Silver service (in
British English
British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...
) is a method of
foodservice
The foodservice (US English) or catering (British English) industry includes the businesses, institutions, and companies which prepare meals outside the home. It includes restaurants, school and hospital cafeterias, catering operations, and many ...
at the table, with waiter transferring food from a serving dish to the guest's plate, always from the left. It is performed by a waiter by using service forks and spoons from the diner's left. In France, it appears to be now known as ''service à l'anglaise'' ("English service"),
although historically that meant something else, with the hostess serving out the soup at one end of the table, and later the host carving a joint of meat at the other end, and diners serving themselves with other dishes.
A modification of silver service is known as butler service.
Features
* Silver service food is served from the left. Gravy is served from the left.
* Meals are served to the diner from platters, not plated in the kitchen.
* The guest to the host's right is served first, usually a female guest.
* Service continues anti - clockwise ending with the host.
* Plates are cleared from the right,
[http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/nqfdocs/units/pdf/14438.pdf ] glasses from the right; again by starting with the guest to the host's right.
* Glasses are positioned above the knife blade and stacked in a diagonal to the right and away, with
wine
Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...
(by course) in order and then water glass in front. This is dependent on the size of the glasses used as a smaller glass sometimes goes in front so it can be filled easily and the diner can reach it.
* At a wedding, the bride is served first, followed by the bride's mother, then the Bridegroom, then to the left of the "top table" with the bridal party, restarting again at the other side of the table with the best man first then any other member of the bridegroom's party.
Silver service, like all formal food service, is oriented for a right-handed waiter, left-handed waiters may use their right hand: to serve the food, the waiter stands behind the guest and to the guest's left, holds or supports the platter with their left hand and serves the food with their right hand. It is common for the waiter to hold the serving-fork above the serving-spoon both in the right hand, and use the fingers to manipulate the two as a
pincer Pincer may refer to:
* Pincers (tool)
*Pincer (biology), part of an animal
*Pincer ligand
In chemistry, a transition metal pincer complex is a type of coordination complex with a pincer ligand. Pincer ligands are chelating agents that binds tig ...
for picking up, holding and transferring the food. This technique or form requires much practice and dexterity.
In butler service, the diner helps themselves from a serving plate held by the butler. Traditionally, this type of service was used on Sunday evenings, when the
waiting staff
Waiting staff (British English), waitstaff (North American English), waiters (male) / waitresses (female), or servers (North American English), are those who work at a restaurant, a diner, or a bar and sometimes in private homes, attendin ...
had the evening off and the butler helped out at dinner. In
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, this kind of service is known as ''
service à la francaise
Service may refer to:
Activities
* Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty
* Civil service, the body of employees of a government
* Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a p ...
'' ("French service"),
again a very different meaning from the historical one.
See also
*
Table setting
Table setting (laying a table) or place setting refers to the way to set a table with tableware—such as eating utensils and for serving and eating. The arrangement for a single diner is called a place setting. It is also the layout in which ...
*''
Service à la russe
The historical form of (; "service in the Russian style") is a manner of dining that involves courses being brought to the table sequentially, and the food being portioned on the plate by the waiter (usually at a sideboard in the dining room) bef ...
''
*''
Service à la française
(; "service in the French style") is the practice of serving various dishes of meal at the same time, with the diners helping themselves from the serving dishes. That contrasts to (; "service in the Russian style") in which dishes are brought ...
''
References
External links
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Serving and dining