Tag: Dinner service

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Butler history Newsletter Steven Ferry

The Modern Butlers’ Journal, December 2020, The Wisdom of Butlers Past

Steven FerryThe Wisdom of Butlers Past

by Steven Ferry

PART 43: DINNER SERVICE

When it looked like everyone had finished, the butler kept an eye on the host/hostess for the signal to clear that course. When the timing was close, he alerted the cook by ringing the bell (if not by verbal message relayed by a footman).

First to be removed were any carving knives and forks. Then, funnily enough, removing the knives and forks from the individual settings, and next their plates.

Unlike today, the butlers two centuries ago did not lay all the silverware before the meal, but course by course, like in a restaurant, which is harder for the butlers and distracting for the guests. Obviously, the modern refinement occurred sometime after the 1820’s.

For the cheese course, the butlers served salad, cucumbers, and butter, and with beer—rarely with wine—so the wine glasses were removed before the cheese course. Everything was then cleared, the table brushed down, and finger bowls provided.The tablecloth and under-mat/green cloth were then removed (one imagines not without inconvenience to the guests) and dessert serving dishes and spoons/knives placed, and dessert plates. Rummers and two wine glasses were provided per person. The butler then quickly and quietly removed all dirty and unused dishes and cutlery from the room and let the guests enjoy themselves on their own.

The butler then lit the lamps or candles in the withdrawing room (as the ladies did not take long to leave the dining room after dessert), and also boiled water for the tea and coffee they would enjoy there.

The butler then cleared the dining room and cleaned all the silverware and glass/crystal and put them away.

Lastly, the same ploy that we use today to communicate something that is best not overheard by others was used then: Telling the person that someone wanted to speak to him, so when he left the dining room, the butler could relay the necessary message.

We will start the new year with the proper procedure (two centuries ago) for serving an English Afternoon Tea.

 

 

Extracted from the 1823 book, The Footman’s Directory and Butler’s Remembrancer, re-published in hardback by Pryor Publications. You may obtain your discounted copy (with free s&h) by emailing the publisher: Mr. Pryor (alan AT pryor-publications.co.uk).

 

 

The Institute is dedicated to raising service standards by broadly disseminating the mindset and superior service expertise of that time-honored, quintessential service provider, the British Butler, updated with modern people skills, and adapted to the needs of modern employers and guests in staffed homes, luxury hotels, resorts, spas, retirement communities, jets, yachts & cruise ships around the world.

Categories
Butler history Newsletter Steven Ferry

The Modern Butlers’ Journal, November 2020, The Wisdom of Butlers Past

Steven FerryThe Wisdom of Butlers Past

by Steven Ferry

PART 42: DINNER SERVICE

It is encouraging that the way I was taught to provide plated and butler service [presenting food on the left for guests to help themselves] in 1986 is exactly the way it was done in 1823 and exactly the way it is being taught by the Institute (and probably other butler schools) in 2020. Butlers always serve from the left with their left hand, it being “very improper to serve from the right” unless “at some particular time you will find it necessary to set it down with your right, on the right side.” No explanation is given by the author as to why, but in our training we do explain why this is the case, even though waiters around the world, even in fine-dining restaurants, serve and clear from the right and are absolutely certain of the rightness of their ways (usually based on “That is the way we have always done it,” too).

When providing butler service, they would provide one spoon for each different type of vegetable, for instance, if more than one was on the serving platter or in the bowl.

When serving sauce or gravy in a sauce boat, the double-lipped spoon was always placed in the bowl.

When lifting the tops off serving bowls or cloches, the butlers always immediately turned the lid upright while still above the bowl, so that any condensation fell into the bowl, not onto the tablecloth or guest.

The butler always brought to the table, or removed from it, any smaller items (not plates or serving bowls) on a waiter (tray).

One service style the butlers employed, which we do not today, is to bring a full plate in the left hand, remove the dirty plate with the right hand, and then place the full plate with the left—the style of the days being that the guests ate at their own speed and the butler kept them supplied with seconds [a second helping of a dish] if desired.

