Thanksgiving at the Plaza Hotel, 1899

Very interesting: http://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2 ... otel-1899/

I'll have the plain celery, with the English snipe and a cup of beef tea, my good man.

Very cool - most interesting to me that it really isn't that far off; so the "traditional" Thanksgiving dinner was going strong over 100 years ago. Of course, you won't really see a fish course these days - and when was the last time you saw fresh fruit as a menu item (not as a fruit salad, just the fruit?) Fascinating.

5 types of duck!

They don't serve waffles until noon?

I'd love to know what some of these dishes are...like the "Mexicaine" salad.

The NYC Public Library's collection of menus is an incredible resource: http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigi ... yword=menu

Chicago's C&NW Station offered a somewhat simpler menu in the same year: http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigi ... pos=62&e=w

Mhays wrote:Very cool - most interesting to me that it really isn't that far off; so the "traditional" Thanksgiving dinner was going strong over 100 years ago. Of course, you won't really see a fish course these days - and when was the last time you saw fresh fruit as a menu item (not as a fruit salad, just the fruit?) Fascinating.

It depends on what part of the US. In Virginia and Maryland, I experienced several Thanksgiving meals that included a fish and/or seafood course. Generally, the fish was smoked or there was a special presentation of a whole fish. And in many cases, where was a variety of shellfish.

It would be cool to see a repeat of a menu of that sort, however.

I happen to have a copy of The International Cookbook (1906) by Alexander Filippini "formerly of Delmonico's." This book is the sequel and expansion of his book, The Table, (1899) which had only 100 ways of cooking eggs. Among the more than 3,300 recipes in The International Cookbook are over 400 egg recipes. Filipinni is sort of an 1899 evil twin of Bourdain: urbane and proper with an obsessive dedication not only to food, but to diplomacy. There was no Travel Channel (and no Louisa Chu-yet) at the turn of the last century. Accompanying Fillipini on his world tour were letters of introduction from the American ambassadors of the countries he visisted, printed at the beginning of the book. You can browse Filippini's books online.*

Here is Filippini's suggested menu for Thanksgiving Day:

BREAKFAST

Pears in Cream
Oatmeal Porridge
Scrambled Eggs McCook
Smelts, Merion
Lamb Chops, Maitre d'Hotel
Potatoes Noisettes
Small Brioches

Eggs McCook are eggs scrambled with truffles, sherry and nutmeg served on thinly sliced broiled ham. Smelts Merion are boned smelts seasoned with curry powder, salt and pepper, rolled in cormeal, fried in a pan in which onion has been browned, and dressed with lemon, capers, tarragon, and melted butter and breadcrumbs (which have also been sauteed in the frying pan. Lamb Chops Maitre d'Hotel are broiled French lamb chops served with maitre d'hotel butter (an herbed butter with parsley, chervil, lemon, salt and white pepper). Potatoes Noisettes (sic) are potato balls sauteed in butter and sprinkled with parsley.

Of course, you will begin to feel hungry around lunchtime, and Fillipini recommends the following:

LUNCHEON

Celery Broth
Lobster, Manhattan
Broiled Partridge Grilled Apples
Marrons Mrs. Ludlow

Lobster Manhattan is poached in court bouillon, then the meat is picked and the cooking liquid reduced. To the liquid is added canned mushrooms, Worchestershire sauce, cream and nutmeg. Then the lobster meat is added to the sauce and a green butter is incorporated. The whole is served on buttered toast points. The Partridge is partially boned, seasoned, broiled and sauced with butter, Worchestershire sauce, lemon, and mustard and served with the grilled apples. The apples are cut vertically, oiled, broiled and sprinkled with powdered sugar. Marrons Mrs. Ludlow are slit, roasted, boiled in milk with vanilla, sieved, and mxed with butter, Jamaica rum, and powdered sugar. The chestnut puree is mixed with whipped cream and more sugar and vanilla essence, then mounded in paper cups and topped with a glaceed chestnut.

Hopefully, you didn't have seconds of the dessert at lunch (it did sound good, though, didn't it?) so you can have a hearty appetite for the big meal of the day.

DINNER

Oyster Cocktail in Green Peppers
Celery Olives Radishes
Borsh, Polonaise
Filet of Sole Normande Potatoes Hollandaise
Filets Mignons, Thanksgiving
Tomatoes Carolina Sweetbreads Monroe
Punch American
Roast Turkey with Cranberry Sauce
Escarole Salad
Greater New York Ice Cream

I was beginning to worry that there would be no turkey when I saw the filets on the list. It's nice to know that some of the items survived in tradition to make it to my Thanksgiving table. Along with the turkey and cranberries, that would be the celery, olives, and radishes.

The Oyster Cocktail is served in raw green pepper cases, cored, with a sauce made of catsup, horseradish, Worchestershire, with a bit of vinaigrette called Alexander Dumas sauce stirred in. Dumas sauce has olive oil, tabasco, vinegar, mustard, Worchestershire sauce, white pepper, shallot, chives and parsley.

