“I think every thing has passed off uncommonly well, I assure you. The dinner was as well dressed as any I ever saw. The venison was roasted to a turn—and everybody said they never saw so fat a haunch. The soup was fifty times better than what we had at the Lucases’ last week; and even Mr. Darcy acknowledged, that the partridges were remarkably well done; and I suppose he has two or three French cooks at least.”
—MRS. BENNET IN PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
Giving a dinner party (see “How to Behave at a Dinner Party”) is fraught with drama for any hostess. Good employees and a solid plan are the keys to success.
1. Consult with your housekeeper. She will have all the information you need at her fingertips: the condition of the household linens, the state of the pantry, and any problems with staffing levels that might interfere with the smooth running of your event.
2. Plan your menu. Consider what is available in the current season and what kind of food can be obtained locally, and choose your dishes accordingly.
3. Plan your guest list. Keep in mind the temper of your guests. If there is someone who does not like large dinner parties, he might make the party unpleasant.
4. Write out your invitations. Inscribe each note individually, tailoring each to the recipient.
5. Speak with your cook. Finalize the menu; be sure to serve the favorite dishes of your most prominent guests, especially potential suitors to any of your daughters.
6. Have your husband discuss the wine list with the butler. Give them the menu and let them handle it. It’s one less detail you will have to concern yourself with.
7. Prepare to meet your guests’ special needs. If you have invited someone who is an invalid, be sure that you have a special screen for the fire; if there is a drafty area, be sure the young ladies will have shawls to wrap themselves up.
Breakfast. Around 10 A.M. A light meal of toast and bread served with tea, coffee, or perhaps chocolate (a bitter brew more like liquefied dark chocolate than the creamy, sweet beverage to which modern palates are accustomed). Grand houses might provide cake and rolls and even cold meat left over from the previous day’s dinner. Older gentlemen might expect the heartier breakfast of their youth: A fried chop and a mug of ale.
Luncheon/Nuncheon. Midday. Not a formal meal; if one is peckish in the middle of the day, a snack of cold meat and bread and butter might be wheedled from the cook. One also might expect to be served tea and cake or perhaps even fruit, cold meat, or sandwiches while paying a morning call.
Dinner. 3–5 P.M. in the country; 6–7 P.M. or later if following “town hours” in very fashionable households.
Tea. An hour after dinner. This is not the formal meal it became in Victorian times. One might be invited to a house not to dine but only to “drink tea,” which means arriving after dinner for tea, coffee, and perhaps cake.
Supper. 9–10 P.M. if dinner is early; if dinner is fashionably late, it might be dispensed with entirely. Supper can be a hot sit-down meal or a light snack of English muffins, toast and butter, tea and coffee, and perhaps a bit of wine mixed with water as a digestive and sleep aid. Valetudinarians such as Mr. Woodhouse will accept nothing more than a bowl of nice thin gruel.