When pouring drinks, the butler held the foot of the glass between index finger and thumb, not by the top of the glass. For porter (beer), he poured it in a stream if a frothy head was desired. Drinks were served individually by the butler, on demand, and he brought the drink on a waiter [tray] to the left of the person, who took it, drank it, and placed it back on the waiter—the butler moving forward again to present the tray for the guest to place it. The butler returned the glass to the sideboard and was responsible for keeping tabs of whose glass was whose. The butler was not permitted to put a different type of drink into the same glass for that guest.

Something else that was taboo (“filthy”) when one had run out of a particular item, was to pour the dregs from various glasses into a new glass and presenting it to a guest. If anything had run out or was needed, the butler would send a footman or other junior to fetch it, because he never wanted to leave the guests unattended in the dining room.

Extracted from the 1823 book, The Footman’s Directory and Butler’s Remembrancer, re-published in hardback by Pryor Publications. You may obtain your discounted copy (with free s&h) by emailing the publisher: Mr. Pryor (alan AT pryor-publications.co.uk).

The Institute is dedicated to raising service standards by broadly disseminating the mindset and superior service expertise of that time-honored, quintessential service provider, the British Butler, updated with modern people skills, and adapted to the needs of modern employers and guests in staffed homes, luxury hotels, resorts, spas, retirement communities, jets, yachts & cruise ships around the world.

Categories
Butler history Newsletter Steven Ferry

The Modern Butlers’ Journal, October 2020, The Wisdom of Butlers Past

Steven FerryThe Wisdom of Butlers Past

by Steven Ferry

PART 41: DINNER SERVICE

When the host was carving, the butler always placed the head of a fish, rabbit, and roasting pig pointing to the left of the carver, and for all birds, pointing to the right—unless it were stuffed, in which case most carvers, being right handed, preferred the head pointing to the left, etc.—with different instructions given for other cuts of venison, mutton, and hams. In all, it was a matter of knowing the carver’s preference and accommodating that. Another point of detail: Carving boards often had channels and depressions to collect jus, and the collection point needed to be on the right side, for right-handed carvers.

When holding plates for the carver to place cuts on, the butler needed to hold the plate next to and level with or slightly lower than the carving plate, holding them in the left hand from the left side.

The technique for holding plates so that the thumb was not on top with the food, was to have the thumb along the edge, as we do today; but instead of using the meaty part of the thumb along the edge, too, counterbalancing the fingers underneath, they would curl the index finger in a bit, and the other three fingers curled so their tips were against the base of the thumb (similar to the shape one creates when pretending one’s hand is a gun), and so secure the plate between thumb on the side and index finger underneath. Both methods work, but a combination might be even better: Curling the index finger fully so that its tip is touching the meaty part of the thumb and using the other three fingers in the center of the plate to support the weight.

Extracted from the 1823 book, The Footman’s Directory and Butler’s Remembrancer, re-published in hardback by Pryor Publications. You may obtain your discounted copy (with free s&h) by emailing the publisher: Mr. Pryor (alan AT pryor-publications.co.uk).

The Institute is dedicated to raising service standards by broadly disseminating the mindset and superior service expertise of that time-honored, quintessential service provider, the British Butler, updated with modern people skills, and adapted to the needs of modern employers and guests in staffed homes, luxury hotels, resorts, spas, retirement communities, jets, yachts & cruise ships around the world.

Categories
Newsletter Steven Ferry

The Modern Butlers’ Journal, September 2020, The Wisdom of Butlers Past

Steven FerryThe Wisdom of Butlers Past

by Steven Ferry

PART 40: DINNER SERVICE

When serving, the butler would remain in the dining room all the time, positioning himself in front of the sideboard, a yard behind and slightly to the left of the person at the bottom of the table, so he had a clean view of the entire table and when a guest might need servicing. He did not wait to be asked for something but anticipated needs. “Be deaf to all the conversations of the company, and attentive only to their wants.”

Here are some 1823 body language basics for butlers and footmen while serving:

“While waiting at dinner, never be picking your nose, or scratching your head or any other part of your body, neither blow your nose in the room; if you have a cold and cannot help doing it, do it on the outside of the door; but do not sound your nose like a trumpet, that all the house may hear when you blow it; still, it is better to blow your nose when it requires, than to be picking it and snuffing up the mucus etc., which is a filthy trick. Do not yawn or gape [stare in amazement at something with mouth open wide], or even sneeze, if you can avoid it; and as to hawking and spitting, the name of such a thing is enough to forbid it without a command.”

