Full-course dinner

A full-course dinner is a meal with multiple courses, almost invariably eaten in the evening or afternoon. Most Western-world multicourse meals follow a standard sequence, influenced by traditional French haute cuisine. It commonly begins with an appetizer, followed by the main course, the salad course, and eventually the dessert, but the exact sequence varies widely. Full-course dinners are generally very formal as well as very expensive, and can have as few as 3 or as many as 21 courses. Some major styles include service à la russe and service à la française.

The idea of traditional, ritualized multi-course meals dates back to at least Ancient Rome, where the meal began with the gustatio, a variety of herbs and hors d'oeuvres, then continued to three main courses, and finished with a dessert.

Basics
A multicourse meal or full-course dinner is a meal with multiple courses, almost invariably eaten in the evening or afternoon. Most Western-world multicourse meals follow a standard sequence, influenced by traditional French haute cuisine. Each course is supposed to be designed with a particular size and genre that befits its place in the sequence. There are variations depending on location and custom. Miss Manners gives the following sequence for a 14 course meal:


 * 1) Oysters or clams on the half shell. Fruit or caviar may be served instead.
 * 2) Soup, giving each guest a choice of clear or thick.
 * 3) Radishes, celery, olives, and salted almonds.
 * 4) Fish, served with fancifully shaped potatoes and cucumber with oil and vinegar.
 * 5) Sweetbreads or mushrooms.
 * 6) Artichokes, asparagus, or spinach in pastry.
 * 7) A roast or joint with a green vegetable.
 * 8) Frozen Roman punch
 * 9) Game, such as wild duck or small birds, served with salad.
 * 10) Heavy pudding or another creamed sweet.
 * 11) A frozen sweet, possibly with small crisp cakes.
 * 12) Cheeses, with biscuits and butter, or a hot savory of cheese.
 * 13) Fresh, crystallized, and stuffed dried fruits, served with bonbons.
 * 14) Coffee, liqueurs, and sparkling waters.

Meals like this are generally very formal as well as very expensive. In formal dining, a full-course dinner can consist of 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, or 16 courses, and, in its extreme form, has been known to have 21 courses. In these more formalized dining events, the courses are carefully planned to complement each other gastronomically. The courses are smaller and spread out over a long evening, up to three, four or five hours. They follow conventions of menu planning that have been established over many years. Most courses (excluding some light courses such as sorbets) in the most formal full-course dinners are usually paired with a different wine, beer, liqueur, or other spirit.

Service à la russe
In one modern version of service à la russe, courses are brought to the table in sequence. Only empty plates are set in front of each guest and guests individually fill their plates with selections from a variety of dishes. In another, common in restaurants, a filled plate is placed in front of a guest, pre-portioned away from the table. Often the meat is pre-portioned, but diners serve themselves with vegetables and side-dishes. In an American formal dining course, typically each course is served sequentially. Guests are served plates already filled with food in individual portions. Often, guests have an opportunity to choose between vegetarian or meat main course. There is no opportunity to request something different or to ask for more than a single serving.



Service à la française
In service à la française, food is served "family-style", with all courses on the table at the same time. Guests serve themselves so that all dishes are not served at their optimum temperatures. Alternatively, buffet style is a variation of the French service where all food is available at the correct temperature in a serving space other than the dining table. Guests go to the buffet to be served or sometimes serve themselves and then carry their plates back to the table.

Table setting


Table settings can be elaborate. More formal settings sometimes include all silverware and glassware that will be needed for the entire meal, and lay out the silverware so that the outermost tools are used for the dishes appearing earliest on the menu. In this scheme, when diners are served the first course, they can depend on finding the correct implement at the outermost edge of the arrangement.

A 13 course place setting includes multiple utensils, receptacles, and vessels. The plate is flanked by a caviar spoon, cocktail fork, escargot fork, bouillon spoon, fish fork and fish knife, lobster pick, and bone marrow spoon, as well as an entrée knife and fork, relevé knife and fork, and a saladé knife and fork. Above the place setting are laid a bread knife (on a knife rest), a plate with a personal butter dish, a fish bone dish, a sorbet spoon, a cheese knife, a nut pick, and also a dessert fork and dessert spoon. To the right of the plate a salt cellar and spoon with pepper is supplied. Glassware includes a water goblet, champagne flute, white wine, red wine, dessert/sherry, and port glasses.

An alternative scheme arranges the place setting so that only the implements needed for the first one or two courses appear in the table setting. As the dinner progresses and new courses arrive, used implements are removed with the dishes, and new silverware is placed next to the plates. This scheme is commonly used when dinners are offered à la carte, so that the most appropriate implement is selected for a given course. For example, some diners may order clear, thin soups and others may order thick, creamy soups. As each of these soups has its own unique spoon, it would be considered improper and impractical to lay out a spoon that may not be needed.