On Early 20th C. American Cookery

From, “Breakfasts, Lunches and Dinners, how to plan them, how to serve them, how to behave at them, how to behave at them: a book for school and home” by the Boston Cooking-School Magazine

To the Woman in the Home

Some years ago a witty and well-known writer deplored the fact that, in every block of twenty houses, twenty dinners were being cooked by twenty women, involving waste of coal and waste of energy, instead of having the twenty families go to a public dining-hall. But where is the dining-hall, hotel, or restaurant, whose meals, when partaken of three times a day for week after week, month after month, year after year, do not produce the sense of intolerable monotony and of everything tasting alike? Where are the hotel and restaurant habitués whose hearts do not hanker and whose mouths do not water for “home food and home cooking?”

Then a newer school of economists arises, to tell us that the “cost of coal” standard— the money standard in anything has to give place to the psychic standard, the wholesome pleasure that transcends its money cost. The home table, the family meals, are a source of this pleasure. The woman in the home, who thinks of everybody’s tastes, who provides for everybody’s needs and idiosyncrasies, has in her hands the bestowal of much solid comfort and happiness in the family life. We might almost go so far as to say that when the home and family meals go, the family will go too, the bond will be weakened which so curiously depends on the breaking of bread together.

To the Woman in the Home then, this book is especially offered for the help it is hoped it will bring her. The thanks of the writer are due to the publishers of American Cookery for permission to include many menus and recipes which appeared in that magazine. Also she desires to acknowledge her indebtedness to the publishers of The Queen’s Work, St. Louis, Missouri, in which first appeared a briefer and less detailed list of the foods included in the tables of the last section of this book.— From “The Boston Cooking-School Magazine Company,” 1920

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

Table Etiquette Topics

(Pictured above, a newly weaned piglet, or "shoat")
The coarse husband who causes a watermelon rind to meet behind his ears every time he makes a pass at it, has induced many a trustful wife to view the table manners of the shoat with increasing admiration. 

The watermelon is the cause of more bum table etiquette than the Irish potato served with the jacket on, which has to be impaled at the waist line and disrobed before the eyes of a polite company. 

We don’t know which is worse—the man who inhales a vertical section of watermelon with a gulping intake, like the suction of a steam pump, or the guest who runs a nervous finger over his rear gums in order to round up an overflow of green corn. 

The coarse husband who causes a watermelon rind to meet behind his ears every time he makes a pass at it, has induced many a trustful wife to view the table manners of the shoat with increasing admiration. 

A prominent Eastern society journal conveys the discouraging information that the mold of fashion in New York and Newport, is about to discard the time honored practices of swabbing a piece of rye bread in the gravy, and for wiping one’s fingers on the nearest doily. The decrees of fashion become more cruel and arbitrary every year. — Sacramento Union, 1911

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

Etiquette Humor for the Weekend

"Manners is manners an' I always taught you manners when you was a young one. I wouldn't let you grab for the biggest piece o' pie on the plate an' I wouldn't let you spill, and when you drunk. I made you drink quiet.

A Lesson in Manners

"I wish you wouldn't pa." said the oldest girl. "Wish I wouldn't what?" asked the plain citizen. "Eat with your knife," replied the daughter; "It's so __________."  "So what?" asked the old gentleman, knitting his shaggy brows. "So unconventional." "Now, lookee here." said the plain citizen. "I'm 60 years old and getting older every minute, but I'm not too old to learn. If you can show me any way of gettin' gravy up to my month with my fork I'm willing to try it. I've got to use a knife," "People don't do it, pa." "You're mistaken about that I know a heap o' people that do it" "But not refined people, pa." "Ireeny," said the plain citizen, you make me tired. I b'lieve in being polite when there's sense to it."

"Manners is manners an' I always taught you manners when you was a young one. I wouldn't let you grab for the biggest piece o' pie on the plate an' I wouldn't let you spill, and when you drunk. I made you drink quiet. You wasn't allowed to wipe your month on the tablecloth or speak with your mouth full. Them's manners. Juss so long's I keep my own knife on my own vittles, I claim that it's my own business whether I put it in my mouth or not —ain't it?" "Well, perhaps it is, but ..." 

"There isn't any 'but' about it. When I took you to the city last fall there was a feller setting at a table in the restaurant where we was, dressed to kill he was, too, and when he got through eating he lit up a cigareet —and wimmin' setting right there— 'member that?" "Yes, but..." "No 'but' about it. If he'd ben a boy o' mine, I'd have jerked him out o' the room and taught him manners. When that fam'ly was stayin' with us last summer you fussed because I sat down to the table in my shirtsleeves. The man he set down without even a vest and that was all right. I think it was all right, too, but why is muslin any more improper than blue and white striped flannel, and how is a belt any better than suspenders? They're both to hold the pants up." 

