How often have I heard a hostess boast, “I never give any attention to the details of my dinner, I simply tell my butler how many people we are to have.” In nine cases out of ten this is apparent in the dinner. Madame Rothschild, who has always given the best dinners in Paris, personally supervises everything. The great Duchess of Sutherland, the Queen’s friend, when she entertained, inspected every arrangement personally herself. I daily comment to my cook on the performance of the previous day. No one, especially in this country, can accomplish great results without giving time and attention to these details. No French cook will take any interest in his work unless he receives praise and criticism; but above all things, you must know how to criticise. If he finds you are able to appreciate his work when good, and condemn it when bad, he improves, and gives you something of value. Now let us treat of dinners as given before the introduction of _chefs_, and still preferred by the majority of people. The best talent with poor material may give a fair dinner, but if the material is poor, the dinner will evidence it. For forty years I have always marketed myself and secured the respect of my butcher, letting him know that I knew as much if not more than he did. In selecting your shin of beef, remember that a fresh shin is always the best for soup. In choosing fish, look at their gills, which should be a bright red. See your _filet_ cut with the fat well marbled, cut from young beef. Sweetbreads come in pairs; one fine, one inferior. Pay an extra price, and get your butcher to cut them apart and give you only the two large heart breads, leaving to him the two thin throat breads to sell at a reduced price. In poultry there are two kinds of fat, yellow and white. Fowls fed on rice have white fat; those on corn meal, yellow fat. By the feet of the bird, you can tell its age. The black and red feathered fowls are always preferred. Never take a gray feathered bird. Look at the head of the canvasback and the redhead; see them together, and then you will readily see the birds to pick, i.e. the canvasback. Weigh in your hand each snipe or woodcock; the weight will tell you if the bird is fat and plump. In buying terrapin, look at each one, and see if they are the simon-pure diamond back Chesapeakes. In choosing your saddle of mutton, take the short-legged ones, the meat coming well down the leg, nearly reaching the foot; a short, thick, stubby little tail; must have the look of the pure Southdown, with black legs and feet. Of hothouse grapes, I find the large white grapes the best, Muscats of Alexandria. Parch and grind your coffee the day you drink it. Always buy green coffee. Never use the small _timbales_ of _pâté de foie gras_, generally given one to each guest. Always have an entire _foie gras_, be it large or small, for in this way you are apt to get old _foie gras_ thus worked up.