The Starving Musician Entertains
Formal Table Setting 101: What's All This Silverware, and Where
Does it Go? Part 2
More table setting etiquette, with options to fit a variety of
situations...
Place cards are optional but are a nice touch, and can be anything from
something you print with your computer to a small, clean autumn leaf with
the guest's name written in gold metallic pen. Depending on what kind
you have, they go either on top of the napkin, or at the top of the place
setting, above the dessert fork. If you're bringing the dessert forks and
coffee spoons in later, the place card can go where the dessert fork would
be.
Glasses? The water glass goes above the tip of the dinner knife, then
working toward the right, the champagne or dessert wine glass if you're serving it, then the
wine glass for the entree or red wine glass
goes between but slightly in front of them, with the white wine glass
for the fish or appetizer course being closest to the outside. Tables being
small these days, as an option you can arrange the glasses in slightly
triangular group, keeping course order as best as you can, with the water glass always above the tip of
the dinner knife and shortest glasses up front to avoid being knocked over.
Serving after-dinner brandy or cognac? The snifters
should be brought in separately with the bottle, as you do with after-dinner
coffee. The same goes for glasses for liqueur served with
after-dinner coffee. Etiquette Note: Placement of glasses is
another area where etiquette varies depending on when the book was written.
Tables were larger in days past, so some books say to line up the glasses in
a straight line from first course to last, with the water glass above the
tip of the dinner knife. With people using unmatched glassware these days,
it's more important that shorter glasses be up front (nearest the guest) where they're easily
seen to avoid accidents.
Coffee cups and saucers are brought in with dessert, unless one of the
guests is having coffee with dinner (rare these days).
Bread plate? The bread plate goes on the left, above the outside fork.
Individual butter spreaders are placed on top of each bread plate diagonally
near the top of the plate--handle on the right and blade facing toward the
inside of the bread plate. If you don't have individual butter spreaders,
the dinner knife still remains in its normal place.
Don't have enough small plates for both bread and dessert? Skip the bread
plate and have your guests put their bread on their dinner plates. At some formal dinners
where no butter was served, traditionally the dinner roll was placed
directly on the tablecloth at the left of the dinner plate--an old custom
that is perceived as a little gross in the U.S. but is quite acceptable in
parts of Europe (it's done in the best French bistros). Whatever you do, don't put the roll
inside a folded dinner napkin; it looks cute but gets crumbs all over your guest's
laps, leaving them uncomfortable and embarrassed. Not good hospitality!
Soup plate? Since most people don't have enough plates to have a separate
service plate, soup bowls are brought in when the soup is served and placed
atop the dinner plate...Or atop the salad plate, if the salad course is after
the soup and the salad plate already sits atop the dinner plate.
Salad plate? Technically it goes to the left of the dinner plate, but
unless you have a dining room the size of Russell Simmons', either eliminate
the bread plate and place it there, or place the salad plate atop the dinner
plate and serve salad as a separate course. If you opt for salad as a
separate course, it can come after the soup, or you can serve the salad
after the entree as a refresher, as was done until the late 1920's or early
1930's. (When served as a refresher after the entree, the salad plates are
chilled and brought in with the salad.) If you have a dining room the
size of Russell Simmons', the salad plate goes on the left next to the dinner
plate, and the bread plate remains above it, above the outside fork.
If you have individual salt and pepper shakers and have
enough for each place setting, they go above the dessert forks. If not, they
go between two place settings, placing a set on each side of the table if
you have more than one.
Dessert plates are brought in with dessert and coffee, after the table is
cleared and any crumbs brushed away (remove glasses too, except the water
glasses and dessert wine glasses).
The coffee cup and saucer sits where the entree wine glass had been. If
dessert forks and spoons weren't already on the table, the dessert fork
or spoon comes into the dining room on the dessert plate (being careful lest
it
slide off during service and hit Uncle Henry's bald pate). Ditto, the
coffee spoon--if not already placed, it rides in with the cup and saucer.
If your abode is large enough (and your pets well-behaved), serve coffee and
dessert in the living room. Balancing can be difficult, though, so moving
into the living room to finish coffee after dessert is sometimes preferable.
Sources:
Emily Post's Etiquette
The Settlement Cookbook
The Joy of Cooking
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