The Etiquette of Fondue

Don’t ask for chocolate fondue in Switzerland as it is not a traditional Swiss dish. – Put the fondue fork down directly on the table if there isn’t a tablecloth or rest the fondue fork in a spoon, if there is a table cloth, or rest it on a plate at your setting that is specifically for the fondue fork.

Fondue Rules and History

Dear Miss Etiquette: Please tell me how to properly eat fondue. Do you eat the dippers right off the fondue fork, or do you take it off and put it on your plate and eat it with a regular dinner fork? While you are at it, tell me how to eat chocolate fondue.
Signed, Concerned

Dear Concerned: Fondue has its own vocabulary. Fondue is a French word, meaning to “melt.” In culinary usage, fondue means “melting to an edible consistency,” and does not refer to cheese alone. Fondue is billed as the national dish of Switzerland. When you are eating fondue, you are called a “dipper” or a “dunker.”

As you may know, there are several types of fondue. Cheese fondue is served in a fondue pot. It is kept warm by electric heat or Sterno heat. A bowl of bite- sized squares of French bread accompany the pot.

A piece of bread is speared on a long fork, called a fondue fork, and then dipped into the hot cheese. When sufficiently coated, it is withdrawn, held over the pot for a moment or two to drip, and then moved over to a dinner plate where you remove the bread from the fondue fork with the tines of your dinner fork.

Put the fondue fork down directly on the table if there isn’t a tablecloth or rest the fondue fork in a spoon, if there is a table cloth, or rest it on a plate at your setting that is specifically for the fondue fork.

The bread is eaten with the dinner fork. The dinner fork is not used to spear the bread that is dipped into the cheese never, ever.

A true master of fondue dips the bread into the fondue pot in a back and forth motion while swirling the bread, at the same time, clockwise. You should give the fondue a final turn, always in this same clockwise direction, for the next person who is about to dip.

Chocolate fondue is also served in a pot. A chunk of cake or a piece of fruit is speared on a long fondue fork and dipped into the chocolate until thoroughly coated.

After it is withdrawn, it is held over the pot for a moment or two before being transferred to a dessert plate where it is removed from the fondue fork by a dessert fork. The chocolate-coated cake or piece of fruit is eaten with the dessert fork. What a wonderful thought!

It is truly Swiss Alpine cooking that has become so international, Italy is credited with fondue in a book by Eric Weir (an Englishman) entitled, “When Madame Cooks.” You may be interested in knowing fondue was introduced to New York in 1795 by Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin during his two-year exile during the French Revolution.

Some of the basics of fondue are:

• A successful fondue party is limited to eight persons; 
• If fondue is over-cooked, it will become stringy; 
• It is proper etiquette to keep the fondue in a constant stir while never allowing it to stand still; 
• At some fondue parties if the bread comes off of a dunker's fondue fork, the dunker pays a forfeit of a bottle of wine.
• By the way, if the ever popular Swiss cheese fondue becomes too thick, you may add a little heated wine to it. 
• At some point, it will cook down and there will be a crust at the bottom of the pot. The host usually forks it out and divides it among the guests. 
• If chocolate fondue becomes too thick, enjoy it anyway. – Anita Shower, 2001

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

Italianate Style Dining

“… meals had been served in what was called the Italianate style, which had been brought to the French court by Catherine de'Medici. In this style, apparently revived from the Roman Empire, all food was prepared, then placed helter-skelter on the table. There might be separate “services” or “plates,” but since each service might include fish, fowl, game, fruits, and sweets, there was little point in keeping them apart.” — Public domain engraving of Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, in his Physiology of Taste, published in 1825, had introduced a new “ordinance of the table,” which he is said to have devised during his exile in the United States during the last years of the 18th century. Prior to the introduction of his new theory, meals had been served in what was called the Italianate style, which had been brought to the French court by Catherine de'Medici. In this style, apparently revived from the Roman Empire, all food was prepared, then placed helter-skelter on the table. There might be separate “services” or “plates,” but since each service might include fish, fowl, game, fruits, and sweets, there was little point in keeping them apart.

Under Savarin's system, which has now become so common that few people realize how original it was at the time of its introduction, the old “services” became “courses,” each consisting of only one fundamental food, and these were arranged in a logical order. The logic was Savarin's; if anyone questioned why fish should come before meat, or a stew before a roast it was because Savarin said that was the way it should be -and Savarin was confident of his own taste. He stressed the necessity of having the wines complement the food, and taught that every meal should be a festive occasion with gay, cheerful conversation and a well-chosen group. The new scheme was adopted to a limited extent throughout Europe during the ensuing years; it made its appearance in the United States about mid-century, but was not generally accepted until after the War between the States.

