GIVING DINNERS.

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HE golden rule for giving dinners is, Let all dinners be according to the means of the givers. It is a great mistake of people of moderate means to attempt to imitate the dinners of the rich. great man dines with Mr. Smith, Mr. Smith thinks he must give the great man the sort of dinner he is accustomed to; and for this purpose he employs an expensive man-cook for the day, or engages a confectioner to provide a dinner, and gives the great man a very poor imitation of a first-rate repast. If Mr. Smith had been more modest and judicious, he would have given the great man a plain dinner, with everything the very best of its sort, which would have been a relish worthy of the guest.

One of the greatest sources of complaint in society is the want of propriety in the conducting of entertainments in all their varieties, from the simple family dinner to the stylish banquet for instance, a family dinner; a family dinner, to which guests are admitted; a common dinner party; an entertainment; a bachelor's dinner; and a dress dinner. These and similar entertainments are distinct; yet the distinctions are not so distinctly observed as those in other usages of society. At the plainest as well as at the most splendid of these entertainments, everything ought to be as

good and as well cooked and nice as possible; but the style of service ought to be varied, rising from the simple to the elegant and sumptuous.

To order dinner well, requires novelty, simplicity, and taste; whereas, in the generality of dinners, there is no character but that of dull routine, according to the season. For example: how often, in dinners after Christmas, occur a boiled turkey and a saddle of mutton. The same things are to be seen everywhere at the same season; and as the rules for providing limit the range very much, there are a great many good things which never make their appearance at all; and a great many others which, being served in a fixed order, are seldom half enjoyed.

A great point is to provide for those we entertain what they are least used to, and that which we are most in the way of procuring of a superior quality. Many persons, from their connection with foreign countries, and with different parts of their own, are enabled to command, with ease to themselves, what are interesting rarities to others; and one sure way to entertain with effect, is to cultivate a good understanding with those with whom we deal for the supply of the table.

In the London season, generally extending from the middle of April to the middle of July, the prices of all table luxuries are increased. Spring chickens, as they are called, generally cost about 12s. or 13s. a couple. At regular dress dinners, all the early fruits and vegetables, no matter what the cost, are provided and produced. Green peas are imported from Portugal, and asparagus from the same place, and from Hyeres, Nice, etc. Most of the nobility and gentry are enabled to supply themselves from their country-seats with hot-house grapes and pines; but to such as are not, Covent Garden and the best fruiterers

of London are always open; and in no country in the world do you find, if prepared to incur the expenditure, finer fruits (especially hot-house fruits) than in England; though finer vegetables are to be found in the Brussels and occasionally in the Parisian markets.

In giving dinners, make your Bill of Fare according to the season. When you have two roasts, they should bear no resemblance to each other; i.e., one should be white and the other brown. One important art in housekeeping is to make what remains from one day's entertainment contribute to the elegance or plenty of next day's dinner. Vegetables, ragouts, and soups may be re-warmed, and jellies and blancmanges re-moulded, with no deterioration of their qualities. Savoury or sweet-patties, croquets, rissoles, vol-au-vents, fritters, tartlets, etc., may be served almost without cost, where cookery is going forward on a large scale. In the French kitchen, a numerous class of culinary preparations, called entrées de dessert, or made dishes of left things, are served even at grand entertainments. For these practical hints we are indebted to Host and Guest, p. 94.

To ensure a well-dressed dinner, provide enough; but beware of the common practice of having too much, and such as will become cold without being partaken of. The smaller the dinner, the better will be the chance of its being well cooked. Plain dinners are often spoiled by the addition of delicacies; for so much time is consumed in dressing the latter, that the more simple cooking is neglected. Beware of relying entirely upon a 'new cook' for a dinnerparty, unless you know in what she particularly excels. Fricassée of chicken may be given as one of the dishes for a trial dinner, as very few cooks are able to make a good fricassée. Ude considers this dish the most wholesome and the least expensive of any, as it requires only water to make it well.

In April spring soup may be given, with turbot and crimped salmon, roast fore-quarter of lamb, fillet of beef, etc.; whereas in January or February there may be an oxtail, a mock-turtle, a gravy, or a giblet, or a grey pea-soup; with a variety of game, such as partridges, black-cock, wildduck, snipe, and woodcock, not procurable in the months of April or May.

Ostentatious dinner-giving is a great mistake. It were far better if men of moderate fortune would attempt less. The success of a dinner does not depend in the least on two soups, two fishes, two removes, and eight entrées, but on having sufficient on table, the best of its kind, and thoroughly well dressed. Better far have one first-rate soup, and one good dish, such as turbot or salmon, than a multiplicity of dishes, unless you have good cooks and a retinue of servants, and all the accessories of a first-rate establishment. It is within the power of every dinner-giver of fair means to give a good soup, a good fish, a couple of removes, and four entrées, at the first course; and a couple of small roasts, a couple of removes, and a few entrémets, at the second course. If the dinner be composed exclusively of English, let the remove be a haunch or saddle of mutton, a fillet or a sirloin of beef, with the entrées of lamb, mutton, and veal cutlets, with fillets of pheasants, vol-au-vent, blanquette, of sweetbreads, and such like. In April, May, June, and July, fricassées of chickens, leverets, pigeons, fillets of rabbits, with quails, ducklings, turkey-poults, and guinea-fowls, may be served for entrées and second courses; while in August there are venison, grouse, and wheatears. In September, October, November, and December, there are partridges, grouse, black-cock, golden plover, snipe, woodcock, wild duck, hare, and pheasants; while in the two last months of November and December, ox-tail, mulligatawney, mock

turtle, and giblet soups may do frequent duty, with turbot, crimped cod, haddock, and brill for fish. For entrées in the winter months, there may be pork cutlets, quenelles, mutton cutlets, rabbit curries, etc.

At dinners of any pretension, the first course consists of soup and fish, removed by boiled poultry, ham or tongue, roasts, stews, etc.; and of vegetables, with a few made dishes, as ragouts, curries, hashes, cutlets, patties, fricandeaux, etc. For the second course, roasted poultry or game at the top and bottom, with dressed vegetables, omelets, macaroni, jellies, creams, salads, preserved fruit, and all sorts of sweet things and pastry are employed, endeavouring to give an article of each sort, as a jelly and a cream. This is a more common arrangement than three courses, which are attended with so much additional trouble both to the guests and servants.1

There are many things in the French kitchen which are daily coming into more general use. Thus, there is the pot-au-feu for the family broth. There are the various purées for fowl, rabbit, and vegetable soups of all kinds, from Jerusalem artichokes, carrots, and turnips, to onions and cerfeuil. Next, there are the various sauces of blanc, espagnole, roux, blanc, velouté, sauce à-la-crême, and poivrarde, which are now of much more common usage than they were thirty, twenty, or even ten years ago. We are every day also getting more and more into the habit of filleting our soles, or dressing them au gratin, or à la Normandie; and in the serving of entrées and entrémets we have made visible improvement. Still, there are few English cooks in England. who can turn out an omelette aux fines herbes, or an omelette soufflée, as well as an ordinary French cook. Yet, what an excellent thing this for breakfast or lunch, when one is 1 Abridged from Host and Guest.

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