Footmen were required to stand behind a guest, ready to change plates, etc. when needed. Hands were to hang to their sides or in front, without being crossed—and certainly not resting on the back of the guest’s chair—and absolutely not doing so while “beating a kind of tune upon it with their fingers.”

Various personal grooming admonishments were given, including remembering to button their lapels to stop them flying about; and not having [metal] buttons under the sleeve of the coat, as they could snag on items and knock them over, or make sounds as they hit the glasses.

Extracted from the 1823 book, The Footman’s Directory and Butler’s Remembrancer, re-published in hardback by Pryor Publications. You may obtain your discounted copy (with free s&h) by emailing the publisher: Mr. Pryor (alan AT pryor-publications.co.uk).

The Institute is dedicated to raising service standards by broadly disseminating the mindset and superior service expertise of that time-honored, quintessential service provider, the British Butler, updated with modern people skills, and adapted to the needs of modern employers and guests in staffed homes, luxury hotels, resorts, spas, retirement communities, jets, yachts & cruise ships around the world.

Categories
Newsletter Steven Ferry

The Modern Butlers’ Journal, August 2020, The Wisdom of Butlers Past

Steven FerryThe Wisdom of Butlers Past

by Steven Ferry

PART 39: DINNER SERVICE

The butler was responsible for warming the plates in an enclosed plate warmer that was transportable to the dining room—unless there was a fire in the dining room that he could use to warm the plates. In either case, he had to remember to dust the plates before use.

Bread was placed before the arrival of guests, as well as any cold first course.

The soup tureen was placed at the bottom of the table, soup bowls to the left of the person who was ladeling, and he then gave the plates to the butler to distribute.

The placement of covered serving-dishes with food had to be precisely in line and at a uniform distance from the edge of the table.

The butler then laid the heated plates.

Then he ensured that the gravies, sauces, vegetables, salad and cold meats were all in place. And finally, he went to announce dinner. This was not done by standing at the door and “bawling” generally, “Dinner is ready,” as is recommended today, but by walking close to the hosts and telling them; then going to the dining room door and holding it open until all guests were inside, then shutting it.

Extracted from the 1823 book, The Footman’s Directory and Butler’s Remembrancer, re-published in hardback by Pryor Publications. You may obtain your discounted copy (with free s&h) by emailing the publisher: Mr. Pryor (alan AT pryor-publications.co.uk).

The Institute is dedicated to raising service standards by broadly disseminating the mindset and superior service expertise of that time-honored, quintessential service provider, the British Butler, updated with modern people skills, and adapted to the needs of modern employers and guests in staffed homes, luxury hotels, resorts, spas, retirement communities, jets, yachts & cruise ships around the world.

Categories
Newsletter Steven Ferry

The Modern Butlers’ Journal, July 2020, The Wisdom of Butlers Past

Steven FerryThe Wisdom of Butlers Past

by Steven Ferry

Part 38: Dinner Service and Toasts

Dinner service was quite similar to today, but with some key differences. The lack of electricity meant candles and lamps needed to be lit and positioned to illuminate the narrow corridors and stairways used to carry food and dishes between kitchen and dining room. If not done, accidents and breakage often resulted.

What drinks were served typically? Beer, ginger beer, porter [short for porter’s beer, a heavy, dark-brown beer brewed from charred malt], soda water, and spring water, making sure the ginger beer was kept cool or it would “fly about” when opened, including onto guests. Toast was also provided.

If you are wondering why toast was provided, you may also be wondering what the word “toast” means when one raises a glass and drinks to the health of someone. The practice of drinking a toast comes from the late 17th century, when the company was asked to name a lady whose health they were hoping for—the idea being that the lady’s name would flavor the drink in the same way that pieces of spiced toast did when placed in drinks such as wine.

Extracted from the 1823 book, The Footman’s Directory and Butler’s Remembrancer, re-published in hardback by Pryor Publications. You may obtain your discounted copy (with free s&h) by emailing the publisher: Mr. Pryor (alan AT pryor-publications.co.uk).

