Dining on Titanic
We’re going back to April 14th, 1912 to cook and compare the last meals served on Titanic. We’ll recreate the last meals in first, second and third class on the night of the sinking. We’ll compare the dining saloons of each class and their menus. First class not only had the beautiful dining saloon, but an even more expensive A La Carte Restaurant, nicknamed the Ritz, where Captain Smith dined as the guest of honor at the Widener dinner party just a few hours before the sinking. We’ll make 2 dishes from the first class dining saloon including the most iconic Titanic dish: lamb with mint sauce…You like lamb right, sweet pea? We’ll take a closer look the Cafe Parisien, the Verandah Cafe, dining in state rooms and peek into the galley’s that fed everyone on board.
Titanic’s first class amenities were by far the finest on board. Titanic’s enormous first class dining saloon, occupied the entire width of the ship, and hosted 3 multi course meals a day. Before meals, the reception room was a gathering place for cocktails and gossip. The Verandah cafe and Palm Court, was actually 2 identical cafes on either side of the ship. You might recognize it from the lunch scene of the Titanic movie, when Rose and Cal dine with Mr.Ismay and Mr.Andrews, however this cafe probably served more casual tea and light snacks, rather than full meals like in the dining saloon and A La Carte Restaurant. Given the amount of courses at these meals, I can’t imagine anyone could possibly go hungry between them! The room was also used as a playroom for 1st class children. Another casual daytime spot, the cafe Parisien, designed like a sidewalk cafe in Paris…it was the perfect place for coffee or tea between meals.
1st Class:
The largest room on Titanic was the first class dining saloon; A massive bright white room with oak furniture lined with windows, impeccable service, gorgeous china, and a live string quintet. You’ll no doubt remember the dinner scene in this room from the Movie. That scene shows us a glimpse of the appetizers and dessert but not the full 11 course dinner. We saw the characters eat caviar, although the actual menu doesn’t expressly state caviar, but horderves and oysters. It’s possible though. The movie showcases one of the beautiful sets of 1st class china- that they recreated for the film.
Let’s get cooking! We’ll be using a few recipes today from one of my favorite books: The last dinner on Titanic. We don’t know the exact recipes used on Titanic and only a few of the exact menus were saved. The book fills in the rest with period appropriate recipes. A passenger tucked a menu into their coat pocket the night of the sinking so we do know the very last meal served on titanic in first class.
Vegetable Marrow Farcie: (recipe at bottom of the page) It’s one of the rare vegetarian entrees on an otherwise meat heavy menu. It’s not a side dish, it was an actual entree but if you were making a light Titanic themed dinner, I would suggest making the farcie as a side dish with the lamb. Marrow is similar to zucchini, which I’m using here. It gets hollowed out and filled with rice and mushrooms, topped with breadcrumbs and Parmesan. Farci refers to savory stuffed foods. But how did they get summer squash in April? Edwardians were known to flaunt out of season produce as a luxury, given how expensive it was to heat greenhouses, so this would have been impressive. The irony that these are little zucchini boats, on a ship, is not lost on me.
Lamb with Mint Sauce: (recipe at bottom of the page)You’ll no doubt remember Cal ordering it for Rose in the movie… “We’ll both have the lamb rare… with very little mint sauce.” If only I had cal to cut up my meat for me… The lamb chops get marinated for 30 minutes in rosemary, garlic, olive oil and salt and pepper. Then over medium high heat, sear the meat on all sides and let them rest while you make the sauce. To the pan, brown the shallots, then add white wine and reduce, then stock, cider vinegar and sugar and boil for 2 minutes until it thickens, strain through a fine mesh strainer, then stir in chopped mint and serve over the lamb chops.
Second Class:
I chose to recreate the 2nd class Curried Chicken and Rice (recipe at bottom of the page). I’m using the recipe from The Last Dinner on Titanic. Considering that there were many English passengers onboard, Indian inspired recipes would have been popular and well known to Titanic passengers. I think it’s very interesting that Titanic’s menus reflected the various nationalities of its passengers. 2nd class also had a typical American dish: Roast Turkey with Cranberry Sauce. Haddock is also a staple of English cuisine. This recipe uses a great marinade of spices, ginger, and lime. Then the chicken gets browned, then the onion and spices. The rice gets cooked all together with the chicken and golden raisins. After simmering, everything gets served together with chutney and green onion on the 2nd class replica china.
