Service à la russe
Type of formal dining / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The historical form of service à la russe (French: [sɛʁvis a la ʁys]; 'service in the Russian style') is a manner of dining with courses brought to the table sequentially, and the food portioned on individual plates by the waiter (typically from a sideboard in the dining room). It contrasts with the older service à la française ('service in the French style'), based on several courses brought to the table simultaneously, in an impressive display of tureens and serving dishes, with diners plating food themselves.[1][2]
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Service à la russe became the norm in formal Western cuisine over the 19th century. While it reduced the magnificent profusion of dishes and condiments on the table at a given time, it demanded many more footmen and required more tableware, making it an option only the wealthy could afford. It had the advantage of the food being much hotter when reaching the diner, and ensuring that everybody could taste everything they wanted from the dishes offered, which in practice the old system often did not allow. It also reduced the time spent at the table.[3]
The Russian Ambassador Alexander Kurakin is credited with bringing service à la russe to France in 1810, at a meal in Clichy on the outskirts of Paris.[4] It eventually caught on in England, becoming the norm by the 1870s and 1880s, though in France there was considerable resistance and service à la française lingered on until the 1890s, and even beyond for the most formal state banquets.[5][6] Service à la russe remains the basis for most modern Western restaurant service.
A less formal style known as service à l'anglaise (French: [sɛʁvis a lɑ̃glɛz]; 'English service') in France, has the hostess serving soup from one end of the table, and later the host carving a joint of meat from the other end, with servants taking these to diners, and diners serving themselves from other dishes.[7]