The currants are to be crushed with a silver fork, sweetened, and put on the ice; just before serving they are put in gla.s.s cups and a spoonful of crushed ice put on top. The bouillon is prepared the day before it is needed, and packed in ice and salt for an hour before the luncheon. The sandwiches pa.s.sed with this are made by spreading very thin bread and b.u.t.ter with chopped water-cress, rolling and tying them, and then inserting a sprig of the cress at either end; it is not absolutely necessary to tie them, but they keep their shape far better if it is done.
Choose a large smoked tongue, and two days before the luncheon boil it until tender, skin it, and lay it in a long narrow pan. Make a bouillon of beef extract, season it highly with red pepper, salt, and lemon juice, and herbs; simmer these together for a few minutes, then add sufficient dissolved gelatine to set the quant.i.ty you will need, and strain the whole over the tongue, a little more than covering it. Put this on the ice, and the next day you will have what our grandmothers used to call "a sightly dish." It is to be put whole on the table, and sliced with a very sharp knife. The tomatoes served with this are to be on the same plate, not treated as a salad.
[Ill.u.s.tration: ICES SERVED IN DRUMS.]
The pineapple is to be picked up in rather large bits and placed on lettuce with mayonnaise. The ice cream is to be put into little paper drums, which may be had at the confectioner"s or possibly the toy store; if, however, they are not to be had in the country, the cream may be put in meringue sh.e.l.ls and tied with ribbons.
The raspberry shrub may be served all through the meal, or made a separate course instead of a sherbet. It is to be made some days before it is needed; this is a simple and excellent rule: Put two and a half ounces of tartaric acid into a quart of water, and pour over six quarts of red raspberries. After two days stir and strain; add to each pint of juice a pound and a half of powdered sugar, stir till dissolved, let it stand four days, and then bottle. If this is too much trouble to prepare, serve lemonade coloured with raspberry juice, and if you wish to have it very nice, use vichy instead of water in making the lemonade.
A fruit sherbet may be introduced if the drink is served all through the meal. For a hot day in summer it is a mistake to have the noon meal too long or too heavy, so in this menu the usual pate or croquette is omitted.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
A NAUTICAL LUNCHEON
This meal may be served at a seaside cottage, or near a lake or even a river, or it may be used on board a yacht. If it happens to be in a house or on a piazza by the sea, the walls near by may be decorated with fish nets and oars.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
Use a table-cloth for the time, and omit any central decoration whatever, even the customary piece of lace. Arrange a small fleet of sail-boats all over the table, fastening them to each other by a couple of strands of narrow ribbon, drawn loosely and tied to each central mast. Heap the decks with some small flower which will look well with the colour of the ribbon. If b.u.t.tercups are to be had, they are pretty, with yellow ribbons; or small pansies are lovely, with purple and yellow; or the deck can be heaped with bonbons, and the ribbons used as with the flowers, if this is preferred. It is necessary to cut off the keels of the little boats in order to have them stand securely, and the small unpainted boats which children use will do, and they can easily be painted white if they are unfinished.
Your cards may be adorned with bits of pressed seaweed, if you are at the seash.o.r.e, or with little sketches of sail-boats, row-boats, oars, or marine views. A meal of sea food might be fancied for variety.
MENU
CREAM OF CLAM SOUP WITH WHIPPED CREAM.
SCALLOPED LOBSTER.
BROILED BLUEFISH. POTATO b.a.l.l.s. ROLLS.
SHRIMP SALAD. SANDWICHES.
ICES IN FISH FORMS. CAKES.
COFFEE. BONBONS.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
The boiled lobster is removed from the sh.e.l.l, seasoned, and mixed with bread crumbs, returned to the sh.e.l.l of the backs and tails, and browned in the oven. The sh.e.l.ls may be saved when lobster is used for some time previous to the luncheon, if it is difficult to obtain a number at once.
The salad is made by cutting canned shrimps into halves, and after putting them into small individual moulds, pouring over them a lemon jelly made without sweetening, and well seasoned. These moulds are to be turned out on lettuce leaves, and one or two small shrimps placed by each, and stiff mayonnaise pa.s.sed with them. The ices may be had from the caterer in the form of sh.e.l.ls, or fishes, or boats. If these are not to be had, a home-made cream may be served in the large scallop sh.e.l.ls which are to be purchased very cheaply. If you are too far inland to obtain sea food, or if you do not fancy it for a whole luncheon, your decoration will sufficiently suggest the idea of the meal, and another menu can be subst.i.tuted.
MENU
RED RASPBERRIES.
CREAM OF GREEN PEA SOUP.
FISH CUTLETS. SAUCE TARTARE.
FRIED CHICKEN. POTATO CROQUETTES. PEAS.
ICED TEA (OR TEA SHERBET).
WHOLE CUc.u.mBER SALAD. ALMONDS. PIM-OLAS.
CARAMEL ICE CREAM. BONBONS.
The cutlets, which are simply croquettes moulded into cutlet form, may be made either from any fresh fish, or from canned salmon, or from well-freshened salt codfish; and these last are really delicious. The tea is best made with boiling lemonade instead of boiling water; it is to be served in tall gla.s.ses, either as a separate course, or all through the meal as one prefers; in case a sherbet is wished, this iced tea may be frozen with a flavour of rum in addition to the lemon, if one uses it, and served in sherbet cups; and cafe frappe may be used as a final course if the day is warm, or the coffee may be simply hot and black as usual.
