The Saturday Sip: November 26th, 2022
Your inspirational etiquette tip, Emily Post quote and an Emily Post Cookbook recipe to start your weekend off right!
The Tip
When you are a guest attending even a casual get together, you want to show up on time, and yes the fifteen to twenty minute grace period does exist and is fine to lean into if you need it. However, never show up before the stated or agreed upon time for the start of the gathering. Showing up early can catch your host off guard and they may not be in a state to properly greet and entertain you. Even with a host’s goal to be ready fifteen minutes ahead of their gathering’s start time, you cannot count on them actually being ready. While you might be willing to or even comfortable waiting unattended as your host finishes up last second tasks, it puts an unnecessary pressure on the host - unless you are the closest of friends and even then you want to avoid it if possible. If you find you’ve arrived early (there wasn’t any traffic, your train ran on time etc…) take a walk around the block, go run a quick errand, or wait patiently in your car until the actual start time of the gathering.
The Recipe
Leftover Turkey with Noodles and Curry
pg 154 of The Emily Post Cookbook, 1951
Time: 45 Minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
cooked and buttered egg noodles
Leftover turkey meat (at least two cups)
1 Tbsp melted butter
1 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup chicken or turkey stock
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
Directions:
Take a big Pyrex plate (or other heat-safe dish) and spread boiled, slightly buttered noodles around the sides of the plate, making a ring. Put in the oven and brown.
Remove all skin and bones from leftover turkey (or chicken). Cut meat into chunks and put two cupfuls of them in the middle of the ring.
Make a light curry sauce by mixing 1 tbs. melted butter and 1 tbs. flour in a double boiler; adding 1/2 cup cream, 1/2 cup chicken stock, and 1 1/2 tsp. curry powder; an mixing and stirring until smooth and thickened. Pour the sauce over the turkey and serve.
Modern adjustments: you don’t need a double boiler, you can use a saucepan to mix the flour and fat and cook it into a roux that you then add the other sauce ingredients to.
This is the first Saturday Sip I have received from you and I simply want to let you know how much I've enjoyed it. Concise, a quick read, and entertaining. Thank you so much. And just a bit of a story for you: When my mother was a mere slip of a girl (she was born in 1916) she was too poor to purchase Emily Post's book. But she loved etiquette and so she copied the entire book, word for word, in longhand.
That is a truly incredible story! I think Emily would be honored, thank you so much for sharing, Veronica.