To garnish a dish attractively or serve it in an appealing form adds very little to its cost, takes no very great amount of time, and makes the food so much more pleasing in every way. There is nothing which so quickly indicates the interest the housewife takes in cooking as the manner in which she serves food. One who has no pride in her work seldom gives thought to garnishing. Daintily served foods encourage appetite and aid digestion. This is why an invalid's tray should always have special attention, for the tastefully decorated, carefully prepared food may tempt a delicate appetite. Convalescent children can often be induced to eat food which appeals to their imagination, where otherwise the dish would be rejected. A marshmallow in a hot cup of cocoa, chocolate or milk may be just the thing to make the beverage desirable.

Many busy home makers are unable to give either time or thought to elaborate garnishings, but all food may be arranged with some sort of symmetry which enhances its appetite appeal. Mashed potatoes may be easily arranged in a ring on a flat serving dish and the center opening left large enough to hold buttered peas, string beans, 01 asparagus tips. The dish looks attractive and is as quickly done as arranging in two separate dishes, and there is one less dish to be washed.

Chops or cutlets can be placed on the platter, one overlapping the other in the center of the dish; or placed in a circle on the platter and the center filled with buttered peas or mashed potatoes. If roasted potatoes are on the menu use as a garnish on the platter surrounding the meat. Or perhaps boiled rice is to take the place of potatoes; if so butter a custard cup, fill with hot rice, turn out at once on the meat platter and repeat until all the rice is used, or arrange in a ring. Thin slices of fried bacon make a good relish as well as garnish for meat or egg dishes. For special occasions mashed potatoes can be shaped into individual cup-shaped forms, brushed over with beaten egg and then browned nicely on the top grate of a rather hot oven; fill the center with a cooked vegetable. If stuffed tomatoes are to be the vegetable, use these as a garnish for the roast. Fried eggplant may be used in the same manner. Slices of tomato, raw or dipped in crumbs and fried, are nice served with fried or baked fish or broiled chicken.

In fact, these are only a few suggestions as to the possibilities for serving food in an appealing way, for everyday use, which will not require additional labor, such a factor in these days when there are so many interesting things to do.

If food is prepared especially for garnishing, it should always be eatable. Sandwiches tied with ribbons and attractive bows may make a pretty table, but are certainly not practical. Have all the decorations desired on the table, but not on the food unless it is edible.

Slices of hard cooked eggs surrounding a mold of spinach; radishes cut attractively or plain olives, ripe, green, stuffed; slices of lemon, sprinkled with paprika for fish; potato balls dipped in melted butter and finely chopped parsley.

Vegetable borders are very attractive and offer a palatable way to use left-overs. The center can be filled with creamed fish, chicken or veal.

Pork or lamb chops may be served on a thin layer of tomato sauce or surrounded with spaghetti cooked in a tomato sauce. Pork chops or sausage may be accompanied by rings of fried apples.

Small croquettes of rice, fried a golden brown, and cubes of currant jelly may be served with roast game or fowl.

Fried or baked bananas add greatly to Salisbury steak (chopped raw beef).

Fruit fritters such as apple, pineapple, orange and banana may be served with both steak and fried chicken. Corn fritters can be cooked on a griddle like pancakes, and are acceptable with almost any kind of meat course. Very small portions of left-over corn may be made into these fritters.

For more elaborate garnishing a pastry bag and tube will be required. Very little practice is required to handle a pastry bag skillfully enough for these simple decorations. It takes only a second to fill the bag with creamy mashed potatoes and when forced through a large star tube, either in a border or cup shape, to be filled with vegetables or creamed fish or meat, an otherwise commonplace dish will assume a festive appearance. The pastry bag can be made at home of heavy canvas, in a cornucopia shape, and the tubes can be purchased at any household appliance department. One or two tubes are all that are needed, so it is not necessary to buy an expensive outfit.

