Sunday, April 15, 2012

Last dinner on the Titanic

"Inside this floating palace that spring evening in 1912, warmth and lights, the hum of voices, the gay lilt of a German waltz - the unheeding sounds of a small world bent on pleasure" - First-class passenger Lady Duff-Gordon

On April 14, 100 years after the first technological catastrophe of the modern era, sinking of the Titanic, we attempted to recreate a part of the last dinner served to the first class passengers. The original menu from the first class dining saloon survived, and the authors of the beautiful book "Last Dinner on the Titanic. Menus and Recipes from the Great Liner" did a great job of restoring the recipes, based on memoirs of the survivors, period recipes from upscale restaurants and hotels, and educated guesses. They also restored the menus from the a la carte restaurant and the second- and third- class dining rooms.

The first class menu included 11 courses, with a few selections in each. For our small party of five that would be too much, both cooking and eating; I decided to make a few dishes from that menu as close to the original as I could, in memory of the chefs and cooks who went down with the Titanic on that terrible night, and serve it in the period style and using the period dinnerware.

Many thanks to my dear guests for their company, excellent wines, photographing the food (I would never manage it myself, running around serving eight courses of small portions), and help with the dishes, that are, in the best Edwardian tradition, not dishwasher safe.





R.M.S. Titanic

Dinner menu
April, 14, 2012
First class dinner saloon


Canapé a'l Admiral
Consommé Olga
Chicken Lyonnaise
Asparagus salad, champagne saffron vinaigrette
Beef fillet Forestier
Cheeses and salumi, fresh fruits
Madagascar vanilla ice cream
Chocolate pudding













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Location:San Rafael, CA

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