The Dinner Table.

Western Star, Issue 1548, 28 March 1891, Page 2 (Supplement)

The Dinner Table.

It is a bad custom to put off making all the dishes until the last available moment; cooking reauires thought and time to be given to it, if it in tt; prove palatable, and to hurry up at the last is the way to spoil everything. , j ,* Those dishes that are to be served cola must be got ready first. Jellies and blancmanges must be made in the morning, unless ioe is at hand. Compotes of fruits and cold puddings may be done early in the afternoon and yet have time to cool for seven o'elpck dinner. For roast meats, between whioh and baked meat there is no comparison, constant basting is indispensable, if they are to cooked to perfection. A joint should be placed about six or eight inches from the fire for a short time, say ten minutes ; it should then be drawn back on the rack to withm half a yard, where it is to remain until finished. Baste continually, and as soon as the gravy appears dredge it with flour. By following this method all the juices are retained in the meat, and it will eat neb without being greasy. Flouring it when it is partially done gives a. brown, speckled appearance to the outside. To finish, take it down from the rack, put the thick end for a while to the fire, and sprinkle with salt the last thing. All the gravy that drips from the meat should be used, and if the joint is large there will be almost sufficient for the dish. The dripping must be poured off entirely, then a little boiling water is to be stirred into the well of the dripping-pan; in dishing-up it is poured round not over the meat, to prevent its tasting soddened. A joint so cooked is fit to set before an epicure. For vegetables, use large saucepans full ot boiling water, with salt added. This prevents the strong flavor they sometimes have, and which is so unpleasant. Dishing up must be performed quickly and dexterously, so that all maybe served hot; and the housemaid should at any spare moment assist. Plates and dishes should have a brilliant furnish on them, and should be placed in a screen before the fire to make them very hot. , The housemaid must give herself plenty of time to lay the cloth for dinner. It requires both taste and skill to do this nicely, -the damask must be faultless, the table napkins folded into some pretty device, the glasses brilliant, the silver polished to perfection, and the flowers which should never be an-sent-artisticallv arranged. The mistress will probably take the latter under h:r care ; but who ever undertakes them should arrange them lightly and graeef ally-flowers packed closely together, after the style common to the generality of gardeners, are seen to the least advantage. A few, well chosen as to color, softened with delicate, feathery foliage, will outvie in elegance the richest blooms when massed together. When waiting at a table, the servant should move about the room gently, and avoid clashing the plates or glasses against one another. She should hand everything on the left side of the company, be quick at seeing when plates are empty, and that no one waits for vegetables or sauces. A mistress should take pains to teach a young housemaid how to wait, and never let her get into careless ways ; if she tries every day to do her best, she will experience no difficulty, and feel no nervousness when there is company to dinner, No faults should be corrected at the table; but on the following morning-any errors may be mentioned and explanations given as to the way in which they are to be guarded against in trie future. Dinner over, the housemaid clears away I noiselessly, the cook assisting. Silver must he washed in hot water, alone, in a wooden bowl, if it is to be kept bright, be dried with a perfectly clean towel, and finished off with a leather. Glass should never be washed save in clear water in a wooden bowl, lea leaves will clean=glass bottles and make them lustrous ; they can be used with safety, but; on no account must soda be allowed in the cleansing of glass. Love-Making in a Newspaper.-Tbere lives in New York, said a recent importation from the East, a newspaper man who is a striking illustration of what love making through the papers may accomplish. He is now a gray bearded msn of leisure, but years and years ago he was a struggling young editorial writer oa a western paper. He wrote with a good deal of earnestness on sentimental topics. Having conceived an earnest, devoted, absorbing love for a young lady,and knowing that she was greatly interested in certain lines of work and thought, he manto put his heart in his editorials for her benefit. Ido not mean that he did not write for the public, but that he wrote for the public better because of the warmth in his heart towards the woman he loved. At the same time he was carrying forward an ideal character in a series of sketches. He had pictured this young lady so plainly that many recognised her as the heroine of his romance. But so tenderly, so delicately was the subject handled, that any one might have felt flattered at all that was said. In fact, the lady herself was in the habit of saying that she was content to be regarded as the character so finely pictured. But in time the heroine was carried towards the hero of the story in a way to leave open the question of her regard, and then the sketches were broken off. ± , ~ At this time the writer was the bluest man I ever saw. He told me he had come to a crisis in his affairs. He had carried the discussions in his editorials to a point where he was in danger of showing to the public his attachment to the ideal who had inspired all of his work on that line. He could not take the story of his sketches without hinting at a denotement that might be offensive to the lady who had been kind enough to be pleased with his picture of the ideal woman. There was only one way out of the trouble, and that was to tell the object of his love how highly he regarded her. He did this in one of the most beautiful letters that I have any recollection of, and in six months hi 9 ideal woman was his wife. A Phenomenal Woman.—lt was at the linings counter in a certain shop, and seven women were seated on the stools in front of the counter buying linings. The patient salesman listened to their discussions and their monologues, answered their inquiries and patiently changed their orders to suit their whims. Suddenly a blithe yet quiet little lady appeared with a bit of gray cheviot in her hand. One of the salesmen, who was waiting for a lady in a black satin gown to determine whether she would have a yard and a half or a yard and three-quarters of percaline, looked at the newcomer with an expression of mingled inquiry and relief. He evidently recognised her and hoped to have the pleasure of waiting upon her. It must have been a pleasure to his soul, tried with the exasperating delay of the woman he was serving. '• Pleatc give me five yards of English cambric exactly two shades darker than this cheviot," said the woman, who knew what she wanted, " and one yard and seven-eighths of the second quality of silesia two shades lighter, and half a yard of hair cloth of the color of the cambric. Please take this half sovereign and I will come back for my change | and the things after 1 have been to the I buttons and trimmings counters." ! I had the curiosity to follow her to the I trimmings counter. She asked for her silk i and twist, cotton, braid, shields and whale- | bones in the same quick, exact manner and I turned around to the buttons counter while I they were being done up. She asked for the card of sample buttons, picked out those she wanted incredibly soon, then retraced her steps gathered up her purchases as she went, taking a parcel from the counter -of cheviots as she passed after going to the linings counter. Probably she hadn't time to have ; th« things sent home. rr. ■ one can easily ira-a-jino that she lvvl lU at dress cut out and • fi:; .i :•■•' 'iair .unshed before she went to i 60 tha- -.-'lit.