Sequence & Cover of The French Classical Menu:

France and to some extent Switzerland took the lead in standardizing and globalizing the art of food presentation and food service. The earliest form of banqueting and formal food service goes back to monarchs who used to serve up huge meals consisting of 50-80 dishes in the honor of visiting heads of state in the early 15th century.

The menu slowly underwent modifications wherein the French classical menus evolved. This classical menu had some 17 distinct courses which slowly got reduced to 14,then went on to become 11.This classical menu has many regional varieties but dining in the Continent, Europe, is even today as per the sequence of courses of the classical menu.

Today, very rarely are all these courses served together .We select a few, 3-5,courses from the classical menu to compile smaller, attractive and balanced menu for today’s guests.

 Sequence of Courses for The French Classical Menu:

 Before I discuss the details of the courses of the French classical menu, I would detail with the sequence and a basic comprehension of the courses, which make up the classical menu.

The following is the sequence of the 11 courses of the classical menu:

S.No	Course	English equivalent
1	Hors-d’oeuvre	Starters
2	Potage	Soup
3	Poisson	Fish
4	Entrée	Entry of meat
5	Relev’e	Joints of meat
6	Sorbet	The rest course
7	Roti	Roasts
8	Legumes	Vegetables
9	Entremets	Kitchen sweets
10	Savoureux	Savory
11	Dessert	Fresh fruits and nuts.

                                                                   

Cover For Each Course:

 Each course of the continental menu has a distinct cover. There are few exceptions in cover set up. Any aspiring food and beverage service professional has to be sure of the table set up, cover and the accompaniments which are served with every course so as to compliment the chef’s efforts with the food service.

             The credit to standardization of cover set up may be attributed to the celebrated maitre d’hotel  Oscar of the Valdorf, who when working with the waldorf Astoria came up with a multi volume illustration in his culinary work of 1904. He has given distinct table settings and mentioned the style of service for each course of the continental menu.

           

           The following chart is a broad guideline of the catering trade which should help you to set correct covers for the distinct courses of the French classical menu.

                            

Course	Set up	Exception
Hors-d oeuvre	Fish knife +fish fork Fish plate Or Small knife +small fork half plate	For starters served in a coupe or bowl, coupe on a doilley covered quarter plate with a tea spoon passed
Potage	Soup bowl on a soup saucer on a quarter plate with soup spoon or soup plate on a large plate with a soup spoon	For consommé, consommé cup on a saucer on quarter plate with dessert spoon
Poisson	Fish knife, fish fork with a fish plate	-------
Entrée	Large knife large fork with a large plate	When entrée is followed by releve’ or roti entree’ gets small knife, small fork and half plate.
Releve’	Large knife, large fork with a large plate	-----------------
Sorbet	Sorbet glass on quarter plate covered with a doilley.tea spoon passed.	-------------
Roti	Large knife, large fork with a large plate	--------------
Legumes	Small knife, small fork with a half plate.	For a vegetarian meal large knife, large fork and a large plate
Entremets	Dessert spoon, dessert fork, dessert plate	For entremets served in glass coupe’, coupe’ on a doilley covered quarter plate with a tea spoon passed
Savoureux	Small knife, small fork, half plate	--------------
Dessert	Fruit knife, fruit fork, dessert plate	Nut cracker, grape scissor; spare quarter plate, two finger bowls one with warm water and lemon wedge, another with cold water and a rose petal both on a quarter plate are passed when whole fruits and nuts in shells are presented.