At least one silverware manufacturer paid his debt to Savarin by naming a tableware pattern after him; there seems to be no record of the dedication of one of the numerous books on decorum and etiquette to the French master, but that was surely merely an oversight on the part of the authors and publishers for whom a whole new field had opened.— From “American Silver Flatware 1837-1910,” by Noel Turner, 1972

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

Dinner Party Rule of 8 Etiquette

The French born, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, gained his fame as an epicure and gastronome and helped found the genre of the gastronomic essay. He made famous the aphorism, “Tell me what you eat, and I'll tell you who you are.” He believed that food defined a nation and wrote of the food in the reign of Louis XV. 

Revived from Brillat Savarin, anent the composition of a dinner-party, restricts the number at table to eight, or to the number divisible by eight, for the reason that as each course must have its own appropriate wine, and as each bottle of wine holds eight glasses, that number is the most convenient. 

Baron Haussmann, Prefect of the Seine, and the master spirit of all the rebuilding going on here, has brought this theory into fashion by adopting it as the rule in the grand dinners he gives at the Hotel de Ville, and at which he takes care that the number of people who sit down to his banquets shall be exactly divisible by eight, one bottle of each course of wine, and one only, being provided for every eight guests.  

Just now, small recherché dinner parties are the prevailing furor. Since the Prefect of the Seine has publicly adopted the “rule of eight” as the measure of the dinner table, that number has become the reigning complement of a dinner table; and as the capacity of wine-bottles is eight glasses, the convenience of the arrangement is causing it to be generally adopted. For a dinner party of eight persons, one bottle of each course of wine suffices; for a party of sixteen, two bottles ; for one of twenty four, three bottles ; and so on. – Daily Alta News, 1865

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

Etiquette Duties of Dinner Hosts

"Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are."  Brillat-Savarin ...  "To invite a friend to dinner," says Brillat -Savarin, "is to become responsible for his happiness so long as he is under your roof." 

In summing up the little duties and laws of the table, a popular author has said that — "The chief matter of consideration at the dinner-table — as, indeed, everywhere else in the life of a gentleman — is to be perfectly composed and at his ease. He speaks deliberately; he performs the most important act of the day as if he were performing the most ordinary. Yet there is no appearance of trifling or want of gravity in his manner; he maintains the dignity which is so becoming on so vital an occasion. He performs all the ceremonies, yet in the style of one who performs no ceremonies at all. He goes through all the complicated duties of the scene as if he were 'to the manner born.'" To the giver of a dinner we have but one or two remarks to offer. If he be a bachelor, he had better give his dinner at a good hotel, or have it sent in from Birch's or Kühn's. If a married man, he will, we presume, enter into council with his wife and his cook. In any case, however, he should always bear in mind that it is his duty to entertain his friends in the best manner that his means permit; and that this is the least he can do to recompense them for the expenditure of time and money which they incur in accepting his invitation.

"To invite a friend to dinner," says Brillat Savarin, "is to become responsible for his happiness so long as he is under your roof." Again:--"He who receives friends at his table, without having bestowed his personal supervision upon the repast placed before them, is unworthy to have friends." A dinner, to be excellent, need not consist of a great variety of dishes; but everything should be of the best, and the cookery should be perfect. That which should be cool should be cool as ice; that which should be hot should be smoking; the attendance should be rapid and noiseless; the guests well assorted; the wines of the best quality; the host attentive and courteous; the room well lighted; and the time punctual. —From "Routledge's Manual of Etiquette"
by George Routledge and Sons, c. 1860s

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

Etiquette and Food of Louis XV

He who receives friends and pays no attention to the repast prepared for them, is not fit to have friends.

Dining in the Reign of Louis XV

Louis XV of France's reign, from 1723-1774, managed to bridge the dazzling opulence of his predecessor to the tragic exorbitance of his successor. Reflecting changes during his reign, were the culinary offerings of the kitchen of Louis VX.

According to The Physiology of Taste, by Brillat-Savarin, in 1825, “The reign of Louis XV was no less happy for gastronomy. Eighteen years of peace healed painlessly the wounds made by more than sixty years of war; wealth created by industry, and either spread out by commerce or acquired by its tradesmen, made former financial inequalities disappear, and the spirit of conviviality invaded every class of society. It is during this period that there was generally established more orderliness in the meals, more cleanliness and elegance, and those various refinements of service which, having increased steadily until our own time, threaten now to overstep all limits and lead us to the point of ridicule.”

The French born, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, gained his fame as an epicure and gastronome and helped found the genre of the gastronomic essay. He made famous the aphorism, "Tell me what you eat, and I'll tell you who you are." He believed that food defined a nation and wrote of the food in the reign of Louis XV. 