Third Class:
Let’s make our 3rd class Tea (Recipe for Stewed Figs & Rice at the bottom of the page). This is a bit of a strange meal, it reminds me of an English ploughman’s lunch which consists of cold meats, cheeses, pickles, bread and fruit or jams. Remember tea is smaller than the mid day meal, dinner. So 3rd class passengers had already eaten rice soup, hot roast beef, potatoes, and a dessert of plum pudding around lunchtime. Considering that the main meal served beef, I selected cold sliced chicken for variation. There are wide varieties of cheeses on board, especially because cheese was a vital component of 1st and 2nd class dessert but I selected a simple English cheddar. I did find brawn on the 3rd class tea menu, which I’ll definitely be skipping…its head cheese. Honestly this meal is delicious, even without the dessert it’s great. Light & varied; I’d eat this any day. The stewed figs and rice stumped me a bit. Remember we only have the menus, not the exact recipes from Titanic, and it’s not in the book so I had to create what I believe this dish was. Given that it’s last on the menu, I believe this was a light dessert. I thought the rice was more of a rice pudding and the stewed figs were a topping but it could very well have been just stewed figs on plain rice. This was April and fresh figs are in season in late summer so I made this dish by rehydrating some dried figs in water with sugar and a cinnamon stick. 3rd class menus showed this dish a lot, just trading out the stewed figs for stewed apples, peaches and plums. 3rd class menus were printed in English, Swedish, Finnish and German, which was helpful to the many passengers using Titanic to emigrate to America. After meals, before retiring to their rooms, 3rd class passengers could listen to music, dance and socialize in the general room or play cards in the male only smoking room. Beer and ale were also served here…Every night there was a party with music and dancing but only until 10pm when they cut the lights.
A note on my Stewed Figs & Rice: In Chef Escoffier’s 1903 Book Le Guide Culinaire, he states that fresh figs can be cooked and served on a bed of rice. He states that dried figs (like those available in April) can be cooked in a vanilla flavored syrup or red wine and served with rice pudding or semolina pudding. Below is a page from his book on figs, which inspired my recreation of this recipe.
1903, Le Guide Culinaire, Auguste Escoffier
1st Class Lamb With Mint Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 rack of Lamb Chops (Frenched, trimmed and cut Individually)
- 2 Tablespoons Olive oil
- salt and ground black pepper
- 2 sprigs of rosemary (stems removed)
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 2 shallots (diced)
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 2 teaspoons cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 cup chopped mint, plus another tablespoon for garnish
- 2 tablespoons butter (optional)
Instructions
- Using a mortar and pestle, mix garlic, salt, pepper and rosemary to a paste. Mix in oil. (Alternatively, chop the garlic and rosemary). Add to the lamb chops in a bowl. Let marinate for 30 minutes.
- Heat a pan to medium-high heat. Add a small drizzle of oil to the pan. Sear the meat for a few minutes on each side. My chops were pretty thin so it took about 2-3 minutes on each side for rare. Rare should read 125-130 degrees Fahrenheit. Well done will read 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Let chops rest covered with foil while you make the sauce.
- In the same pan over medium heat, cook diced shallots for 5 minutes. Add the white wine and deglaze by using a wooden spoon to get all the browned bits.
- Stir in the stock, vinegar, and sugar. Bring to a boil, add the butter (if using). Cook for 3 minutes until it thickens and reduces. Add in chopped mint.
- Using a fine mesh strainer, strain out the solids.
- Drizzle the chops with the strained sauce. Top with more fresh chopped mint.
