7. SMALL DINNER PARTIES AND LUNCHEONS

Every hostess will be called upon to entertain occasionally it luncheon or dinner where more or less formal service will be in order. The numbers that she can handle successfully will depend first of all upon the size of her dining table, and the number of place settings that she has acquired, but a dozen per­sons should be the limit for such occasions.

Except to celebrate a special event, the number in the group will usually be smaller, as guests up to eight can be handled with one extra helper if the hostess has done most of the preparation of the meal in advance, while a larger number calls for two aides if service is to be formal. For semiformal service, such as the bride's first family dinner and luncheons and dinners for close friends, one or two members of the group can be called upon to aid the hostess with the service.

Certain preparations can be made a day or two in advance of the day of the party. A lace or embroidered tablecloth with appropriate napkins that will be used for a dinner may need pressing. Luncheon cloths or place mats will be chosen for use at luncheon and their condition should be checked. The silver may need cleaning and the best dishes, unless they have been stored under special covers or used recently, will certainly demand washing. When these operations are completed, silver and dishes should be placed on trays ready for use.

In setting the table, a service plate should be arranged first at each place so that plenty of room will be allowed for the silver, an inch in from the edge of the table. On the right should be the knife, cutting edge toward plate; the spoon to its right; and the forks on the left, beginning at the outside in the order in which they will be used for the first and main courses. If salad is to be served with the main course, the fork for this may also be in place, or it may be brought in with the salad. Dessert silver will be reserved until the time of service.

The water glass should be placed at the right in line with the knife, while bread and butter plate, if used, with spreader across the top edge, will be at the left in line with the forks. A wine glass, if used, should be placed at the right of the water glass. The napkin should be at the left beside the forks, folded so that the edge will be toward the fork. Flowers should be arranged in a low bowl in the center of the table.

The first rule for service, formal or semiformal, is convenience, and no longer are there cut-and-dried rules that must be followed. Either the hostess or the guest of honor may be served first, as you like. Service is from the left for placing, removing and offering dishes, with the exception of beverages and dessert spoon which will be from the right of the guest. When a used plate is to be replaced by a fresh plate, use left hand for removing and right hand for placing.

The first course may be in place when the meal is announced, or if it is a hot soup, it may be brought in after guests are seated. Crackers and relishes may be passed with this course. The first course dishes will be removed and replaced with heated dinner plates. Then meat and vegetables will be offered from the left for each guest to help himself. Sometimes the host carves the roast at the table and, in this case, he serves onto the dinner plates, which will then be placed before each person.

At the end of the course, the large serving dishes such as the meat platter and any others that have remained on the table are removed before the individual plates (and salad plates, if the salad has been served with the main course). If served as a separate course, the salad plates should be placed as the dinner plates are removed. The bowl of salad will then be passed. Sometimes, the hostess will toss the salad at the table and serve it before the plates are passed.

Before dessert, bread and butter plates and salts and peppers should be removed, the table brushed with the aid of a small napkin and a plate, and the water glasses refilled. Dessert plates, with a fork at the left and dessert spoon at right, will then be placed. Sometimes the silver is arranged on the dessert plate. If finger bowls are used, they should be arranged on the dessert plates from which the guests will remove them before the dessert is passed. The dessert, like the salad, may be served by the hostess.

As you will note, the suggested menus for formal luncheons and dinners do not offer more than four courses. These may be re­duced to three if an appetizer type of salad, California style, is offered for the first course or if the salad is served with the main course.

Often, semiformal service will be chosen for a luncheon or a dinner. This will certainly be the case with the bride's first family dinner. She will delight in using fine linen, china and silver which were among her gifts. While she will be anxious to display her skill as cook, a menu should be planned which will not demand much attention at the last moment. If she decides to serve a first course, as she may in order to use more of her table accessories, it must be something that can be in place on the table: a com­bination of avocado and grapefruit, or a highly seasoned vegetable appetizer, which is actually a salad, or a jellied soup.

The main course should be ready to bring to the table, and the menu should be planned accordingly. The dessert should be chilling in the refrigerator or keeping warm in the oven so that it will not call for special attention by the young hostess. The same plan will often be used by the more experienced hostess when she has no extra help.

