The Etiquette of Serving Breakfast

A Housekeeper’s Manual from the Gilded Age

  

HOW TO PREPARE AND SERVE BREAKFAST

When we first began to talk of editing this book, a gentleman said to me, "If you will tell how to cook a steak properly, that receipt alone will be worth the price of the book." To the old adage, "Time and tide wait for no man," I have added "my breakfast table." I do not think that gentleman will ever eat a nicely cooked steak in his own house, for he is never ready to sit down to the table when breakfast is served.

We will have the bill of fare to consist of broiled beefsteak, Saratoga potatoes, scrambled eggs, yeast powder biscuit, tea and coffee (see my receipts for preparing all of these dishes). After the servant has started her fire she sets the table, takes the plates to the kitchen to be warmed (in the winter), takes the dishes in which the breakfast is to be served to the kitchen; puts the skillet on the stove to get hot to fry the potatoes in; makes biscuits and puts them in three pans and sets them aside; cooks the Saratoga potatoes and sets them on the hot water reservoir to keep warm; breaks the eggs into a bowl and seasons them; puts the coffee on to boil. 

I have a regular hour for breakfast, but sometimes we might not be ready when it was announced, so I have a speaking tube to the kitchen, and I call to the cook to serve breakfast; that means to put the steak on to broil, and and all the household know that they have twenty minutes to get ready for breakfast. 

She puts the tea to steep, and the steak on to cook; the skillet or gridiron must have been placed on the back of the stove, to get hot before this time. You will readily see that the cook can follow one of my directions for broiling a steak, i. e., never to leave it until it is done. During the last three minutes the steak is cooking she can fill the teapot and pour it into the pot in which it is to be served; pour off the coffee; put the first pan of biscuits in to bake, just before filling the teapot. 

She now puts the tea, coffee, potatoes and steak on the table (see my rules for serving, as well as preparing these dishes), and announces break- fast; then puts another pan of biscuits in the stove, cooks the eggs, and brings them to the table.

By putting the pans of biscuits in the oven at different times, they can be served hot and freshly baked Now, my dear young housekeepers, you can see that it is just as easy to have a meal freshly cooked as to have it spoiled by mismanagement on your part, as well as the cook's. By being careful to observe how long it requires to properly cook an article, and what can be set aside to be kept warm, and what must be served as soon as cooked, you can always have your dishes in perfection.

If you have a first course of fruit or oatmeal, some of the dishes can be prepared while that is being served. Melons, oranges, and all kinds of fruits, should be served at breakfast. In their season, sliced tomatoes, with a mayonaise dressing, or plain vinegar, is a refreshing breakfast dish. A number of nice breakfast dishes may be found in receipts for entrées. — From “Housekeeping and Dinner Giving in Kansas City,” Mrs. Willis, 1887

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia