A Serving Piece for Every Food!

 Aah, the Cold Meat Fork, a fork of many uses. This fork is usually eight to ten inches long and is intended for cold meats such as ham, roast beef or turkey. It can also be used for cheeses, hot meats like pork or lamb chops, waffles and it is quite handy for grilled veggies. If you do not have a salad serving set, you can pair it with a tablespoon and use them for lettuce. This particular fork is most likely from the 1920's - 1930's. It is silver plate.

 This Pierced Casserole spoon is a piece from my mother's collection. I remember it having a companion Meat Fork but it seems to have been misplaced. Between the handle and the bowl of the spoon is a bolster which is a decorative accent but also hides the connection between the two pieces of the spoon.

This piece is a Pie Server. I own many and have found many uses. I keep one handy in my everyday silver drawer at  home. Obviously the shape is perfect for a wedge of pie. It is also good for cake slices that have been previously cut, small individual iced cakes, soft cookies and in a pinch you can even use one for sliced tomatoes.

Common Serving Pieces

 There are sugar shells and sugar spoons. Sugar shells are more elaborate and the bowl of the spoon resembles a shell. Sugar spoons may be fancy patterns but the bowl of the spoon is plane like any other spoon with a wider shape at the "mouth" of the bowl. Here are two special examples of sugar shells. The top shell is a monogrammed piece made of coin silver. Coin silver is usually ninety percent silver with another metal mixed in. Pure sterling is very soft and by adding another metal the spoon is more durable. The bottom sugar shell is extremely fancy and is sterling. Sugar shells are meant for dipping sugar from a bowl but any as pretty as these could be used for sauces, nuts or small candies.

Butter knives are just as diverse as sugar spoons. There are individual butter spreaders and there are master butter knives. Individual butter spreaders may be flat handled as the one in the picture or hollow handled. Which ever yours is, they are intended to be placed on the bread and butter plate at each place setting. A butter pat or two should be placed on the bread and butter plate before guests are seated. If not, a master butter plate with a master butter knife is passed and you cut off the amount of butter you wish to have and place it on your bread and butter plate. Then you use your individual butter spreader to butter the bread. A master butter knife is larger than the individual and may have an off-set handle. The master butter knife is used for cutting pats of butter and placing it on your own plate. It is never used to spread butter on your bread. A flat handled butter spreader is five to six inches long and a hollow handled individual butter spreader is a bit larger, six to seven inches. The master butter spreader is also six to seven inches long. You need one individual butter spreader for each place setting in your service but one master butter knife is normal for a flatware set. The master butter knife can also be used for cream cheese.

There's a Piece of Flatware for Every Use!

     Flatware is the word used to describe the silver utensils we use every day to eat our food. It ranges from the "place setting" to the most specialized pieces your imagination can come up with. Having grown up in the South, I sometimes think I know every piece of flatware known to man and womankind and then I find a piece that I have never seen before. It is one of my favorite treasure hunts!

     A place setting is just that, the flatware that serves the "place" you have at the dinner table. Traditionally there are five pieces in a place setting. The knife, dinner fork, salad fork, teaspoon and dessert spoon. In more modern and less expensive sets the place setting is four pieces. The knife, dinner fork, salad fork and teaspoon make up the four piece place setting.

     There are a number of ways to acquire your flatware. You can simply go out and buy it yourself. You can buy whatever your budget allows. Sterling silver is going to cost you over one thousand dollars and the upper limit is endless. You can buy plated silver which can also cost in the thousands. The amount of sterling, quality and pattern will determine the cost. There is Stainless Steel which ranges from a couple of hundred dollars for a really nice set to under ten dollars for a simple utility set.

     Many brides select a flatware pattern which they register at a store and family and friends give pieces as wedding gifts. This is a very traditional practice and dates back many years contrary to today's practice of "registering" for children's birthday parties, divorce set up for the party that got nothing, new house registering or "I hate everything I have and want all new stuff" registering. I am very opposed to this type of greed. I recently heard of a bride, might I add a very old bride, who registered at a number of stores and had appeared to have "registered" just about everything these stores sold. Your friends like to send a gift let us not go overboard!

    One last way to acquire flatware is inheritance. This is an especially nice way to have sterling flatware. Once it is in the family how wonderful to pass it alone from generation to generation. As I have mentioned previously, I have my mother's sterling and it is one of my most treasured possessions. As for my own sterling, the pattern was selected when I was born and I received it as gifts over the years. The set was completed when I got married.

     However  you come to get a nice set of flatware, use it often. There is no reason not to use sterling daily if you so choose. Just remember not to put knives in the dishwasher because the handles will eventually come unglued. Otherwise, putting sterling in the dishwasher will do it no harm. If I have both sterling and stainless in the basket at the same time, I separate the two and see that they are not touching. Also, promptly remove any food from sterling especially salad dressing or any food that contains vinegar. The acid in fruits needs to be rinsed away quickly also.

     A guide to flatware pieces follows. I will start with the basic place setting pieces and add to the guide from time to time. I have some pieces in my collection that don't see a lot of use but they are such conversation pieces. Of course, remember there is a not flatware law that says you cannot come up with an inventive use for any piece you own. If a Lemon Fork works for kumquat slices, go for it and if the Sardine Fork rakes the gravel in the fish tank well, no one other than you will ever know!





    

Flatware for Every Use

 These beautiful antique dinner forks most likely date back to the early 20th century. Dinner forks can have three or four tines and are usually seven to eight inches long. They are part of a place setting which can either have four or five pieces. Flatware is often engraved with the single letter monogram of the owners last name, a three letter monogram or in this case a first name.

Teaspoons are perhaps the most versatile piece of flatware. They are also part of a four or five piece place setting. They are usually five to six inches in length. In a set of flatware you should have double the number of teaspoons. In fact, you may even run short on special occassions with twice as many. Fill in your set with beautiful mismatched teaspoons. You will need them for soups, desserts, coffee, tea, ice cream and cereal. Until you collect specialized serving pieces, teaspoons are also good for sauces.

These salad forks range from very elaborate to rather simple. The fork at the bottom is one of the most ornate I have ever seen and quite beautiful. The top fork has a simple handle but has that beautiful fan design on the base of the bowl. Salad forks are also part of the place setting. They are not only used for salads but desserts and appetizers.  My mother always set my place at the table with a "little fork" for me. Like a teaspoon, salad forks are six to seven inches long.