Page:Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.djvu/1914

1718 dishes for this course, before deciding what shall be served before and after them.

Removes.—The joint or pièce de résistance constitutes the most substantial part of fashionable dinners, and the most important feature of plain homely dinners. Although a saddle of mutton or sirloin or fillet of beef frequently comprise this course, one's choice is not necessarily confined to joints of meat, for turkeys, chickens, geese, ducks, pies, venison, etc., may all be served instead. If there are two removes, the poultry is served before the joint of meat.

Appropriate, plainly-dressed vegetables are always served with the "remove"; but it is a matter of choice as to whether they appear on the menu; and the same remark applies to such sauces as mint and horseradish, and other things which always accompany certain dishes.

Roasts.—Formerly the roast or rôti commenced what was called the "second course," or "second service." The terms now employed to distinguish the courses of a dinner are the same as were in use a century ago, but they have not the same significance. In menus arranged by Carême, the celebrated chef who held that office in the household of the Prince Regent some two years before the "first gentleman in Europe" came to the throne, the service is divided into two distinct courses, in which the soup, being considered simply as a prelude to the meal, has no part. The first course was headed by a substantial joint or other pièce de résistance, and followed by one or more entrées of poultry or game. The made-up dishes classed as entrées now were then known as hors d'œuvre, and a little later as side-dishes. A dish of fish sometimes constituted the rôti of the second course, and was followed then, as now, by two or three entremets. At the present day the term roast or rôti signifies a dish of poultry or game, such as partridges, grouse, pheasants, woodcocks, guinea fowls, turkeys, chickens, ducks, geese, and a variety of other things. When arranging the menu for a recherché dinner some luxury not in full season is usually selected, some delicacy to tempt the partially appeased appetites of the guests. In a more simple dinner this course is frequently omitted altogether.

Entremets.—Use was the first, it is said, to define clearly the distinction between entrées and entremets. "The latter term," he said, "applied to all vegetable dishes, jellies, pastries, salads, prawns, lobsters, and in general to everything that appears in the second course, except the roast."

Entremet of Vegetables.—Although entremets may be classed under one heading, the service consists of three courses as distinct in themselves as those of soup, fish, and entrée. The first, the vegetable entremet, comprises one or more dishes of dressed vegetables, such as cauliflower au grautin, tomatoes prepared in a variety of ways, savoury cucumber, vegetable marrow fritters, peas, celery, French beans and asparagus.