What to eat: how to figure out cutlery and dishes

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-12 17:37

It is customary to eat different dishes in different ways, using different cutlery, and some even with your hands. But if you do not know or have forgotten some rule, then follow the main principle - always keep common sense and do not spoil the mood and appetite of the people around you with your behavior. First, look at how your neighbors eat this dish, but if you still can't figure it out, it's better to give it up and eat something more familiar.

Bread and sandwiches

They take bread from a common tray with their hands, put it on a pie plate or on the edge of a diner, break off small pieces from it, and they are already sent to the mouth.

To make a sandwich, you first need to use a special knife to put butter or pate on the right side of the snack plate. Put a piece of bread next to it and spread it, holding it with your left hand and not tearing it off the plate. Sandwiches served with aperitifs are taken by hand, but at the table they are eaten with a knife and fork. The exception is canapes on skewers.

Soups

Soup, served in a single-handled cup, is drunk straight from the cup. If the soup is served in a cup with two handles, then you need to use a dessert spoon. You can pick up liquid with a spoon both to yourself and from yourself. You can drink the rest of the soup from the cup by grabbing it by the handles, but the plate should not be tilted, and it is better to leave small residues at the bottom.

Lenten dishes

Long pasta can be shortened with a fork. Spaghetti is not cut, but wrapped on a fork on the edge of the plate, holding it with a tablespoon.

Sliced cheese is eaten with a cheese or snack fork.

Spaghetti is not cut, but wrapped around a fork on the edge of the plate, holding it with a tablespoon.

Stuffed vegetables, stuffed pancakes, omelets and dishes in dough baskets are cut with a knife and eaten with a fork.

Whole lettuce leaves are supposed to be eaten, tearing off small pieces with your hands. If it is served sliced, then you need to use a fork. It is permissible to cut asparagus with a knife.

Olives (olives) are taken with a special spoon with holes for marinade drainage. The bones are laid out on a fork, and then on a plate.

A fish

Hot smoked and boiled fish with thin skin is eaten using a fork.

In this case, the smoked one is first freed from the skin and bones on one side, and after eating, it is turned over and proceeded to the other. If the skin is dense (as, for example, in trout), it is cut with a knife on both sides near the ridge and removed with a fork. Pickled herring, salmon, sturgeon or cold-smoked eel are so hard that they can only be dealt with with a snack knife.

For boiled, stewed, fried fish, you need a special knife and fork. Instead of a knife, you can use a second fork or a slice of bread. Bones from the mouth must be discreetly removed and laid out on a fork, and then on the edge of the plate. If the fish is served with lemon, then, holding it with a fork, take out the pulp with a knife, and leave the peel on the edge of the plate.

Meat dishes

Large sausages are eaten using the cutlery, small sausages are taken by hand and dipped in mustard, laid out on the edge of the plate.

Hot and cold meat dishes (chops, entrecotes) are eaten using a knife and fork, and it is not customary to cut them into small pieces right away. Minced meat dishes (cutlets, steak, dumplings) are separated with a fork, holding with a knife.

Contrary to popular belief, neither game nor poultry should be eaten with your hands at the table - they are eaten with a knife and fork.

Contrary to popular belief, neither game nor poultry should be eaten with your hands at the table - they are eaten with a knife and fork. True, in different countries and in different places there are different orders, so it is worth seeing how the neighbors do it.

For fondue, meat (cheese, poultry) is cut into small pieces on a special dish, and then one by one is placed on special forks and fried in a container with boiling oil. Spread the fondue on sauce plates and eat with a fork and knife.

Seafood

Crabs, lobsters, shrimps, lobsters and crayfish are eaten with special devices, and in a less formal setting, they can be eaten by hand. If a crab in a shell is served at the table, then it must be cut with a special hatchet or tongs. The tail of a large lobster can be eaten like a chop using a knife and fork.

The restaurant may offer a "bib" to protect the outfit from splashing juice.

The necks of crayfish can be torn off by hand, but better - with a special knife, cutting the shell from below. The restaurant may offer a "bib" to protect the outfit from splashing juice.

To open the shell of an oyster, you will need a short, blunt knife and a fork to separate the meat. But most often oysters are served peeled. Mussels are served hot in shells. Use tweezers or hand to hold the mussel on a plate, and take out the clam with a special fork. Waste is left on the edge of the plate.

Scoop the caviar with a spatula and put it on your plate. Then spread on bread or toast. Sandwiches are eaten without cutlery, but pancakes with caviar are eaten with a knife and fork.

desserts

Ice cream, soft cakes and mousses are eaten with a teaspoon, and hard cakes or cakes are eaten with a dessert fork.

Fruits

Pineapple is divided into four parts, cut into slices along with the peel and served. Eat with a knife and fork. The same is done with melons.

If the fruit is served with a filling, then it is scooped out with a spoon. For example, this is how people eat an avocado, the groove of which is filled with salad, crab meat or sauce.

It is customary to cut the kiwi in half and select the pulp with a spoon. In restaurants, they are served peeled and cut into slices.

Unpeeled strawberries are held by the sepals and eaten dipped in cream or powdered sugar. Berries without greens are taken with a teaspoon. Cherries and currants are served with petioles. They pinch off a twig from a bunch of grapes, put it on their plate and eat one berry at a time, taking them with a spoon.

The banana peel is trimmed on both sides and then peeled off, but not completely.

Apricots, peaches, large plums are cut in half and pitted with a knife. Small plums are sent into the mouth with a spoon or hand, and the seeds are spread on a spoon.

The banana peel is cut on both sides (large fruits are also cut across), and then peeled off, but not completely. Eat by holding the unpeeled end.

Peel off the peel from the oranges with a knife, and peel the tangerines by hand, then divide these fruits into slices. Grapefruit is served cut into two halves and eaten with a teaspoon. Lemon slices are laid out on a plate with a special two-pronged lemon fork and eaten with a knife and fork.