Borsh Polonaise is a soup made with beef flank, roasted duck, bacon, carrots, leek, parsley, celery, onion, beets, thyme, bay leaf, cloves and allspice. These ingredients are simmered together and a smoked sausage is added. The duck is removed before serving, as is the bacon and beef. Then the soup is strained and the sausage, beef and pork are sliced. The soup is poured into a tureen along with the sausage, chopped beets, carrots, and julienne strips of pork and beef.

The Filet of Sole Normande is poached in white wine and mushroom liquor with parsley, then papered and briefly baked before being topped with oysters pan roasted with canned mushrooms. The filets are topped with fish quenelles. Then the sauce is made by thickening the poaching liquid with butter and flour, egg, cream and cayenne.

Filets Mignons Thanksgiving are filet steaks marinated in sherry, then pan fried in butter. They are topped with a sauce of roast chestnuts, pan roasted "fresh white, sweet, ripe California grapes," sherry and veal demi-glace.

Still hungry? Soldier on!

Sweetbreads Monroe are soaked, trimmed, and placed on top of carrot, onion, and celery in a sautoire. The sweetbreads are buttered, browned, and topped with white wine and broth, then braised in the oven. The sweetbreads are served in individual cocotte dishes atop buttered peas, then sauced with Bearnaise and topped with truffle.

Turkey and cranberry sauce are straight up: dress and truss, season with salt and pepper, cover skin with larding bacon, and roast. Make gravy and cranberry sauce the way you did in 2009.

Courage! We are almost done here.

Escarole Salad: washed escarole served with a dressing made with "Oriental curry powder," "best French mustard," "English ground mustard," cayenne, parsley, shallots, chives, garlic, salt, white pepper, and lemon rind, chopped. These seasonings are added to olive oil and white vinegar.

Greater New York Ice Cream appears to be a sort of ice cream bombe: almond ice cream lines a mold, then a layer of raspberries is laid down. A mixture of whipped cream and custard with marrons, vanilla, and curacao or benedictine is added next to the mold, then layers of raspberries and almond ice cream top it off. I love the suggested garnish: pieces of angelica cut to form the letters G.N.Y., a piped border of candied cherries and whipped cream, and a sprinkle of chopped pistachios. (Mon Dieu!)

Get a good night's sleep, because you've got a full day ahead of you tomorrow, beginning with baked apples, cornmeal mush, poached eggs on toast with soubise and Parmesan, Wall-Eyed Pike Sautes, Broiled Deviled Bacon, and Rice Flannel Cakes.

* I just made an exiciting mini-discovery as well. I had been preparing a post using Mark Twain (a former Hartford resident) to introduce Filippini's book, as Twain had celebrated his 70th birthday at Delmonico's. I learned that his publishing company, Webster and Company, published several of Filippini's books!

I have enjoyed both the Plaza menu and Filippini's recipes immensely. Thanks to both Darren72 and Josephine for posting them! The appetites at the turn of the last century are stunning; even if people (of course, I mean the well-off types who could afford the Plaza and Delmonico's) only ate a few bites of each course, they were putting away immense amounts of food.

But try this link to read The International Cook Book. As Josephine suggests with her comparison to Bourdain, I gather Filippini must have been a celebrity chef of his day. In addition to his cred as Delmonico's chef of 25 years, he is listed on the title page as "Travelling Inspector of the International Mercantile Marine Company," the J.P. Morgan-bankrolled shipping monopoly famous as the owner of the Titanic. His gig puts me in mind of celebrity chefs taking jobs to oversee airline menus, although I'm sure the food was better on the ocean liners than on any airline.

Thanks, EvA, for the link and background on Filippini. I intend to post at length about The International Cookbook when I can make time to do it justice. In some ways, it is incredibly progressive for its time, offering both a truly international focus and honoring American regional cuisine, as well as seasonal menus and an entire section on club sandwiches!

Josephine wrote:an entire section on club sandwiches!

mmmm....club sandwiches--one of my favorite things. Looking forward to your report on the cookbook, Josephine.

EvA wrote:mmmm....club sandwiches--one of my favorite things.

Calls to mind the late Mitch Hedberg's bit on club sandwiches:

Mitch Hedberg wrote:I order a club sandwich all the time. And I'm not even a member, I don't know how I get away with it.
"I like my sandwiches with three pieces of bread."
"So do I."
"Lets form a club then."
"Okay, but we're gonna need more stipulations."
"Yes we do."
"OK... Instead of cutting it once, lets cut it again."
"Yeah, four triangles."
"And we will position them in a circle. And in the middle we will dump chips. Or potato salad."
"Let me ask you a question, how do you feel about frilly toothpicks?"
"I'm for 'em!"
"Well, this club is formed. Spread the news on menus nationwide."