Formal Dinners

Tomato bouillon

Relishes

Jellied consomme

Relishes

Roast beef

Oven-cooked broilers

Brown potatoes

New potatoes with chives

Broccoli with Hollandaise

Asparagus with brown butter

Avocado and tomato salad

Salad bowl

Ice cream in meringue shells

Ice cream with strawberries

Coffee

Broiled grapefruit

Relishes

Crabmeat or lobster cocktail

Roast turkey

Relishes

Potato puff

Roast lamb

Currant-mint sauce

String beans with celery

Wild rice Peas Parisienne

Cucumber salad

Coconut cream tarts Coffee

Baked Alaska Coffee

Formal Luncheons

Vichyssoise Relishes

Fruit canape

Grilled Virginia ham

Cheese souffle

Mushroom sauce

Squash pudding

Salad bowl

Persimmon salad

Lemon sherbert cake

Coffee

Wine jelly

Cream of mushroom soup

Jellied consomme

Rock lobster salad

Chicken

Tetrazzini

Asparagus

Cheese biscuits

Sliced tomatoes

Mixed vegetable salad

Fruit compote

Coffee

Honeydew melon

Bride's First Family Dinner

Avocado and grapefruit appetizer

Vegetable appetizer

Casserole of chicken

Veal paprika

Oven-fried potatoes

Noodles with poppy seeds

String beans with mushrooms

Creamed spinach

Chocolate chiffon pie

Coffee

Ice cream sandwich

Jellied consomme

Grapefruit

Celery and carrot strips

Glazed picnic ham

Roast chicken

Casserole of sweet potatoes

Potatoes with parsley

Asparagus

Braised celery

Mixed green salad

Lemon fluff Coffee

Upside-down cake Coffee

TOMATO BOUILLON

1 quart tomato juice

1 cup water

6 cloves

4 slices onion

1 bay leaf

1 piece lemon rind

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

cayenne or Tabasco

sliced lemon

minced parsley

Combine tomato juice, water, cloves, onion, bay leaf and lemon rind. Cover, bring to a boil and let simmer 10 minutes. Strain. Add Worcestershire sauce and cayenne or Tabasco to taste. Serve in soup cups with a slice of lemon dipped in parsley in each. One teaspoon finely-diced cooked ham may be put in each cup. Yield: 6 servings.

AVOCADO AND GRAPEFRUIT APPETIZER

Arrange on individual salad plates a long leaf of romaine. Top with alternate slices of avocado and grapefruit sections. Sprinkle with French dressing and garnish with pimiento or green pepper strips.

VEGETABLE APPETIZER

Combine 3 cups finely shredded young green cabbage with dunking sauce to moisten. Chill in refrigerator at least 1 hour. Serve in lettuce cups arranged on salad plates or pile mixture in center of each plate and surround with watercress ring. Yield: 6-8 servings.

VICHYSSOISE

6 leeks or 1½ cups sliced onions

½ teaspoon dill seeds

3 cups sliced potatoes

4 cups chicken stock, OR 5 chicken bouillon cubes and 4 cups boiling water

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup milk

1 cup cream

salt

pepper

paprika

minced chives or parsley

Cut leeks, if used, including about 3 inches of the green tops, into pieces. Cook leeks or onions and dill with the potatoes in the chicken stock until very tender. Press through sieve. Add butter, milk and cream. Season to taste with salt, pepper and paprika and reheat. Serve hot or cold garnished with chives or parsley. Yield: 6-8 servings.

CURRAN-MINT SAUCE

½ cup cut mint leaves

½ cup vinegar

1 8-ounce glass currant jelly

Soak mint leaves in vinegar 1/2 hour. Melt jelly over low heat and beat in mint-vinegar mixture. Serve with roast lamb. Yield: 10-12 servings.

CHICKEN TETRAZZINI

¼ cup butter or margarine

¼ pound or 1 small can mushrooms

¼ cup flour

½ teaspoon salt

⅛teaspoon pepper

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon paprika

1½ cups milk

½ cup rich chicken stock OR 1 bouillon cube and ½ cup hot milk

2 cups cooked, shredded chicken

½ 8 oz. package vermicelli or thin spaghetti, cooked grated Parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Melt butter or margarine, add mushrooms and cook 3 minutes over low heat. Stir in the flour and seasonings and then the milk and chicken stock. Continue stirring until sauce thickens. Add chicken and drained, cooked vermicelli or spaghetti and place in casserole. Sprinkle thickly with the grated cheese and bake in moderate oven (375° F.) about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with the chopped parsley. Yield: 4 servings.

OVEN-COOKED BROILERS

Broilers may be merely split down the back. It may be easier for service at a party dinner or luncheon to have small broilers halved, and large broilers quartered. After cleaning, rub generously with softened butter or margarine, and sprinkle with salt and pepper, inside and out. Arrange in baking pan, skin side up, cover with thin onion slices and dot with more butter or margarine. Bake in hot oven (500° F.) about 20 minutes until lightly browned. Reduce heat to 325° F. and continue cooking 20 to 30 minutes until tender. Baste occasionally with the fat that accumulates in the bottom of the pan. Allow ¾ to 1 pound per serving. Part of the butter or margarine may be replaced by bacon fat.

