What is the purpose of Fish Knives?!
Answers: I can understand soup spoons for soup, steak knives for steak, am I missing something here?
the little hook at the end is supposed to help in pulling bones out of the fish. Slip it under the end of the bone, put the tip on your finger on the hook (or not, if you can) and pull.
Fish knives were given as wedding presents in the early sixties, they have no use at all, and are usually kept on the top shelf of the cupboard under the stairs gathering dust!
To cut fish of course
Unlike meat fish does not need cutting so you dont need a sharp edge,fish knives are blunt edged to seperate the flakes.
To fillet fish - Its flexible so you can cut off the fillet cleanly.
A Traditional Formal Dinner
The traditional place setting for a full ten course formal dinner in the dressant de l'Anglais manner, would be as follows:
Bread:
The Butter knife would be set on the extreme right side of your plate or laid across the bread plate.
1st Course – Scalded Oysters in the Shell:
An Oyster fork laid inside of the Butter knife, tines up, although often (at Presidential, Mayoral or Royal Dinners) it will be laid in the bowl of the Cream Soup spoon
2nd Course – Cream of Tomato Soup:
A Cream Soup spoon laid inside of the Butter knife or at the far right of your place setting..
3rd Course – Mandarin Vinaigrette Salad with Goat Cheese medallions and Pine Nuts
A Salad knife laid inside of the Soup spoon on the right & a Salad fork laid on the extreme outside left of your plate.
4th Course – Paté de Foie Gras with pickles & fingers of toast:
A small Butter or Paté knife will be laid inside of the Salad Knife on the right & a Pickle fork laid inside of the Salad fork to the left of your plate.
5th Course - Fillet de Sole Victoria
A Fish knife laid inside of the Paté knife on your right & a Fish fork laid inside the Pickle fork to the left of your plate.
6th Course – Roast Beef & Yorkshire Pudding, asparagus, buttered carrots, garden peas, steamed baby white beans with oven-roasted Potatoes, served with a Windsor gravy & fresh horseradish sauce and English Mustard.
A Dinner knife laid inside of the Fish knife on your right & a Dinner fork laid inside the Fish fork to the left of your plate.
7th Course - Black Forest Cake with Crème de l'Anglais
A desert fork laid inside your Dinner fork.
8th Course - Assortment of Cheeses with pickles, onions and slices of cured spicy sausage.
A Cheese knife laid inside the Dinner knife on your right & a Pickle fork laid inside of your Dinner fork to the left of your plate.
9th Course – Fresh Peeled Fruit Slices and Summer Berries served in Kirsch Liqueur.
A Fruit knife laid next to your plate on the right & a Fruit fork laid next to your plate on the left.
10th Course - Raspberry & Lemon Sorbet
An Ice Cream Fork served with the dish.
For the average person today the above menu would appear to be just too much food to consume at one sitting; however, in Victorian times a formal dinner was a full evening's entertainment. You would arrive shortly after 6pm and enjoy a glass of sherry with your host before being called to dinner at 7pm - and you would stay at the table until 10pm - with each course being separated from the next by polite conversation or story telling and bringing each other up to date on current affairs.
At 10pm the gentlemen would retire to the library for cognac and cigars and the ladies would withdraw to the drawing room; however I have never been able to find out exactly what they did there.
Now you will be all set to have dinner with the queen. lol.
hope this helps. good luck.
At tables where different knives and forks are used for each course,fish knives and forks were a seperate item because fish could taint the taste of the utensils.Hence they were a different shape than usual cutlery. Today in the normal household with modern detergents I don`t suppose it makes a difference.
The purpose is how pompous the person is.