Victorian Christmas Dinner.




Well I was looking at some things and doing some research on Christmas menus from the past I a cam across this, just thought it interesting as what was done then as to today.

CHRISTMAS DINNER MENU
1890
Raw Oysters
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Bouillon
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Fried smelts and Sauce tartare
Potatoes a la Maitre d' Hotel
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Sweetbread Pates and Peas
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Roast Turkey and Cranberry Sauce
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Roman Punch
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Quail with Truffles and Rice Croquettes
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Parisian Salad
Crackers and Cheese
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Nesselrode Pudding or Fancy Cakes
****
Fruit with Coffee




Raw Oyster, sever on a half shell, laid on a bed of ice. About five or six oyster per person with a wedge of lemon.

Bouillon, a very beefy in flavour but rather thin stock , served in a bouillon cup .

Fired smelts are what you would call white bate if you have not had them before. The interesting thing about this is that it is a traditional dish served in some parts Italy on Christmas Eve. The sauce tartar is very much like you would get today, a mayonnaise sauce flavoured with cappers and dill pickle.
The Potatoes A la Maitre d’hôtel are a very season potato boiled potato that your then sauté in a  frying pan .  seasoned with salt pepper nutmeg lemon juice and chopped parsley

Sweet bread pates are some thing that I do not think you would see on a menu today as much as your would have done back then. Basically you take cold sweet breads and bind them this a thick roux then season cool and bake till brown. Now as for the peas I do not know but I think they must have been on a bed of what I would call mushy peas.

Turkey a very popular bird roasted and with Cranberry sauce popularised by being used by Queen Victoria.

Now as far as I can tell Roman punch is a sugar stock syrup that is boiled for tem minutes. You put it in the freezer so it turns in to a slush stir in rum and lemon juices and serve in glasses

Roast quail and truffles a rich man food to get truffles even back then and I am assuming sliced in a sauce.  As for the rice croquettes seem to be made from over cooked rice coated in bred crumbs and deep-fried.

Cheese and crackers we all know and love but Parisian Salad. Well Parisian salad is like a salad nicoise with beetroot , rather messy round cheese I would have thought.

Nesselrode pudding is a  chestnuts, cream, egg yolks, raisins, currants, sherry , candied apricots,  candied green gages and candied cherries mixed together and set in a mould and frozen. As for your fancy cakes use macaroons.

As for fruit with the coffee well I do not know if that was the done thing or not but you must admit it must be better then a chocolate mint.

Menu from Godey's Lady's Book, December 1890

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