Formal dinner-table etiquette was not part of my new member program. I learned proper etiquette from my parents, at the dinner table at home, starting as soon as I could hold a fork. IMO this is how it should be done.
Slight digression... I eat using the Continental style. My mother tried to teach me the American style, but she herself eats Continental style, so it was a matter of "do as I say, not as I do".
Both methods are acceptable, so eventually she gave up.