A Samplng of Brillat-Savarin's French Food Etiquette of the Era:

•  A dessert without cheese is like a beautiful woman who has lost an eye.

• A cook may be taught, but a man who can roast, is born with the faculty.

•  The most indispensable quality of a good cook is promptness. It should also be that of the guests.

• To wait too long for a dilatory guest, shows disrespect to those who are punctual.

• He who receives friends and pays no attention to the repast prepared for them, is not fit to have friends.

• The mistress of the house should always be certain that the coffee be excellent; the master that his liquors be of the first quality.

• To invite a person to your house is to take charge of his happiness as long as he be beneath your roof.

And a 1740 Sample Menu for Ten

• 1st course: the bouilli (meat with its broth); an entree of veal cooked in its own juice; an hors d'oeuvre.

• 2nd course: a turkey; a plate of vegetables; a salad; a creamy pudding 

• Dessert: some cheese; some fruit; a jar of preserves.

• Plates were exchanged only three times, after the soup, at the second course, and for dessert. 

• Coffee was very rarely served, but quite often there was a cordial made from cherries or garden pink, still something of a novelty then.

“Supper” was was not the main meal of the day, but a meal served later in the evening.

Supper eaten by Louis XV at the Chateau in September of 1755

The Soups

• Two oilles: One of large onions, One a l'espagnole
• Two potages: One de sante, One of turnip puree

The Entrees

• Small pies a la balaquine, Rabbit fillets a la Genevoise, Filet mignon of Mutton with sauce piquant, Fillets of Pheasant en matelote, Quails with bay leaves, Turtle doves a la vinitienne, Partridges a l'ancient salmy, Small garnished Pigeons, Blanquette of Fowls with truffles, Marinade of Campines, Fowl wings en hatelets, Leg of Veal glazed with its own juice, Minced game a la turque, Sweetbreads St. Menehould, Rouen Ducklings with orange, Halicot with dark veloute sauce.

Four Releves

• Roast Mutton of Choisy, Rump of Beef a l'ecarlate, Sirloin, minced with chicory, Caux Fowls with raw onion

Four Main Entremets

• Pheasant pie, Jambon de Perdrouillet, Brioche, Croquante

Two Medium Entremets — Roasts

• Small chickens, Campines, Ortolans, Thrushes, Guignards, Red-leg Partridges, Pheasants, Rouen Duckling

Sixteen Small Entremets

• A Coffee Cream, Artichokes a la galigoure, Cardoons a l'essence, Cauliflower with Parmesan, Eggs with partridge gravy, Truffles a la cendre, Spinach with gravy, Cocks' crests, Animelles, Green beans with verjuice, Ham omelette, Turkey legs a la duxelles, Mixed ragout, Chocolate profiterolles, Small jalousies, Creme a la genest.

 

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

Etiquette and Finger Bowls

Ready for royalty — Buckingham Palace finger bowls (originally wine glass rinsers) on dessert plates with dessert flatware. 

The Rise and Progress of the Fingerbowl... 

With a Bit About Napkins

“Pray tender some information,” writes A.H., in regard to finger-bowls after dinner. The history of the dinner-table etiquette, as far as the cleansing of the finger goes, has caused a great deal of discussion. In “Notes and Queries” some information was asked about it a number of years ago, but not any very satisfactory responses were received.

Table manners and table equipage have been derived from the French. Strange as it may seem, a great many dinner amenities owe their origin to the East. Bibliophile Jacob says somewhere that the napkins during a repast were possibly brought into use in Europe after the Crusades.

Oriental habits at dinner, where the Turk of the old school to-day, having no knife or fork, plunges his fingers in the pilau, is but a continuation of customs of the time of Saladin. The Oriental is excessively clean in his habits, and between the fingerings of the viands and some of the manipulations of a cook with his dishes, really the difference is only this that the Turk who picks out a peculiar nice titbit to offer to his guest does it in view of everyone, while the cook’s prior actions are not seen.

As fountains were over spurting and gurgling, Harun al Raschid’s banqueting halls, opportunities to cleanse one’s fingers in the flowing waters must have been over at hand. Oriental people retain the habit of hand or finger washing after a dinner.

The method is not, perhaps, adapted to our customs, yet is a very sensible one. A servant, after the repost, makes the round of the table, (the guests are seated on low cushions on the floor) holding a copper vessel, provided with a very long but narrow spout. In the other hand he carries a wide deep copper basin. A tiny stream of water is poured over the fingers of the guests into the basin, while another servant follows with a towel.


 The finger bowl usually arrives with a doily and the dessert plate beneath it. When using the finger bowl, dip only the fingertips of the hands into the bowl. Wipe your fingertips dry with your napkin (never the doily) while your napkin remains on your lap. Carefully lift the finger bowl and doily and place them to your upper left of your place setting.

