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Classic
Cook Books
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page vi
all situations of life, the entertainment should be no less suited to the
station, than to the fortune of the entertainer, and to the number and rank of
those invited.
The manner of carving is not only a very necessary branch of information, to
enable a lady to do the honours of her table, but makes a considerable
difference in the consumption of a family: and though in large parties she is so
much assisted as to render this knowledge apparently of less consequence, yet
she must at times feel the deficiency; and should not fail to acquaint herself
with an attainment, the advantage of which is evident every day.
Indeed, as fashions are so fleeting, it is more than probable, that before the
end of this century, great attention to guests may be again the mode, as it was
in the commencement of the last. Some people haggle meat so much, as not to be
able to help half-a-dozen persons decently from a large tongue, or a sirloin of
beef; and the dish goes away with the appearance of having been gnawed by dogs.
If the daughters of the family were to take the head of the table under the
direction of their mother, they would fulfill its duties with grace, in the same
easy manner as an early practice in other domestic affairs gradually fits them
for their own future houses. Habit alone can make good carvers; but some
principal directions are hereafter given, with a reference to the annexed
plates.
The mistress of a family should always remember that the welfare and good
management of the house depend on the eye of the superior; and consequently that
nothing is too trifling for her notice, whereby waste may be avoided; and this
attention is of more importance
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Classic
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