly to their beauty, particularly if the blue flowers are used upon the silver candlesticks and scarlet on the brass or bronze. Small vases with but a single flower and a few green leaves or ferns are all the flower decoration needed for a small dinner or lunch party.
The two great points to be remembered in arranging flowers are to use enough green and not to place the flowers too formally. Avoid stiffness and " set " bouquets ; try to dispose them lightly and gracefully, giving to each flower its own leaves. There must, however, always be more green than is afforded by the leaves attached to the flowers themselves. Ferns always look well, and harmonize with everything, and when not attainable, the leaves of azalea or spiraea are extremely useful. Common field grasses can also be used with great advantage, and as a background some pieces of box will often be found extremely useful. In placing flowers in troughs it will be found very convenient to use
THE ART OF CARVING. 43
damp sand instead of water, as the flowers remain exactly in the position in which they are placed, and, as they do not lean against each other, fewer of them are required.
THE ART OF CARVING,
In preparing meat for the table, and in laying out the table, reference ought first to be had to the carving department, a very onerous one to all and to some a very disagreeable one. The first requisite is a sharp knife, and if to be used by a lady, light and handy, dexterity and address in the manner of using it being more required than strength, either in the knife or the carver. First a napkin should be spread under the platter so that the edges are hardly discernible, and yet large enough to protect the cloth, so that it may be clean when the platter is removed. The seat should be sufficiently high for the carver to have a complete command over the joints, and the dish should be sufficiently deep and capacious so as not to endanger the splashing of the gravy. It should also be placed as near to the carver as possible, leaving room for his or her plate. A knife with a long blade is required for a large fleshy joint; for ham or bacon, a middling sized, sharp-pointed one is preferable, and for poultry or game a short knife and sharp-pointed is the best. Some like this knife a little curved.
As fish is the first thing to be carved or served, it has first place. In helping fish take care not to break the flakes, which in cod and fine, fresh salmon and some other sorts, are large. A fish trowel is necessary, not to say indispensable in serving many kinds of fish, particularly the larger sort.