Table Setting — Silver Flatware

Pictured above, “Continental” sized flatware can make plates and dishes look rather dwarfed, compared to smaller, American sized flatware. American flatware over the past 80 years or so, has been about an inch shorter and a bit smaller than its British and European counterparts. This except from the 1951, “The American Woman’s Cookbook” (formerly “The Delineator Magazine Cookbook”) clearly promotes using smaller flatware when entertaining.  —  “The luncheon knife and fork offer the greatest variety of uses. They may be used “around the clock,”for breakfast, for luncheon, for supper, and for certain courses at dinner, such as hors d'oeuvres, entrée, fish, salad, for dishes served in a ramekin, for dishes served at informal entertaining, and for large and small sandwiches. Smaller than the luncheon knife and fork are the tea knife and fork, with their increasingly-recognized number of uses.”

The silver on your table is a declaration of your taste. Whether it is sterling or plate, there is, in an excellent pattern and in the perfect form and proportion of the utensils, an unmistakable aristocracy that gives distinction.

Modern methods of manufacturing silver plate have made it not only durable but beautiful as well. Plated silver ranges from the very durable triple-plated ware, (heavy weight) which lasts a lifetime, through the double plate (medium weight) which has good wearing qualities, to the single plate which is light weight.

When you choose a pattern of silver, examine all the pieces, to be sure that you approve of the shapes of all the pieces, that the pieces are perfectly balanced, that the handles are comfortable to hold, and that the tips of the handles of the knives and forks fit perfectly into the center of the palm of the hand. Find out how long the pattern has been on the market, and, if possible, how long it is to be made, so that you will not suddenly discover that the pattern has been “discontinued.”

Place silver, or flat silver as it is sometimes called, consists of the knives, forks, and spoons necessary for general use at table.

Knives and Forks

The dinner knife and fork, although imposing members of the silver-family, are not the most important members, for their use is limited to the main course of dinner. The luncheon knife and fork offer the greatest variety of uses. They may be used “around the clock,”for breakfast, for luncheon, for supper, and for certain courses at dinner, such as hors d'oeuvres, entrée, fish, salad, for dishes served in a ramekin, for dishes served at informal entertaining, and for large and small sandwiches. Smaller than the luncheon knife and fork are the tea knife and fork, with their increasingly-recognized number of uses.

Butter spreaders are necessary in your first list. Later if you are not content to use the medium size knives and forks or the tea knives and forks for special courses like fish, entrée, salad, and fruit, you may buy fish knives and forks. entree knives and forks, and salad knives and forks (or, if you prefer, individual salad forks,) and fruit knives, or preferably, fruit knives and forks.

Spoons

Accompanying the medium size knife and fork, and of a size between a teaspoon and a tablespoon, is the dessert spoon, the spoon of a variety of uses, from eating soup and cereals, to eating desserts such as pudding and compote of fruit. 

Teaspoons have a great variety of uses, and while these are the first kind of small spoon to be bought you will want to add when you can, orange spoons, bouillon spoons, ice-cream spoons, coffee spoons, five o'clock teaspoons, and iced tea spoons. —From “The American Woman’s Cookbook,” 1951

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