Where to put the gravy boat?
The sauce is usually served on the table in a saucer — a small and very elegant oblong cup with a spout and one handle. It is placed not on a tablecloth, which can be accidentally soiled with drops, but on a saucer covered with a napkin. If the sauce is intended individually for each guest, then the tiny cup is placed to the right of the main plate or slightly above it, closer to the glasses. If the sauce is poured not into individual bowls, but into shared ones, then they are placed next to the dish. And special spoons are used. They are slightly larger and deeper than teacups, and also have a small spout.
Don't pour it on the side dish.
It is advisable for the hostess or waiter to pour the sauce from the shared bowl, as this will be safer for everyone. However, guests often decide to do this task themselves and pass the utensil around.
In this case, carefully take the saucer with the bowl and carefully scoop the sauce with a spoon. Try to pour it on the main dish, not on the side dish. It is believed that the taste of the dressing is designed to shade and emphasize the advantages of the main dish, and mashed potatoes or vegetables, poured with thick liquid, become ugly and unappetizing. If you did not have time to dip the meat in the sauce in time and decided to pour it on the plate directly on the fork, stop: you can't do that. It is better to eat a dry piece than to be passed over by an ill-mannered person.
Don't be greedy.
Pour the sauce carefully so as not to drip onto the tablecloth. If a couple of colorful stains still remain on the snow-white surface of the table and the waiter does not come to the rescue in time, do not draw attention to this, just blot the drops with a napkin or cover the dirty spot with it.
There should be enough sauce for everyone present, so don't be greedy when you put it on a plate. And try to calculate the amount in such a way that you can finish it with the other food. If your eye fails, there's nothing you can do – at a formal dinner, even the most delicious dressing will have to be left on the plate.
Deep-tastes
There are foods that are usually dipped in sauce. For example, this is how they deal with mollusks: first, using a special fork, they are pulled out of the shells, then carefully dipped into an individual sauce pot and only then eaten. Thick dips are also intended for dipping. They are usually placed in the center, and cubes of fresh vegetables are laid out around them. You need to take a cucumber (carrot, celery, artichoke leaves) with your hands, dip it into a bowl and eat it. If you have bitten off a piece, do not dip the vegetable into the common sauce pot again – it is impolite.
Soy Tricks
Sushi or sashimi is usually eaten with soy sauce, which is served in special small cups. To enjoy a Japanese dish, rice balls or fish should be carefully picked up with chopsticks and dipped in the sauce. Moreover, it is not the rice side that is dipped in the soy liquid, but the fish side.
It is also customary to season traditional Thai sticky rice with sauce, especially common in the north of the country. Small cups with several dressings are usually placed in the middle of the table. According to local etiquette, you need to pinch a small piece from the viscous mass of grains with your hand and then dip it into a shared bowl with the sauce you like. Only you need to do this carefully – an unfamiliar dressing can be too spicy.
Джерело: ukr.media