The Institute is dedicated to raising service standards by broadly disseminating the mindset and superior service expertise of that time-honored, quintessential service provider, the British Butler, updated with modern people skills, and adapted to the needs of modern employers and guests in staffed homes, luxury hotels, resorts, spas, retirement communities, jets, yachts & cruise ships around the world.

Categories
Newsletter Steven Ferry

The Modern Butlers’ Journal, June 2020, The Wisdom of Butlers Past

Steven FerryThe Wisdom of Butlers Past

by Steven Ferry

PART 37: THE SIDEBOARD

The side-table has its own particular function, where the plates, food, and sharper silverware are placed; … the items to be used first being placed at the front.

Mis-en-place included having d’Oyleys [Doilies], and dessert knives, forks and spoons placed on the dessert plates, rather than having the silverware placed already on the table, as is done by butlers these days. Various options are given that might not apply today, but the following basic words of advice apply just as much then as now:

“Whether you have a few or many at any time to dinner, make it a matter of thought how you can manage and arrange your things to the comfort of those you serve and your own convenience, not forgetting the appearance as I am sure, my young friends, that you may unite the three together.”

The question of where to place the sideboard and the side table is determined by the size and shape of the room. If long and narrow, then one goes at one end and the other at the other end, although this seems like it might require much walking to and fro, and the author counsels against such because it can lead to confusion and accidents.

Finally, “Do not bring the cheese into the room till wanted, as the smell of it may be disagreeable to some of the company.”  Reminds me of a time when my father took me to my first fine-dining restaurant at the ripe age of seven, and I whispered loudly with great concern, “Daddy, someone has been sick!”

Extracted from the 1823 book, The Footman’s Directory and Butler’s Remembrancer, re-published in hardback by Pryor Publications. You may obtain your discounted copy (with free s&h) by emailing the publisher: Mr. Pryor (alan AT pryor-publications.co.uk).

The Institute is dedicated to raising service standards by broadly disseminating the mindset and superior service expertise of that time-honored, quintessential service provider, the British Butler, updated with modern people skills, and adapted to the needs of modern employers and guests in staffed homes, luxury hotels, resorts, spas, retirement communities, jets, yachts & cruise ships around the world.

Categories
Newsletter Steven Ferry

The Modern Butlers’ Journal, May 2020, The Wisdom of Butlers Past

Steven FerryThe Wisdom of Butlers Past

by Steven Ferry

PART 36: Dinner Service

The sideboard and side table were not just functional mis-en-place tools but also an opportunity to create a beautiful presentation that showed off the various tableware of the household, such as the “glasses and small waiters [8″ tray], the cruet-stand [for holding condiment containers], sugar-basin, and the cut-glass water jug, which is to go on with the dessert, and a few silver spoons.”

Two words of caution: a) If there were not enough glasses, “never attempt to make three or four persons drink out of one glass, as that is a filthy trick.” b) Place knives and forks on the side table, to avoid scratching the latter (it was permitted to scratch the side table, perhaps because it was not a major piece of furniture).

The recommended layout included having items in front that would be used first; arranging the glasses in a crescent, tallest ones at each end, together with the finger-glasses [finger bowls]; placing the candle [for lighting] at the back in the center. The author suggested adding some silverware to the center, as it offset glass nicely.

When it came to clearing the table, baskets were used to place dirty plates, and separate boxes and trays for each type of dirty cutlery, and all placed where convenient—it appears within the dining room, meaning that the sights and sounds of scraping dishes and clattering cutlery would have been evident to the guests, prompting the butlers to try to mitigate these.

No doubt the butlers were doing the best they could, given their circumstances, and fortunately we have been able to finesse table service since to create an even more aesthetic experience.

Extracted from the 1823 book, The Footman’s Directory and Butler’s Remembrancer, re-published in hardback by Pryor Publications. You may obtain your discounted copy (with free s&h) by emailing the publisher: Mr. Pryor (alan AT pryor-publications.co.uk).

The Institute is dedicated to raising service standards by broadly disseminating the mindset and superior service expertise of that time-honored, quintessential service provider, the British Butler, updated with modern people skills, and adapted to the needs of modern employers and guests in staffed homes, luxury hotels, resorts, spas, retirement communities, jets, yachts & cruise ships around the world.