The first portion of the performance is proper enough; but as one towel usually serves or all guests, a kind of universal sack towel, delicate-minded Europeans rather dislike the custom. It is not necessary to go further back, and refer to the Biblical habits before and after partaking of food.

As to the more modern custom, Brillat Saravin, whose book on the Physiologie du goût (The Physiology of Taste) was written in the early part of this century, inveighs against the fingerbowls. “It was about 40 years ago that some people in good society – they were most always women – commenced to wash out their mouths (rincer la buche) after their meals." Brillat Saravin deprecates the custom, and calls it useless, indecent, and disgusting, rather directing, however, his criticism against the mouth-rinsing than the finger-dipping. It is useless, he writes, “because the mouth is in excellent condition at the end of a repast, when fruit has been partaken of, or a last glass of wine or water has been imbibed”.

Say what one may the cleaning of the mouth after dinner is a disgusting habit, and no screening of this operation, by placing the hand before the mouth, can conceal, its objectionable features. If an after-dinner ablution has to be performed, especially when fruit is eaten, it should be restricted to the use of the finger-bowl alone.

The smaller goblet then introduced in the fingerbowl should be discarded, unless in order to add completeness, a tooth-brush were added to the paraphernalia. No attempt to lay down the laws of etiquette can be attempted in this column, yet if A.H. may have observed the behavior of nay number of well-bred guests at a table, an inquirer must have noticed that not one person in ten to-day makes use of the objectionable mouth-glass. To drive it entirely out of use, it would be only necessary for someone to follow quietly, yet not too markedly, the actions of a pretty woman in the act of cleansing her mouth.

Where she a great lady, armed with a triple cuirass of aplomb, she could not stand even the semblance of a few inquiring looks in which some mute astonishment was mingled. Now, can there be any action at a dinner-table among well-bred people which, when observed, should cause inconvenience? Fingerbowls, then, are not objectionable, but goblets in the fingerbowls for other usages are certainly, as Savarin called them, "Inutile, indecente, et dédégoûtante" or "Useless, indecent and disgusting." –New York Times, 1873

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

Etiquette from Brillat Savarin's “The Physiology of Taste"

A French born lawyer and politician, (1783-1833) writer Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin gained his fame as an epicure and gastronome and helped found the genre of the gastronomic essay. He made famous the aphorism, "Tell me what you eat, and I'll tell you who you are." He believed that food defined a nation. 

APHORISMS OF THE PROFESSOR- 

TO SERVE AS PROLEGOMENA TO HIS WORK AND ETERNAL BASIS TO THE SCIENCE...

"The Creator, when he obliges man to eat, invites him to do so by appetite, and rewards him by pleasure."

I. The universe would be nothing were it not for life and all that lives must be fed.

II. Animals fill themselves; man eats. The man of mind alone knows how to eat.

III. The destiny of nations depends on the manner in which they are fed.

IV. Tell me what kind of food you eat, and I will tell you what kind of man you are.

V. The Creator, when he obliges man to eat, invites him to do so by appetite, and rewards him by pleasure.

VI. Gourmandise is an act of our judgment, in obedience to which, we grant a preference to things which are agreeable, over those which have not that quality.                   

The drunkenness of Noah :"Those persons who suffer from indigestion, or who become drunk, are utterly ignorant of the true principles of eating and drinking."

VII. The pleasure of the table belongs to all ages, to all conditions, to all countries, and to all areas; it mingles with all other pleasures, and remains at last to console us for their departure.

VIII. The table is the only place where one does not suffer, from ennui during the first hour.

IX. The discovery of a new dish confers more happiness on humanity, than the discovery of a new star.

X. Those persons who suffer from indigestion, or who become drunk, are utterly ignorant of the true principles of eating and drinking.
             

"A dessert without cheese is like a beautiful woman who has lost an eye."

XI. The order of food is from the most substantial to the lightest.

XII. The order of drinking is from the mildest to the most foamy and perfumed.

XIII. To say that we should not change our drinks is a heresy; the tongue becomes saturated, and after the third glass yields but an obtuse sensation.

XIV. A dessert without cheese is like a beautiful woman who has lost an eye.

XV. A cook may be taught, but a man who can roast, is born with the faculty.

XVI. The most indispensable quality of a good cook is promptness. It should also be that of the guests.

XVII. To wait too long for a dilatory guest, shows disrespect to those who are punctual.

XVIII. He who receives friends and pays no attention to the repast prepared for them, is not fit to have friends.

XIX. The mistress of the house should always be certain that the coffee be excellent; the master that his liquors be of the first quality.

XX. To invite a person to your house is to take charge of his happiness as long as he be beneath your roof.

From Brillat Savarin's “The Physiology of Taste," 1825