POTATO PUFF

6 to 8 medium potatoes

4 tablespoons butter or margarine

½ cup hot milk

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon minced onion

2 egg yolks, well beaten

2 egg whites, stiffly beaten

1 small can pimientos

Pare and cook potatoes in boiling salted water until tender. Drain and press through ricer. Add butter or margarine, milk, salt, pepper, onion and egg yolks. Blend thoroughly and fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Pile in greased 1 1/2 quart casserole and bake in hot oven (450° F.) about 15 minutes until lightly browned. Garnish with strips of pimiento. Yield: 8-10 servings.

FOOL-PROOF HOLLANDAISE SAUCE

2 egg yolks

½ cup butter

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Tabasco or cayenne

Beat eggs slightly in small saucepan. Add half the butter and lemon juice. Hold saucepan over large pan containing hot water and stir constantly until butter is melted. Stir in remaining butter and continue stirring over hot water until thick. Season to taste with salt and Tabasco or cayenne. Yield: 4-6 servings.

PEAS PARISIENNE

Cook shelled peas, covered with a few lettuce leaves and a few slices of sweet onion, in very small amount of salted water. When almost tender, add butter and cook uncovered until most of the water has evaporated and peas are just tender. Top with sour cream.

SQASH PUDDING

3 tablespoons butter or margarine

3 tablespoons flour

½ teaspoon salt

pepper

nutmeg

1 cup milk

1 package frozen squash, OR 2 cups mashed cooked squash

1 cup soft bread crumbs

1 teaspoon grated onion

3 egg yolks, slightly beaten

3 egg whites, stiffly beaten

Make a cream sauce of the butter or margarine, flour, seasonings and milk. Add squash, bread crumbs, onion and slightly beaten egg yolks. Fold into stiffly beaten egg whites and pour into greased ring mold. Set in pan of hot water and cover mold with heavy paper or with foil. Bake in moderately hot oven (475° F.) about 1 hour until set. Remove from water and let stand 5 minutes. Turn out on chop plate. Fill center with small buttered beets. Yield: 8-10 servings.

WINE JELLY

2 tablespoons unflavored gelatin

¼ cup cold water

1½ cups boiling water

½ cup sugar

¼ cup lemon juice

½ cup orange juice

¼ cup sweet Vermouth

1 cup sherry or port

Soak gelatin in cold water 5 minutes. Add boiling water and stir in sugar until dissolved. Add lemon juice, orange juice, Vermouth and wine. Pour into 1-quart glass bowl, and chill until set. Serve with whipped cream or custard sauce. Yield: 8-10 servings.

LEMON FLUFF

4 egg yolks, slightly beaten

1 cup sugar

⅛ teaspoon salt

1 lemon, grated rind and juice

2 tablespoons boiling water

4 egg whites, stiffly beaten

¾ cup heavy cream, whipped

candied orange peel or sliced candied cherries

Break egg yolks in top of double boiler. Add sugar, salt, lemon rind and juice and boiling water. Stir over hot water until sugar is dissolved. Continue stirring until mixture is smooth and thick. Fold gradually into stiffly beaten egg whites. Pour into serving dish or into sherbet glasses and chill. Top with whipped cream and candied orange peel or with sliced candied cherries. Yield: 6-8 servings.

CHEESE SOUFFLE

½ cup flour

1½ cups milk

3 cups grated cheese

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dry mustard

½ teaspoon paprika

6 egg yolks, unbeaten

6 egg whites, stiffly beaten

Place flour m saucepan, and add milk gradually while stirring to a smooth paste. Stir over medium heat until sauce thickens. Stir in cheese and seasonings. When cheese is melted, remove from heat. Beat in egg yolks, one at a time. Fold mixture into stiffly beaten egg whites. Bake in ungreased 2-quart casserole in moderately hot oven (425° F.) 25 minutes. Lower heat during last minutes of baking if necessary. Yield: 8 servings.

BROILED GRAPEFRUIT

Halve large grapefruit. Remove seeds and core. Run sharp knife between pulp and skin, and loosen sections of pulp. Place in baking pan, sprinkle each half with 3 tablespoons brown or white sugar and dot with butter. Broil about 5 inches from broiler heat, 10 to 15 minutes.

Note: 1 tablespoon sugar may be replaced by 2 tablespoons grape juice, or honey may replace all of the sugar. Sherry may be sprinkled over the fruit just before serving.

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