Categories
Newsletter Steven Ferry

The Modern Butlers’ Journal, April 2020, The Wisdom of Butlers Past

Steven FerryThe Wisdom of Butlers Past

by Steven Ferry

PART 35: Dinner Service

The next subject taken up was cloth, meaning the tablecloth and napkins (although the author says “if napkins are used,” which begs the question!).

Table cloths generally had patterns woven into them, so it was important to have the patterns on the upside, not upside-down, facing the table. Where an object was depicted, the butler had to make sure the bottom of it was directed toward the bottom, not the head, of the table.

Any napkins had to be folded neatly enough to allow the butler to bring and place bread, and so that any image, such as a crest, was clearly visible.

The author then continued beyond cloth to the rest of the place settings: The laying of the silverware/flatware was much the same then as now, but it was done before the plate was laid, meaning that the distance between knives and forks might not be correct. Today, we place the plate first so the flatware can then be spaced correctly.

The instructions for the placement of the different flatware is frankly confusing and nonsensical; the same for cooling the wine glasses in spring water on the table itself.

The butlers placed the decanted wine near each of the four corners of the table when diners were to serve themselves.

The table centerpiece, if not candles, was called an epergne, with a central bowl or frame and radiating dishes or holders for candles, flowers, fruits, or sweetmeats (such as English sugarplums that had just appeared during the author’s lifetime: Boiled candy made from dates, almonds, spices, and honey or sugar, and often formed into plum-sized shapes).

Each dinner was expected to require six large plates for each person, plus pudding plates and cheese plates and all the required cutlery for each course; three wine glasses per person; and two rummers (glasses with a stem and foot) by each water bottle for those wanting to drink water.

Extracted from the 1823 book, The Footman’s Directory and Butler’s Remembrancer, re-published in hardback by Pryor Publications. You may obtain your discounted copy (with free s&h) by emailing the publisher: Mr. Pryor (alan AT pryor-publications.co.uk).

The Institute is dedicated to raising service standards by broadly disseminating the mindset and superior service expertise of that time-honored, quintessential service provider, the British Butler, updated with modern people skills, and adapted to the needs of modern employers and guests in staffed homes, luxury hotels, resorts, spas, retirement communities, jets, yachts & cruise ships around the world.

Categories
Newsletter Steven Ferry

The Modern Butlers’ Journal, March 2020, The Wisdom of Butlers Past

Steven FerryThe Wisdom of Butlers Past

by Steven Ferry

PART 34: Dinner Service

The idea of dinner service being the jewel in the crown of the butler’s duties has existed for centuries:

“If one part of a servant’s business calls for greater attention than another, it is waiting at table; it is a branch, likewise, wherein he can show more of his ability than in anything else he may have to do, as many make great pretensions to cleverness in conducting a dinner, who yet never knew the first principles of properly waiting at table.”

The author goes on in the same vein, faulting untrained butlers and footmen, and even hosts, for dinners not running smoothly.

One issue, for instance, was expecting one footman to serve six guests.

Other points of warning seem so obvious:

1) Not knowing what the cook has prepared, and therefore not laying the table accordingly, means rushing to place things on the table while the dinner is in progress, and therefore increasing the likelihood of breakage, as well as poor service.

2) Not knowing the preferred service style, the bill of fare, results in upset—some families preferring family style service, where the food is placed on the table in bowls and platters, and others preferring plated service.

All the different elements of laying and serving at table are then covered in the next 34 pages—certainly the largest part of the book, and we will cover these in the months ahead.

Extracted from the 1823 book, The Footman’s Directory and Butler’s Remembrancer, re-published in hardback by Pryor Publications. You may obtain your discounted copy (with free s&h) by emailing the publisher: Mr. Pryor (alan AT pryor-publications.co.uk).

The Institute is dedicated to raising service standards by broadly disseminating the mindset and superior service expertise of that time-honored, quintessential service provider, the British Butler, updated with modern people skills, and adapted to the needs of modern employers and guests in staffed homes, luxury hotels, resorts, spas, retirement communities, jets, yachts & cruise ships around the world.