“Breakfast” and Other Dining Tidbits

A statue of the Dutch theologian, Erasmus. Erasmus was born in the 15th century (1460s), and died in the 16th century (1530s). – Spoons were communally used—making the etiquette of eating soups a delicate matter. "If what is given is rather fluid," Dutch theologian Erasmus of Rotterdam wrote, “take it on a spoon for tasting and return the spoon after wiping it on a napkin.”

                    

BEFORE BREAKFAST

That the hours of dining vary in different countries is well known, but few persons realize that the meal “breakfast” did not become recognized until late in the seventeenth century. The earliest period to which the word can be traced is 1463. 

In the days of the Tudors, the higher masses dined at 7 and supped at 5, and the merchants seldom took their meals before 12 and 6 o'clock. The chief meals, dinner and supper, were taken in the hall, both by the old English and the Normans, for the parlor did not come into use until the reign of Elizabeth.

Dinner was really the great meal of the day, and from the accession of Henry IV to the death of Queen Elizabeth I, the dinners were as sumptuous and extravagant as any of those in history. Carving was then a fine art, and each person brought his own spoon and knife. 

As the fork was unknown, the diner thoroughly washed his hands before and after each meal, and it was considered a bad breach of table etiquette for one not to use the left hand only in the common dish. – Chico Record, September 1913

 

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

Etiquette Advice for Carving Turkey

The knife should be thin-bladed, pointed and well sharpened. The fork should be a strong, long- handled, 2-tined instrument. A steel for maintaining the keen edge of the knife should be included. The spoon to serve the dressing should have a long handle.

Chef Tells How To Carve Your Thanksgiving Bird

Carving the Thanksgiving turkey can be transformed from an arduous ordeal, fraught with many embarrassing hazards, into a consummate work of art that will arouse the envious admiration of all who observe, simply by following a few simple rules. Etiquette and good form dictate that the Thanksgiving bird be carved at the table, not in the kitchen, but all too often father hesitates to tempt the fates by risking a session before the platted in full public view, particularly if there are guests at the holiday dinner.

There is, however, something irresistibly inviting in watching a skilled carver guide a keen-edge knife through the yielding joints and tender flesh of a well-cooked Thanksgiving turkey, and the savory aroma of a bird taken directly from the roasting oven to the table works wonders with appetites. For the benefit of those readers whose efforts to acquire a technique in dismembering the carcass of a tasty gobbler have left them more or less physically helpless and mentally hopeless, John Nieder, United Air Lines chef, has prepared a few simple pointers on how to do it without exertion or violence. They follow:

• Proper tools are the first requirement. The knife should be thin-bladed, pointed and well sharpened. The fork should be a strong, long- handled, 2-tined instrument. A steel for maintaining the keen edge of the knife should be included. The spoon to serve the dressing should have a long handle.

• Use a platter large enough to provide space for the turkey and also for the carved portions until it is time to serve them. Garnish should be kept to a minimum as an aid to the carver. A few large crisp sprigs of parsley, and chop holders for the drum-sticks are all that is necessary.

• It must be assumed that the bird is properly cooked. Overcooking handicaps the carver for the meat that falls off the bones cannot be sliced attractively.

• Place the bird breast up on the platter, with the legs to the right and the neck to the left of the carver. Plates, glasses, and dishes should be placed well out of the way.

• Each piece of turkey as it is carved is laid on the platter's edge with the most attractive side up. No one is served until enough has been cut to serve each guest, with a little to spare. – Southwest Wave, November 1939

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

1830’s Women and Carving at Table

“A lady who has to preside at table should make herself acquainted with those parts of each dish that are esteemed prime, and, as far as possible, divide a portion to each of her guests.” – The Housekeeper’s Guide, 1838

This is rather a laborious office to devolve upon a female, and every thing should be done that fore-thought can dictate to render it easy.

• A seat rather higher than ordinary, that she may command the table: 

• the dish placed as near the front as will admit of her own plate: 

• the joints of loins, necks, etc… properly divided by the butcher: 

• a knife well sharpened, and of shape and sizes suitable to the purpose required. For a large fleshy joint a long blade, for smaller joints a shorter knife, but strong; 

• for ham or bacon a middling sized knife, pointed and and worn thin at the edge, answers best; 

• and for game or poultry a strong, short knife, sharp pointed, and a little curved. A guard-fork is desirable, especially for large joints. The dish large enough to admit of moving the contents without splashing the gravy. 

A lady who has to preside at table should make herself acquainted with those parts of each dish that are esteemed prime, and, as far as possible, divide a portion to each of her guests. It sometimes happens that a part not esteemed prime is preferred, which enables the carver the better to supply her other guests.—From “The Housekeeper's Guide: Or, A Plain & Practical System of Domestic Cookery,” by Esther Copley, 1838

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

Table Manners and Carving Etiquette

If your husband complains when confronted with the Thanksgiving turkey - you might tell him that carving is the Art of Noblemen. In the Middle Ages, Edward IV of England was served by no less than five Royal Carvers, all noblemen of high degree. After the carving, correct etiquette for those times called for a sort of "grab and gobble" technique, without benefit of table cutlery!

Wail of the Man Who Carves for a Large Family

"A Veteran" writes to the Listener of the Boston Transcript to complain of table manners in these later days, incidentally protesting against the hard lot of the father who has to carve for a large family: "In the old way we are taught to wait until the carving and helping was done before beginning to dispose of the food, out of respect to the carver, and so that he might have a chance to get something to eat and not come out behind all others at the table, but modern 'table manners' seem to have changed all that, and if the carver gets anything to eat he is lucky.

“Modern table manners also do not appear to regard it as any way inappropriate to have a newspaper at hand to occupy the time at table. The old way was to occupy the time in lively conversation, and reading a paper or book was disrespectful. In modern table manners there seems no incivility in lighting a cigarette at the table or in adjourning to the hall to smoke one while the table is being cleared for dessert. There are many other innovations in modern table manners which might be noted, but I think many of the old ways best."

The Listener gives the old grumbler comfort. "It is a queer father of a family who expects to carve and get anything to eat. The size of the roast may be simply prodigious, but, even if the young people at the table who were first served do not come around for a second helping by the time the last person is served the first time the roast will probably by that time have got into the shapeless and refractory condition peculiar to roasts, which will incline the carver to content himself with a little bread and gravy– or at least to the edges off the pangs of hunger with something of that sort, while he is organizing a second assault on the roast for the benefit of the others." – Placer Herald, 1898

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