"Why, pa!" "I hope you don't mean to say that pants is unconventional!" "Ireeny, you talk a lot of poppycock. I'm willing to be polite, as I said, but I'm going to use common sense about it, and I'm going to eat with my knife as much as I dern please and I don't want to hear any more out of you about it. Understand that, don't you, Ireeny?" "Yes, pa," replied the daughter.  —Chicago Daily News, 1905

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Moderator and Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Etiquette of Gilded Age Breakfasts

Fruit at breakfast does not necessarily demand a waitress. In may be served at each cover before the guests and family seat themselves. It does call for a finger bowl, however. Only when berries or sliced fruits are served can the finger bowl be omitted.

Breakfast is the first meal of the American day. It should be daintily and deftly served. Fruit, cereal and some main dish (bacon, fish, eggs) together with toast, hot rolls or muffins, coffee, tea or cocoa, are its main essentials. The bare, doilied table is popular for breakfast use.

BREAKFAST FRUIT

Fresh pears, plums, peaches, apricots, nectarines, mandarins and apples are all served in the same manner—on a plate about six inches across, with a silver fruit knife for quartering and peeling. If a waitress serves, fruit knife and plate are placed first, and then the dish containing the fruit is passed.

Berries—raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, as also baked apples, stewed fruits (peaches, prunes and apricots) and all cooked fruits, are offered in little fruit dishes on service plates, together with powdered (or fine granulated) sugar and cream. Strawberries are sometimes left unhulled, when of “exhibition” size. They then should be served in apple bowls or plates, with powdered sugar on the side.

In serving grapes, the waitress, after supplying fruit plates, passes a compote containing the grapes and offers fruit shears, so that each guest may cut what he or she desire. Cherries are served in the same manner, with the addition of a finger bowl.

When grapefruit is served, it is usually as a half, the core removed and sugar added, on a fruit plate or in a grapefruit bowl, together with an orange spoon.

Oranges may be served from a compote, whole, and may be eaten cut crosswise in halves, with the orange spoon; or peeled and eaten in sections. If oranges are served peeled and sliced on a fruit plate they may be eaten with a fork. Sugar should always be passed when they are eaten in this way. Orange juice is the extracted juice served in small glasses two-thirds full.                  

Oranges may be served from a compote, whole, and may be eaten cut crosswise in halves, with the orange spoon; or peeled and eaten in sections.

Cantaloupe (filled with cracked ice) and honeydew melon (it is smart to accompany the latter with a slice of lemon) are served in halves or quarters, on fruit plates (or special melon dishes) and eaten with a fruit spoon. Sugar, salt and pepper should be offered with these by the waitress. Watermelon is usually cut in wedges or circles. It should always be served very cold, on a large fruit plate, and with fruit knife and fork. If half-melons are served, with the rind, the host cuts egg-shaped pieces from the fruit, and places it on individual plates for passing by the waitress.

Bananas may be served “in the skin” at breakfast, or peeled and sliced, with sugar and cream, or sprinkled with sugar and lemon juice.

Shredded pineapple, sprinkled with sugar, or sliced pineapple (slices an inch thick) may be served from a large dish by the waitress.

Fruit at breakfast does not necessarily demand a waitress. In may be served at each cover before the guests and family seat themselves. It does call for a finger bowl, however. Only when berries or sliced fruits are served can the finger bowl be omitted.

Bananas may be served “in the skin” at breakfast, or peeled and sliced, with sugar and cream, or sprinkled with sugar and lemon juice.

CEREALS

Cereals are a matter of personal taste. Cooked cereals, such as oatmeal, rolled oats, hominy, corn-meal mush and cracked wheat should come on the table hot, and be served in bowls with sugar (brown sugar, if preferred) and cream. Again, the host may serve the cereal from a large porringer, the waitress bringing him the individual bowls, and taking them to the guests when filled. Dry cereals are served in the same way. Puffed grains or flakes gain crispness and flavor when reheated, not browned, before serving.

TOAST

The best breakfast toast is that made at the table over an electric toaster. Be sure, if you have French toast, hot cakes or waffles served, that they come from the kitchen hot. A perforated silver cover should cover the plate containing them to prevent their cooling. Never use a soup plate or bowl for the purpose! The steam cannot escape and the toast grows soggy. Do not forget syrup when waffles, hot cakes or French toast are served. Some prefer cinnamon and sugar to syrup with hot cakes, and they should also be on hand.

