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What to do when you invite someone round, how to set the table, how to arrange the seating.
A few simple rules for you to remember.
Even in the smallest of houses, there is always a dinner set for everyday use and another for 'special occasions' when a good impression is important.
The 'good set', according to taste, can be classic and plain white or
with gold and coloured designs, or modern and white or colourful, but it is, above all, the material which gives the tone to the dinner set.
Porcelain is certainly the most valued, refined and hard-wearing, whilst
majolica and ceramic are more fragile and rustic.
THE PLATES
In order to be complete, that is to say, to have sufficient plates to serve any type of lunch, the dinner set should be made up of at
least:
| 24 plates |
1 or 2 wide-based bowls for dry first courses |
| 12 soup plates |
1 soup tureen |
| 24 fruit plates |
3 varying sizes of oval plate |
| 12 soup bowls with saucers |
1
round plate for timbales |
| 1 low and wide bowl for risotto |
2 sauce boats |
For serving hot dishes directly at the table,
heat-resistant pans are useful, and can be either elegant or rustic according to the support on which they rest.
Salads should be served in crystal or glass bowls, as should ice-cream cups, creamy desserts and fruit salads.
ACCESSORIES
For those who wish to complete their chinaware perfectly, other items to be owned are:
| 1 asparagus serving plate
(with grill and saucer) |
| plates for oysters |
plates for fondue |
| plates for snails |
fish plates (in the shape of sole) |
COFFE
AND TEA
Coffee cups can be identical to the dinner set, but it is perfectly acceptable for them to be
different, as the coffee should be served in the living room anyway.
To serve coffee, the following items are
needed:
| 1 tall coffee-pot, preferably thermal |
1 small sugar bowl |
| 1 small milk jug |
for the
refined, a tiny jug for cream |
Teacups, side plates and saucers may be different from the dinner set as, in Italy, tea is taken only during the afternoon.
A complete tea set will
contain:
| 1
large, bellied teapot |
1 large milk jug |
| 1 large sugar bowl |
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