How to Set the Official Thanksgiving Table Like a Sophisticated Adult
The biggest gastronomic celebration of the year is coming. You thought of the menu, bought sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts, and thawed a turkey. ( You defrosted the turkey, right ?) For all the pomp and preparation for the main event, it’s easy to ditch the canvas that will display the reward: your table. (It can also be intimidating if you weren’t raised for formal dining — which most of us are.) Here’s how to make your dining table as elegant as the food you cook.
The art of arranging dishes
Most of us know that forks are placed to the left of the plate, and spoons and knives are placed on the right. As the amount of the indicated dishes increases, our confusion increases. But as etiquette consultant Pamela Hillings told Martha Stewart , “the table setting is based on logic.” It would be pointless to keep unused utensils three inches from your plate while you eat. This is why the cutlery is placed in the order of use from the outside to the inside; The cutlery farthest from the plate is used first, and the cutlery closest to the plate is used last.
To the left of the plate you have in order from left to right: fish fork, salad fork, dinner fork. (Note: In Europe, salad is often eaten after the main course, so sometimes you may see a salad fork set closest to the plate. If you feel extraordinary, you can do it yourself.) On the side of the plate, place a dinner knife, fish knife and soup soup spoon in order from left to right. (Then use an oyster fork if necessary.)
The bottom of the pan should line up with the bottom edge of the plate. (Martha Stewart says this plate should be a “charger” that will be removed when guests place napkins on their lap – but a regular dinner plate can serve the same function.)
Everything related to dessert goes above the plate, in the center. The dessert fork should lie as close to the plate as possible with the tines to the right, and the dessert spoon should be over the fork turned in the opposite direction (handle to the right).
A few final words about utensils: depending on the food, there are many possible seating options. For example, if the soup is served between the salad and the main course, place the spoon between two knives. Avoid overfilling the table with unnecessary dishes. (If there is no soup or fish, remove the dishes from the table.) Your formal table might just have two dinner forks, a knife and a spoon, and that’s fine.
A dish of bread and butter where to go?
While this is common during normal meals, a formal dinner is not a place to use a dinner knife to grease a bun and place it next to our fried cabbage. No, trendy tables have separate bread plates that are to the left of the plate, above the forks. Place the butter knife diagonally on the bread plate for maximum table elegance.
Where to place the glasses
The glass is in the upper right corner of the plate (above the knives and spoons). When placing three glasses, place a glass of water over a dining knife, a glass of white wine to the right of it, and a glass of red wine, forming the top center of a neat glass triangle. Another option is to place all glasses in a straight line from the largest to the smallest: a glass of water, red wine, white wine, a glass of champagne (the glass of water should be to the right of the middle line of the plate).
Where does the napkin go?
When I served the table as a child, my mother taught me to put a folded napkin under a fork. This, however, is the chic tactlessness of the table. Placing a napkin under the fork creates noise as guests work to free the humble napkin from its shackles, which can cause the silverware to clang to the floor. For maximum sophistication, place a napkin to the left of the forks, or ideally in the middle of a plate – either beautifully folded or curled with a decorative napkin ring.
Finally, create a seating chart
If more than four guests are expected, an assigned seat is recommended. Consider making seat cards ahead of time to place over each guest’s plate. However, Martha Stewart also advises against posting your site map for yourself . We have not been able to figure out why this is bad etiquette. Just trust this Martha, okay?