The herald., 1897-12-19
100000 ooooooooooooooo
) MENUS FOR CHRISTMAS FEASTS
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} Ilous conjunction of words. 1t sounds
better, and it certainly is better, to
couple the name of the festive season
with such expressions as good cheer.
ljoviality and abundance of the bless
Iings of life. This being so, 1t Is we'll
to begin to write about Christmas Gu
ners with the assumption that the ptI
session Of the dinner is a foregone con-
|clusion. 1t is melancholy thing to re-
fleet that some of the people in this ia
vored land are looking with hopeless
eyes for the turkey that is not for them.
To give to those. who let us hope are
few, an elaborate menu for Christmas
dinner is suggestive of the man who sold
a quick-kill flea powder, with full di-
rections inside every box. which when
opened contained these instructions:
First of all you must catch your flea,
tickle him under the fifth rib and he will
laugh. Put the powder in his eyes, nose
and mouth, and he dies directly"
| 1t is taken for granted. then, that
every one who reads this has caught
his turkey. This is to be Happy Home
dinner story. 1t has nothing to do with
boarding houses, which, as everybody
who has had large and many-sided
experience with that great American
institution will admit, is the dreariest
of all dreary places during the holiday
time. If an inmate Of one OF these es-
| Establishments has read thus far, he is
assured that the rest will have no earth
| ly interest for him, and he Is recon-
mended to turn to the advertising pages
of those journals that are engaged in
the philanthropic business of bringing
together forlorn and isolated couples,
enabling them to bridge with the little
hoop of gold the great gulf that sepa-
rates miscalled single blessedness from
the happiness Of married life.
| In order to tickle the palate and slim
ulate the faded appetite of those to
whom the menus given further on are
common, everyday story. we have Sc
leoted from among a number of old
fashioned dinner lists that were con-
sidered by our grandmothers to be the
essence of epicurean luxury the fol-
lowing. which is fair sample of a first
class dinner of the old colonial days:
Roast Turkey. Oyster Dressing.
| Cranberry Sauce.
Mashed Potatoes Stewed Onions
| Baked Corn.
| Chicken Pie.
! Olives. Picked Pea ches
Pumpkin Pie. Mince Pie. Apple Pie.
Cheese.
Having thoroughly digested, so to
speak, this Old-time menu, the reader
and his wife are advised to study care
fully the one that comes next in order
which represents a moderately priced
and wholesome spread. that has been
selected by prominent French chef
from among number submitted by
many Of the leading cooks. It has been
chosen with especial regard for the
means Of the one who gives the dinner,
and combines plain wholesome fare with
table delicacies in manner that should
cause every woman who adopts it as her
Christmas menu to give a thoroughly
satisfactory entertainment:
Raw Oysters.
Boullion.
Boiled Salmon. Hollandaise Sauce.
Pickles, Boiled Potato Balls
Sailed Almonds.
Roast Turkey. Cranberry Sauce. Celery.
Mashed Potatoes. Scalloped Asparagus.
Chicken Pie.
Kirsch Punch.
Roast Duck Currant Jelly.
Sweet Potato Croquettes.
Lettuce Salad. Sweetbreads.
Plum Pudding, Brandy Sauce.
Mince Pie. Apple Pie. Cheese.
Ice Cream. Cake.
Nuts Raisins. Fruit
Coffee.
In order that the fastidious housewife
may not be cramped in her Judgment,
the same high authority by whom the
above menu was selected has prepared
the following:
Oysters on the Half-shell.
Amber Soup.
Olives. Sailed Almonds. Pickles,
Roast Turkey, Giblet Sauce.
Cranberry Jelly. Celery. Caulinower.
Mashed Potatoes. Glazed Sweet Potatoes.
Pineapple Sherbet.
Broiled Quail. French Peas. Currant Jelly.
Lettuce Salad.
Mnce Pie. Pumpkin Pie.
Ice Cream. Cake. Frozen Milk Punch.
Coffee. Fruit.
The particular little woman who is
anxious to please her company can take
her choice of either of these dining pro-
grams. or, II she wishes to be entirely
original, she can select the most suit
able dishes from both, and combine
them in one, thus picking the marrow
out of the distinguished chefs Christ
mas bone, and leaving the rest to her
less ambitious sisters.