BACON

Bacon is the ideal breakfast meat. The rasher of bacon should be served piping hot on a hot silver platter, in crisp, curling slices. Incidentally, it should be just as crisp when it appears with a favorite companion, as “bacon and eggs.”

EGGS

Cooked in the shell (medium or soft-boiled) eggs should be served in an egg cup or egg glass, on a plate, and under cup or glass. Each egg thus served should be accompanied by a silver egg cutter and (unless there is plenty of silver at the cover) a silver spoon.

A vegetable dish or a small plate will do for the hard-boiled egg.

Poached eggs appear in individual shirred egg dishes, to the left of each cover, on small plates with service spoon.

Scrambled eggs are served in individual portions, as above; or distributed by the host from a large platter, and passed by the waitress.

Omelet should be served on a large platter with hot individual service plates before the host. The waitress may pass the individual portions or—it is customary with scrambled eggs—they may be passed from host to guest around the table.     

Coffee is the favorite and logical breakfast drink, though some prefer tea, cocoa and milk. When tea is the breakfast beverage the samovar takes the place of the percolator.

COFFEE

Coffee is the favorite and logical breakfast drink, though some prefer tea, cocoa and milk. The breakfast coffee service should be placed before the hostess. In its most attractive form it comprises a large silver tray, which holds coffee (or percolator), the hot-water pot, creamer, sugar bowl with tongs, and cups and saucers. (There may also be a bowl for the water used to heat the cups.) When tea is the breakfast beverage the samovar takes the place of the percolator.

The large silver service platter may be dispensed with, if desired, in favor of a tile to hold the coffee urn, the other components of the service being grouped about it. There is a charming touch of intimacy about coffee made at the table with an electric percolator, poured by the hostess and passed at the table (or by a waitress). When the hostess pours she should at the same time ask the guest’s preferences (those of members of the family are supposed to be known) as regards cream and sugar. Cream and sugar always enter the cup first! The true coffee-drinker at once notices a difference in flavor if the coffee first be poured, and the cream and sugar added.

FOR THE CHILDREN
 
If the children eat breakfast with the family, a regular child’s service, with attractive little knives and spoons should be provided, and his whole service, preferably, should be arranged on a tray near the table’s edge. Every child likes to have his own porridge bowl, his mug and little milk pitcher, and having his own table tools teaches him to be neat and self-reliant. –From Lillian B. Lansdown

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

Etiquette Classes at Kansas College, 1911

To be a veritable Chesterfield at table,"Don't eat pie so ravenously that it will get in your ears!" 

At the Kansas Agricultural College— by means of formal and informal lunch and dinner parties under an instructor's supervision—the whole senior class will study how to eat according to the laws of etiquette. 

"Practical Cookery and The Etiquette and Service of the Table, Manhattan Department of Printing, Kansas State College of Agriculture and Applied Science" ~ The book went through many revisions over the years, and at first was mainly recipes and instructions. This revised copy is from 1941

A rather pleasant study, by the way, if the college cooks will do their best. Already have these seniors made out a list of nine "dont's" for their own use and that of younger students, which assures one of their firm determination to be veritable Chesterfields at table. 

Thus: 

• Don't balance peas on your knife. 
• Don't eat potatoes with a spoon. 
• Don't eat pie so ravenously that it will get in your ears. 
• Don't tie your napkin around your neck as if you were getting a shave. 
• Don't dip your soup into your vest pocket.
• Don't make the extraction of soup from a spoon sound like escaping steam.
• Don't leave your spoon in your coffee and run the risk of knocking your eye out.
• Don't butter your bread with your thumb.

Hereafter, when anyone scoffingly inquires, "What's the matter with Kansas?" the question can have no possible reference to her table manners. 
—From the Pacific Rural Press, March 1911

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

Etiquette and Mother’s Ingenuity

Mom sees a need for table etiquette lessons, and fills the need herself, in a very creative way... 

Teaching table manners to the children was once a common sight in homes throughout the world.

Children’s Table Manners

“After a long illness in the hospital I returned home to find that my children's table manners had suffered a complete demoralization. They ‘gobbled,’ used knife and fork indiscriminately and always awkwardly, regarded their spoons as shovels and, in short, were perfect little savages. 

“In order to remedy this quickly I started a series of ‘company luncheons,’ at which I was the hostess and the children the guests. I set the table as prettily as possible and made funny little place cards. The children played up delightedly, took grown-up names and even washed their hands without a murmur.

Teaching children in Canada, 1898

“We made a set of simple rules: The guests who behaved perfectly received three pieces of candy, the guests who made only one mistake received one piece of candy, while any unfortunate guest who committed three breaches of table etiquette received no candy at all. 

