Correct Service

This is part of a series I've been wanting to do for a long time so I am excited I am able to have Eugene do this for my blog.  It is about etiquette as was appropriate in the Victorian Era (1837–1901).  During that time, culturally there was a transition away from the rationalism of the Georgian period and toward romanticism and mysticism with regard to religion, social values, and the arts. The era is popularly associated with the values of social restraint. What?  Social restraint? What's that?!?  So we move on....thank you for reading. 

Love, George

Correct Service

At a formal dinner, with many people,  the butler always stands behind the hostess' chair, except when giving one of the men under him a direction or when pouring wine. He is not to leave the dining room himself or ever to handle a dish. At a smaller formality, where he has no assistant, he naturally does everything himself; when he has a second man or a waitress, he passes the principal dishes and the assistant follows with the accompanying dishes or vegetables. In any case, whether there are two or two hundred at a table, plates are changed and courses are presented in a precise manner. No serving dishes are ever put on the table except ornamental dishes of fruit and sweetmeats. The meat is carved in the kitchen or pantry; vegetables, bread, and condiments are passed and returned to the side table. 

From the setting of the table until it is cleared for desert, a plate must remain at every place. The plate on which oysters or clams are served is put on top of the place plate, and so is a plate holding fruit or cold seafood. At the end of the course, the used plate is removed, leaving the place plate. The soup plate is removed, the underneath is removed with it, and the plate for the next course is exchanged for the two taken away.


If the first course had been a cold dish that was offered in bulk instead of being served on individual plates, it would have been eaten on the place plate, and an exchange plate would then have been necessary before the soup could be served. The reason is that a plate with food on it must never be exchanged for one that has held food; a clean one must come between. Although dishes must be always presented at the left of the person being served, it is better that plates be removed at the right. Glasses are poured and additional knives placed at the right, but forks are put on as needed at the left. Dishes are passed to the right or passed alternately right and left so that the same gentleman shall not always get the last piece on a dish. Taking action with proper service will guarantee an enjoyable dinner and most of all a pleasant experience for everyone. 

Posted by Eugene Vodovoz at 28 October 2011, 10:39 AM
Categories: Etiquette
Tags: dinner guests hostess plates fruit seafood soup desert
 
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