The whole cuc.u.mber salad is very pretty. Rather large and very smooth ones are chosen, a slice is cut from the side lengthwise, the pulp is scooped out, mixed with bits of tomato and French dressing, and the whole put back with the slice put on again so that the cut is concealed.
These are served on lettuce leaves with two small cheese b.a.l.l.s by the side of each, made by grating American cheese, mixing with a little chopped parsley, salt, red pepper, and enough melted b.u.t.ter to make it moist, and rolling between the hands until you have b.a.l.l.s the size of marbles; they are to be dusted with chopped parsley before serving.
A TRAVELLER"S LUNCHEON
As so many go abroad as the hot weather begins, a luncheon may be arranged in honour of some friend who is about to sail. The centrepiece may be a large toy steamer with the decks filled with flowers, or a floral piece may be obtained from the florists, who now construct extremely realistic steamers with flowers, green, and moss; but flowers are never at their best under such circ.u.mstances, and the toy steamer is to be preferred. Very pretty and inexpensive bonbon boxes are to be had in the shapes of steamer trunks, dress-suit cases, travelling bags, trunks ready labelled with the names of foreign cities, and dainty little lunch baskets tied up with ribbon, as well as the more expensive but useful favours made to resemble rugs in shawl straps which are to be used as penwipers after the day is over. The cards may bear the picture of a steamer disappearing in the distance with its trail of smoke curving back to form the name of the guest, or the words "Bon Voyage."
The menu could, of course, consist of foreign dishes such as the traveller is presumably to eat during her absence; but as few of them are as good as our own luncheon dishes this is not altogether to be commended. An attractive menu would be:--
MENU
CLAMS c.o.c.kTAIL IN TOMATO BASKETS.
CONSOMMe WITH HOT CRACKERS.
DEVILLED CRABS.
CHICKEN LIVERS ON SKEWERS.
ROAST DUCKLINGS. JELLY. MASHED POTATO.
CAULIFLOWER SALAD.
NESSELRODE PUDDING. CAKES.
COFFEE. BONBONS.
The tomatoes are to be cut into baskets with handles and filled with the clam c.o.c.ktail just before serving. The crabs are to be boiled, removed from their sh.e.l.ls, well seasoned, and wet with a little cream, put back into the sh.e.l.ls with bread crumbs and bits of b.u.t.ter over them and browned in the oven. The chicken livers are to be stewed, cut in halves, and put on the small skewers with bits of bacon between the pieces and turned in the frying-pan until they brown in the bacon fat; they are to be sent to the table on strips of toast. The ducklings should be young, and a thick slice of breast or the second joint served to each person before the plates are sent to the table; the potato should be browned in the oven and pa.s.sed.
The salad is made by cooking cauliflower, breaking it into bits, and serving on lettuce with mayonnaise. The Nesselrode pudding is made in various ways, most of them very elaborate; probably the simplest is a caramel cream with preserved figs and marrons cut up fine in it, with a flavouring of wine. It is also made by putting marrons into a plain rich white cream, flavouring it with the wine and serving it on whipped cream; in any form it is always a delicious dessert.
This menu omits the sherbet and gives a rather solid meat course; it may be varied by subst.i.tuting chops for the duckling and adding a course of frozen oranges and bananas in lemon ice.
August
Luncheons in this hot month should be served as in July, on the porch or out of doors if possible; if that is out of the question, at least the dining-room should be rather dark, and there should be some suggestion of coolness in the luncheon, either in the decoration or in the menu.
During this month, when students are at home for their vacations, one may wish to give a college luncheon. Of course, if the guests are all of one mind and can unite in lauding the same Alma Mater, it is an easy thing to so decorate the table as to give unalloyed pleasure, but where two or more colleges are represented it is not so simple. To take some of the most prominent ones, let us have first
A YALE LUNCHEON
[Ill.u.s.tration: FOR A YALE LUNCHEON.]
Have a large bowl of cornflowers in the centre of the table, and smaller bowls at either end, if the table is oblong; if round or square, have four of the smaller bowls around the central one. If the college men who are present are especially interested in athletics, or if there has been any important victory over some rival, it will be a delicate attention which will be appreciated by the guests if such a fact is remembered.
If, for instance, Yale has just been victorious in baseball, decorate with bats, stacking them at intervals on the table; they may be purchased at toy shops in any desired size; those about four or five inches high are most easily grouped. The sandwiches may be tied with blue ribbons and the cards can have sketches of caps and gowns, or pipes, or trophies of some sort. The ices may be served in round boxes with covers on which is the college seal, and the outside may be covered with wide blue satin ribbon which will completely hide the cardboard. These can be either purchased or made at home, and they will serve as souvenirs. As the appet.i.tes of college men are proverbially vigorous, it will be wise to provide a substantial meal.
MENU
ICED MUSKMELON.
CREAM OF CARROT SOUP. WHIPPED CREAM.
COLD LOBSTER HALVED. MAYONNAISE.