A garnish may be used for appearance only, such as parsley or slices of lemon; or for a food such as hard cooked eggs, toast, fritters, etc. Chopped parsley adds flavor as well as a garnish to many dishes. If lemons are to serve a double purpose, garnish and for flavor, they should be cut so the pieces can be handled without soiling the fingers. Bread for a garnish should be cut the desired shape (triangles, diamonds or rounds) before toasting. Toast is usually used as a garnish with creamed dishes. French fried potatoes or potato balls rolled in minced parsley look and taste well with croquettes, chops, steaks or filets of fish. Garnishes from hard cooked eggs are numerous; they may be cut in rings or quarters; or the yolks pressed through a sieve and the whites finely chopped. Figures cut from pickled beets or just sliced beets or pickles add an attractive touch, both as a relish and for contrast of color. One point to remember is that the garnish should be appropriate to the dish and it should not crowd the food it accompanies.

Savory appetizers or relishes are not difficult to prepare. Canapes, fish and fruit cocktails, raw oysters or clams are all used as appetizers to begin the meal, while olives, salted nuts, spiced fruits, celery, etc., are passed between courses at the formal meal or with the roast at the informal family meal.

Canapes are always attractive and very easy to make and add a pleasing touch to the company dinner. The foundation is bread cut in small triangles or fancy shapes and either spread with butter on one side only and delicately browned in the oven, or toasted on one side, or fried in deep fat. The filling is spread on the untoasted side of the bread if the first or second method is used. A garnish of some kind is added for the general appearance; it may be olives, ripe, green or stuffed; or pickles cut to look like a fan; or tiny cheese balls rolled in chopped parsley; bits of hard cooked egg; minced green pepper or pimento or almost anything your fancy dictates. Serve these canapes on small plates with or without doilies.

Fish cocktails may be served in long stemmed wine or cocktail glasses or small sherbet cups; fish and fruit cocktails should be served very cold. Each cocktail glass should be set on a small plate and a doily under each glass adds to the general appearance.

Whipped cream forced through the pastry bag, using a star tube, makes a very tempting decoration for desserts. All gelatin puddings can be attractively served in this manner; also fruit salads, and even the more humble stewed prunes or apple sauce, will look more dainty and tempting garnished, and may be served as a dinner dessert. Whipped cream not only adds to the appearance of a dish, whether a pastry bag is used or it is arranged with a spoon, but also adds to the food value of the dish with which it is served.

Very thick mayonnaise may garnish a salad or fish, either forced through a pastry bag or used plain.

Cold meats are improved in appearance if served with rings of green peppers or pimento or crisp lettuce leaves, with a spoonful of some relish, such as chutney, chili sauce, horseradish, or pickles placed in the center of each leaf. Olives, radishes or fringed celery also add to the appealing appearance of many meat and fish dishes, as well as salads.

Cakes can be very effectively decorated with candied fruits, walnuts, blanched almonds and pecans. Angelica or thinly sliced citron may be soaked in warm water, dried thoroughly, then cut into leaves of any desired form. Tiny colored candies and marshmallows may be used to trim cakes for children. Also the pastry bag and star tube will be found useful for decorating small cakes, even if the operator has very little skill in the manipulation of this implement.

Chopped nut meats sprinkled over fruit salads, coffee cakes, or cake icings all add to the dainty appearance of the food.

Immaculate linen, attractive dishes, shining glassware, all add to the attractive appearance of the table, and these need not necessarily be of the expensive variety.

One important thought to keep uppermost is the fact that pleasing looking food creates an appetite and starts the digestive fluids, thereby making food more easily digested, so the subject of appearance is well worth some consideration, not just for occasions, but for every day.

How To Prepare Radishes For A Garnish

Wash well, cut a thin slice off the tip and remove the root; with a sharp knife score the skin into six or seven sections, extending about two-thirds of the way down the radish. Then loosen the skin on each section, place in cold water and the sections will stand out like the sections of a flower.

How To Prepare Pickles For A Garnish

Select pickles of uniform size; cut lengthwise, beginning at the top, into very thin slices without cutting completely through at the end; spread out like a fan.

To Render Uncooked Vegetables Crisp

Put into very cold water, adding a slice or two of lemon and allow to stand an hour or more.