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How to use silverware
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| Recently dishes that are eaten using your fingers have come into vogue and all the chefs are vying with one another to see who can invent dishes that can be eaten this way, even in the most chic eateries. For the more important, formal occasions, however, it's still quite common to find yourself facing a daunting array of silverware. But it is not really hard sort out which pieces are used for what. Here's a quick and easy guide to selecting and using silverware. |
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According to the rules governing formal table settings, the silverware should be arranged at the sides of the plate in the order in which the various pieces will be used. In order to avoid potentially embarrassing situations when faced with an imposing array of knives and forks, all you have to remember is that they are used as required, beginning with the implements furthest from the plate. As a rule of thumb, each course has its own silverware, up to a maximum of three forks and three spoons. In cases requiring more silverware, it is up to the person serving to bring more as needed. Knives (with the blade turned toward the plate) and spoons (with the bowl facing upward) are arranged to the right of the plate, while the forks (with the tines facing upward) are placed on the left. The dessert silver is arranged above the plate, with the handle facing toward the hand that will be using it (the dessert fork toward the left, the spoon and knife toward the right). The fruit silver can be brought to the table along with the fruit plates. For informal occasions, it's quite all right to eat fish with a normal dinner fork, perhaps using a piece of bread to gain better control. But formal occasions still require the presence of special fish silverware, featuring a knife with a very broad blade used for pushing rather than cutting. The silverware may include a little fork with two tines that serves for eating oysters and for extracting snails from their shells.
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The rules of etiquette require that spoons used for broth and cream soups be only half filled and the soup should be scooped up by moving the spoon from the edge of the bowl closest to you, toward the center of the bowl and brought to the mouth tip first. When stirring sugar with a coffee spoon or teaspoon, you should jiggle the spoon vertically, not in circles. A flat, smooth spoon is used for ice cream and sherbet. According to the classic rules of etiquette, use of the knife should be kept to an absolute minimum, in other words, cutting only one piece of food at a time just before bringing it to the mouth with the fork. You should only cut your food as you eat it, one bite at a time. Avoid the practice of cutting up several pieces of steak or other such resistant food items ahead of time, in an ill-advised effort to help your food cool off more quickly. When fork and knife are used together, the former is held with the index finger extended along the handle and with the tines pointed downward.
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WHEN NOT USING SILVERWARE |
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When you want to put your silverware down during the course of a meal, you should rest it on the edge of the plate, fork on one side, knife on the other, parallel to the table. When you have finished eating, on the other hand, put the fork and knife together on the right side of the plate, anywhere in the lower right hand corner of the plate. The teaspoon should be placed on the saucer and not left in the cup. For less formal occasions, when it's not imperative to change the silverware with each new course, at the right side of the plate there sometimes will be a little knife-rest where you can conveniently leave your knife or fork when not using them.
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