Carving and Serving | Page 2

bone in the leg by scraping the meat away at either end. Learn to distinguish the different cuts of meat. The best way to learn about carving poultry and game is to cut them up for a stew or fricassee, provided care be taken not to chop them, but to disjoint them skilfully.
Then, when you attempt to carve, do the best you can every time. Never allow yourself to be careless about it, even should the only spectators be your wife and children. But do not make your first effort in the art at a company dinner. Every lady should learn the art. There is no reason why she may not excel in it, as she has every opportunity to study the joint or fowl before cooking. Strength is not required, so much as neatness and care. A firm, steady hand, a cool, collected manner, and confidence in one's ability will help greatly. Children also should be taught this accomplishment, and should be taught it as soon as they can handle a knife safely. If parents would allow the children to share their duties at the daily family table, and occasionally when company is present, a graceful manner would soon be acquired. When called upon to preside over their own homes there would less frequently be heard the apology, "Father always carved at home, and I have had no practice." The only recollection that I now have of a dinner at a friend's some years ago is the easy and skilful way a young son of my hostess presided at the head of the table, while the father occupied the place of guest at the mother's right hand.
One must learn first of all to carve neatly, without scattering crumbs or splashing gravy over the cloth or platter; also to cut straight, uniform slices. This may seem an easy matter; but do we often see pressed beef, tongue, or even bread cut as it should be? Be careful to divide the material in such a manner that each person may be served equally well. Have you never received all flank, or a hard dry wing, while another guest had all tenderloin, or the second joint? After a little experience you can easily distinguish between the choice portions and the inferior. Lay each portion on the plate with the browned or best side up. Keep it compact, not mussy; and serve a good portion of meat, not a bone with hardly any meat on it. After all are served, the portion on the platter should not be left jagged, rough, and sprawling, but should look inviting enough to tempt one to desire a second portion.
Care should be taken to carve in such a way as to get the best effect. A nice joint is often made less inviting from having been cut with the grain, while meat of rather poor quality is made more tender and palatable if divided across the grain. Where the whole of the joint is not required, learn to carve economically, that it may be left in good shape for another dinner.
After you have learned to do the simplest work neatly and gracefully, much painstaking will be necessary in acquiring the power to accomplish with elegance the more difficult tasks. For to reach the highest degree of excellence in the art, one must be able to carve the most difficult joint with perfect skill and ease.
But after all this study and a great amount of practice failure often happens, and blame is laid upon the carver which really belongs to some other person,--the butcher, the cook, the table-girl, or the guest. Not all men who sell meat know or practice the best way of cutting up meat. Much may be done by the butcher and by the cook to facilitate the work of the carver. These helps will be noticed more particularly under the head of special dishes.
An essential aid to easy carving, and one often overlooked, is that the platter be large enough to hold not merely the joint or fowl while whole, but also the several portions as they are detached.
The joint should be placed in the middle of the platter, in the position indicated under special directions. There should be sufficient space on either side for the portions of meat as they are carved; that is, space on the bottom, none of the slices being allowed to hang over the edge of the dish. If necessary, provide an extra dish. The persistency with which some housekeepers cling to a small dish for fear the meat will look lost on a larger one often makes successful carving impossible.
The platter should be placed near the carver, that he may easily reach any part of the joint.
The cook should see that all skewers, strings, etc., be removed before