Placing of cutlery

Setting a table is not as difficult as it seems to be. At my dinning table the Utensils are placed in the order of use; that is, from the outside in. Forks go to the left of the plate, and knives and spoons go to the right. And finally, only set the table with utensils you will use.

If we have soup in the dinner only then soup spoon; else no soup spoon.

i prefer a very simple arrangement at my dining top :)
 
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morning glory said:
I was watching one of this week's episode of Masterchef the Professionals last night. The first half of the episode was set in the (very grand) French Ambassador's Residence in London. The team of chefs had to cook a formal 3 course meal for French VIPs. I noticed in one of the sequences, that the cutlery on the table was placed 'face down'. Forks turned so the prongs pointed down and spoons turned so that the convex side faced upwards. This applied to all the cutlery - starter, main course and dessert.

I have never seen this before and I'd always assumed that I knew the correct way to set cutlery for formal dining (not that I have done it very often!). I wondered if it was a French thing - but I've eaten out in France many many times and never come across this. Can anyone shed any light on this?

Here is a screenshot from the programme:

View attachment 4414
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I grew up placing a fork, knife and spoon on a napkin to the left of your plate. That's also the way you'll find it in many American restaurants.
 
I have no problems with a 7 course meal (really 8+ courses minus the fish dishes) and would use the cutlery provided, but a home I use mainly a fork and/or soup spoon and/or a dessert spoon and/or bread and fingers. I still use my old grapefruit spoons - for eating boiled eggs. The serrated edges are ideal for nipping the tops of the egg but are not sharp enough to damage tongues or the insides of mouths. As for chocolate, always made in a pan from pure chocolate (100%) - no milk, no sugar, just up to 1/2 pint of water, and up to 6 discs of chocolate depending how thick I fancy it - and always eaten/drunk with a spoon. The spoons designed mainly for people who cannot eat unaided are ideal for this - they have a slightly deeper bowl than a normal teaspoon and the bowl is at an angle to the handle, rather like a mini-ladle.

The longest meal I have ever had was in Greece - a spit roasted young pig (not a suckling pig) between four of us, served up with various cheeses and salads and copious amounts of wine. It took about 6 hours to demolish said animal and there was not a lot of waste.
 
I may have already said this, but my preference is to use a spork, or my favourite spoon (not as round as most and does cut into the sides of my mouth like most normal spoons - and don't go anywhere near the concept of soup spoons please!)
 
I've always wanted a set of two pronged forks like you see on movies about medieval times, or on Star Trek.

They just look cool to eat meat with, although I'll probably end up stabbing myself in the mouth.
 
classic33 said:
Fork, prongs up is an agressive setting. Often taken as not trusting the person.
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Interesting but there is another point - a fork laid prongs up is so much more likely to catch in a sleeve [or dress - remember the ladies, and depending on the date the men, would have long lace sleeves/cuffs back in the day] and be catapulted onto the floor. Simple practicality.
 
sidevalve said:
Interesting but there is another point - a fork laid prongs up is so much more likely to catch in a sleeve [or dress - remember the ladies, and depending on the date the men, would have long lace sleeves/cuffs back in the day] and be catapulted onto the floor. Simple practicality.
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Prongs down, you'd less chance of it doing any damage to the person. Which is why its seen as an aggressive/untrusting way of putting them on the table.
 
classic33 said:
Prongs down, you'd less chance of it doing any damage to the person. Which is why its seen as an aggressive/untrusting way of putting them on the table.
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No argument really - just raising a possibility. Just seemed the possibility of catching in a lace cuff might be more likely. After all who wants Jeeves running around the table picking up cutlery when he should be pouring more wine ?
 
sidevalve said:
No argument really - just raising a possibility. Just seemed the possibility of catching in a lace cuff might be more likely. After all who wants Jeeves running around the table picking up cutlery when he should be pouring more wine ?
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And in a drunken state, too much drink, less chance of injury.
 
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