“Questions on table manners were in order at any time, to be answered by the hostess. I chose dishes for these luncheons which are not always easy to eat elegantly, and I was very happy to see how quickly the children improved in table manners and other manners as well, for our ‘company luncheons’ seemed to help genial courtesy quite wonderfully. 

“The best of it was that there was no nagging nor cross words. It was all good fun, and my four youngsters can now go anywhere and eat anything, and mother has the proud consciousness that they will always appear to good advantage.” – Contributed to the Los Angeles Herald by J. Appleton, June, 1910

This 1950 "training implement for infants" had a "swivel" feature that I am sure kept toddlers entertained, but probably did little to teach the child to move the spoon in the swivel motion himself, or herself.


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

Etiquette for Eating Corn on the Cob

A cob of corn, or ear of corn, is food that can be eaten with the hands, or a fork. If eaten with a fork, you need to be able to hold the cob still to remove the corn and then use your best table manners with your fork. Many utensils were made for this very type of dining, but that was 100 years ago or more. Nowadays most people simply pick the ear of corn up with their hands and then eat. Above ~ A Silver Plated, Green Corn Scraper C. 1900 

Dining in the Victorian and Edwardian Eras was a popular form of entertainment. Breakfasts, lunches and dinners could last several hours, and entertainment in the form of music, or dancing, was provided in the wealthier homes.  Also in the wealthier homes, one would find a vast array of silver dining implements and utensils at each place setting.  Having the newest designs for the most obscure foods that could be purchased, was a way of exhibiting one upmanship with one's peers.

The designs and patents for utensils and other silver marvels for the table were plentiful.  Some were over-the-top in design, while others were much more utilitarian in nature.  After all, one does need to eat, and if a utensil's design was functional, easy to use and pleasing to the eye, it was a hit with consumers.

Green corn on the cob was very popular in the Victorian Era, and it's popularity continued well into the Edwardian Era and beyond.  The difficulty, as with today's corn on the cob, was in serving the corn, and eating the corn, without looking like a complete buffoon and making a spectacle of oneself in the process.  Below is a list of etiquette tips, along with a sampling of some of the more creative items designed for eating corn.

1877 patent- Green corn scrapers or “strippers” were popular items for those who did not wish to deal with the mess of eating corn off of the cob.

A “Green Corn Fork” also patented in 1877.  This looks much like mango forks of today, and also like corn holders that were popular up until the 1920s,  but with much longer handles.

An 1899 patent for a corn slitter which shows the "teeth" as the Victorian designed corn slitter, or scraper, at the very top of the page does not. The "teeth" scraped the corn off of the cob so that one could eat the kernels with one's fork.

A rare Gorham corn holder from 1901, in the Florentine pattern.  Note the man's face on the end of the handle.

A stunning and highly decorative corn holder or “table article” from 1907

A much more utilitarian looking corn cob holder from 1908

A green corn fork patent applied for in 1907 and granted in 1908.  This fork has teeth!  It may have been functional, but was probably hazardous to the mouth.

A patent for a 1909 “Ear Corn Holder.” Artists were not well paid at the time, and tended to make many mistakes when it came to etiquette.  This woman is shown exhibiting two dining faux pas; eating with her elbow on the table, and her napkin still sits on the table as well.  Kudos to the artist who got the rest positions for the knife and fork almost perfect, but what else was she eating that required either utensil?  Her plate was clean.

An 1899 corn slitter or scraper, a 1921 corn fork, designed with one slightly sharper edge and tines, to not only scrape the corn off of the fork, but to eat the corn as well, and a 1925 patented “Ear Corn Server.”

Another patent for a “Green Corn Fork” but this one is from 1943.

Here is a list of the rules to eat corn on the cob in the most polite way:
     

• Do not butter the entire ear before eating. Butter and/or season only a few rows of corn at a time if you can. 
• Hold the corn firmly by the ends or skewers, or holders with both hands, if it is not too hot. 
• Eat a few rows from left to right at a time.  Do not eat in a circle or ring around the corn. Do this as neatly as you can without making loud sounds. 
• Remember to wipe your mouth with your napkin after setting the cob or ear down. 
• Do not pick at your teeth unless you leave the table.  If you need to remove corn stuck between teeth, do so in private. 
• If you have used butter, please make sure your hands are clean before touching other items on the table, so as not to leave a mark or make a mess.

Contributor Maura Graber has been teaching etiquette to children, teens and adults, and training new etiquette instructors, for over 30 years, as founder and director of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette.  She is also a writer, has been featured in countless newspapers, magazines and television shows and was an on-air contributor to PBS in Southern California for 15 years. 

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