Let the foregoing ideas be represented in a concrete form, either as simple, and applicable to one or two persons; or with additions of a luxurious kind, for the purpose of providing the variety necessary when there are several guests. It may be laid down as a self-evident axiom, that while two persons agreeing in their tastes may dine well on three, four or at most five dishes, a larger number or choice of dishes must be provided to meet the differing tastes of ten or twelve persons, not one of whom individually may require more than the former. Thus which may be varied in detail according to circumstances.

1. Introductory or Preliminary Dishes.

Soup or Fish.

Soup and

Fish.

Soups and Choice of fish.

2. Substantial Dish - releve'ox remove.

Joint or other portion of meat; tender and juicy; not necessarily roast: to be well garnished, and attended with simply cooked vegetables.

3. Choice Dishes ; entrees.

An entree of some kind; one of fish may come here if soup only were taken before the meat.

Two entrees -rarely more -simple or luxurious, according to the entertainment desired.

4. Savoury Entremets. Here should be offered the dish of highest flavour which reaches the table; as a well-cured ham, or a highly-smoked ox-tongue, or rarely a mild curry.

A choice vegetable (which may sometimes precede, but will mostly follow, the roast).

The best in season carefully cooked, and served by itself.

5. The Roast.

Mostly a bird, as a fine capon ; game when in season; attended or followed by a salad. Sometimes, rarely venison.

6. Sweet Entremets.

One, or several, according to the guests.

7. Savoury "Bout."

Ranges from a morsel of cheese to a perfectly made souffle, or beignet of Parmesan; or may consist of caviare, dried fish, fish-roes, devilled biscuit, grilled mushroom, etc.

Dessert.

Illustrations to follow.

The essentials, then, of a dinner reduced to its lowest term areThe lowest term essential for dinner.

1. Preliminary . .

Soup only: or fish only, if soup disagrees, or is objected to. Both, 11 desired.

2 and 3. The Meat and entree.

Meat alone; or fish in its place, if soup only has been taken; or the entree alone if lighter food than meat is preferred.

4. A Roast ....

A roast bird of some kind.

5,6, and 7. Entremets.

A vegetable; sweet, or savoury-one of each only, or two only, as preferred.

In order to illustrate the foregoing remarks, I shall now furnish a few examples of small but complete dinners; which are easily reducible, however, to the "lowest term," by the omission of a dish or two on the principle laid down. In each menu a choice of soups, fish, entrees, roast and sweet entremets, are given; constituting, in fact, the mentis of two dinners. Such a double menu is sketched from the materials most in season for each month in the year, making twenty-four dinners in all. I have ventured to do so because the suggestion has been so frequently made that practical illustration of the principles advocated should be appended, and also because it appears possible that a few examples may, perhaps, be of some slight service to young or inexperienced persons, if any such there be. I wholly disclaim any idea of furnishing programmes here for elaborate dinners, or "state" occasions; and only intend to suggest simple products which any good or "thorough good" cook may furnish properly, at all events with a little preliminary practice in some instances. Perhaps the truth is scarcely yet sufficiently recognized that the quality or character of a dinner does not depend on the number, the complexity, the cost, or even on the rarity of the component dishes. Let these be few in number, and be simple in composition; but if the material itself is the best of its kind, well cooked and tastefully presented, the dinner may rank with the best, and is certain to please.

Examples of moderate menus to follow for each month in the year.

Menu for each month.

I have long been forced to the conclusion that menus, as a rule, should be written altogether in the French language. So many French culinary terms have been naturalized, so many more are almost if not quite untranslatable, that the endeavour to write menus in English invariably results in an objectionable mixture of the two languages, resembling a mongrel patois. As examples, those of the first three months and those of the last month shall be written as far as possible in English, and the remainder will be given in French. In some of them the special dish of vegetable is served before the roast, in which case it will be marked by itself as a "Legume" and the sweets will be described as "Entremets Sucre's" When the vegetable is placed after the roast, both it and the succeeding sweets will be ranked together simply as "Entremets."

Quality to be sought, not complexity.

Menus should be written in French.

Some find it difficult to select for each species of English fish its appropriate name in French to adopt in a menu. A full list is given, each word with its gender (see Appendix, p. 292).

The menus for January, February, and March are written in English as far as possible.