Social Etiquette Tip of the Week - What's This Plethora of Silverware For?
Formal table settings, with their dizzying parade of utensils, can sometimes be overwhelming. If you just remember a few basic guidelines, you can demystify that confusing tangle of spoons, forks, and knives that make formal dining appear complex.
In a formal setting you will receive exactly as much silverware as you will need, arranged in precisely the right order. As each course is completed, the silverware will be removed with the plate leaving you with a clean slate all ready for the next course. Common sense forbids arranging battalions of forks and knives at the sides of the plate. On the very rare occasions, that more than three or four courses are planned, new silverware will be brought to you after all of the original pieces have been used.
Just remember to work from the outside in and you can't go wrong (unless the table has been improperly set). If you have two forks, the smaller outside fork is for salad, and the larger fork closest to the plate is your dinner fork. If salad is served after the entrée, this will be reversed with the salad fork next to the plate. There may occasionally be a third fork, outside the salad fork, for appetizers or fish.
On the far right side of your place setting, if soup or fruit is served as a first course, the accompanying spoon(s) will be set to the right of the dinner knife. Now, here is where it can get confusing…another small fork, aka the oyster fork will be on the table if shellfish is to be served. The oyster fork is the one exception to the rule of placing all forks to the left of the plate as you will find it to the right of the spoons/knife.
Your butter knife is paced across the top of your butter plate, handle on the right and blade down. Remember, your butter place is to the left of your dinner plate.
If you see utensils placed horizontally across the top of your place setting, save those for dessert.
Once a utensil has been used for eating; it never again touches the tablecloth, not even the handle! Place it on the outer rim of the plate between bites, do not rest it gangplank style, half on the table and half on the plate. If a utensil falls on the floor do not pick it up and place it on the table. Nudge it under the table with your foot to prevent anyone from tripping on it and ask for a replacement. This is not being rude or lazy on your part; it simply prevents the eating surface from becoming contaminated by germs from the floor.
Leave any silverware that you did not use laying on the table.
To indicate to the waiter that you are finished with your meal, simply place the fork and knife side-by-side (diagonally) on the plate, with handles at four o’clock.
With these simple guidelines, you can have your cake, and eat it too… while knowing you are using the right fork!
In a formal setting you will receive exactly as much silverware as you will need, arranged in precisely the right order. As each course is completed, the silverware will be removed with the plate leaving you with a clean slate all ready for the next course. Common sense forbids arranging battalions of forks and knives at the sides of the plate. On the very rare occasions, that more than three or four courses are planned, new silverware will be brought to you after all of the original pieces have been used.
Just remember to work from the outside in and you can't go wrong (unless the table has been improperly set). If you have two forks, the smaller outside fork is for salad, and the larger fork closest to the plate is your dinner fork. If salad is served after the entrée, this will be reversed with the salad fork next to the plate. There may occasionally be a third fork, outside the salad fork, for appetizers or fish.
On the far right side of your place setting, if soup or fruit is served as a first course, the accompanying spoon(s) will be set to the right of the dinner knife. Now, here is where it can get confusing…another small fork, aka the oyster fork will be on the table if shellfish is to be served. The oyster fork is the one exception to the rule of placing all forks to the left of the plate as you will find it to the right of the spoons/knife.
Your butter knife is paced across the top of your butter plate, handle on the right and blade down. Remember, your butter place is to the left of your dinner plate.
If you see utensils placed horizontally across the top of your place setting, save those for dessert.
Once a utensil has been used for eating; it never again touches the tablecloth, not even the handle! Place it on the outer rim of the plate between bites, do not rest it gangplank style, half on the table and half on the plate. If a utensil falls on the floor do not pick it up and place it on the table. Nudge it under the table with your foot to prevent anyone from tripping on it and ask for a replacement. This is not being rude or lazy on your part; it simply prevents the eating surface from becoming contaminated by germs from the floor.
Leave any silverware that you did not use laying on the table.
To indicate to the waiter that you are finished with your meal, simply place the fork and knife side-by-side (diagonally) on the plate, with handles at four o’clock.
With these simple guidelines, you can have your cake, and eat it too… while knowing you are using the right fork!
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