Titanic Vegetable Marrow Farci
Ingredients
- 2 large zucchini
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil or butter (for sautéing vegetables)
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 3 cloves chopped garlic
- 1/4 cup chopped basil
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 cup cooked rice
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan, plus a little more for grating into rice mixture
- 1/4 cup bread crumbs
- 2 tablespoons olive oil (for bread crumbs and cheese topping)
Instructions
- Scoop out zucchini flesh with a spoon leaving a zucchini boat.
- Heat olive oil or butter over medium high heat. Cook onion and mushrooms for 5-10 minutes until well browned.
- Add garlic and briefly sauté. Add tomato paste, salt, pepper, vinegar, 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese and the rice.
- Remove from heat and add basil.
- Spoon the rice mixture into the zucchini boats. Top with a mix of olive oil, Parmesan, bread crumbs, salt and pepper. (toss together first in another bowl).
- Bake at 375 for 15 minutes until browned.
- Garnish with more fresh basil.
2nd Class Curried Chicken & Rice
Ingredients
- 3 pounds chicken pieces (bone in & skin on) I chose thighs and drumsticks
- 3 tablespoons minced fresh ginger (peeled)
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 2 Tablespoons oil
- 2 Tablespoons curry powder
- 1 yellow onion (diced)
- 1 Tablespoon honey
- 1 1/3 cup rice (I used jasmine)
- 2 1/2 cups water
- 1/4 cup golden raisins
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Marinade the chicken with ginger, garlic, oil and spices for 30 minutes.
- Heat a large Dutch Oven (or pot with a lid) over medium-high heat. Drizzle in 1 tablespoon oil. Brown the chicken very well on all sides about 10 minutes. Remove and set aside.
- In the same pot, cook the onion, remaining ginger and garlic from the marinade, and honey over medium heat. Lightly brown everything.
- Add the rice and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the water, salt and raisins. Stir very well. Nestle the chicken into the rice so it is all covered by liquid.
- Cover and cook over low heat for 20-25 minutes or until the chicken is 160-165 degrees Fahrenheit.
- To serve, add some rice on the bottom of a plate, layer a piece of chicken on top. Top with chopped green onion for garnish. Serve with chutney (I used sweet mango chutney).
3rd Class Rice Pudding with Stewed Figs
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked rice (I used Jasmine)
- 2 cups whole milk (or oat)
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 egg (beaten with a splash of milk)
- 7 ounces dried figs
- 3/4 cup of water
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 cinnamon stick (or pinch of dried powdered cinnamon)
Instructions
- In a pot over medium heat, add milk, rice, butter and sugar. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring often until some of the milk evaporates and the rice thickens.
- Beat egg with a fork, add a splash of milk. Add mixture to the pot and stir constantly until the pudding thickens. Continue to cook another 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the vanilla.
- Remove from heat and allow to stand and thicken.
- In another pot, heat dried figs (cut in half), water, sugar and cinnamon over medium heat for 10 minutes until a syrup develops. Allow to cool.
- Serve slightly cooled rice pudding in a bowl, top with figs and a little of the syrup.
I couldn’t possibly talk about Titanic and not mention Chief Baker Charles Joughin. Remember in the movie when Jack and Rose are on the very back of the ship as it’s going down? They look over to see a man in a chef’s coat. That was Charles and He survived because he was drunk. It’s believed that because of the amount of alcohol in his body, he was able to relax and withstand the 28 degree water for over 2 hours, while most died in 20 minutes. He was the very last person off the titanic holding on to the stern, stepping off into the water without even getting his hair wet. Not only did he survive, he helped many others by literally throwing people into lifeboats, supplying lifeboats with bread and tossing deck chairs in the water for people to cling to. You can see more of him in deleted scenes from the 1997 movie. A true drunk hero. I love him.
I’ll leave you with my favorite Titanic fact… in 1898, 14 years before the Titanic sailed, way before it was even built, a fictional novel was written called the Wreck of the Titan by Morgan Robertson. The overlapping details are astonishing. See if this sounds familiar…its about the world’s largest British ocean liner ship on it’s maiden voyage, it’s referred to as unsinkable, hits an iceberg IN APRIL in the NORTH ATLANTIC and didn’t have enough lifeboats. Coincidence or clairvoyance?