The Forgotten Menu
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Recipes

Dishes from history’s famous tables, from the old menus and cookbooks. Each one names its source and scales to the size of your table.

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157–168 of 213 recipes

  1. A gold-rimmed white soup plate of clear golden consommé holding thin sticks of carrot and turnip, green peas, asparagus tips, diamonds of green bean, small rounds of lettuce, chervil leaves and pale yellow squares of custard, with a silver spoon on white linen.
    Consommé Printanier Royal

    Soups & Broths · 1 hr 30 min total

    Consommé Printanier Royal (1907) 

    Consommé printanier royal after Escoffier (1907): clear chicken consommé with tiny rods of carrot and turnip, peas, green beans, asparagus tips and squares of chervil royale custard.

  2. An oval white dish heaped with thin, bright green beans glossed with butter and flecked with black pepper, a silver serving spoon resting in it, on a pale marble surface.
    Haricots verts du Saumurois

    Vegetables & Sides · 20 min total

    French Beans (1907) 

    French beans as Escoffier wrote them in 1907: thin green beans boiled until just firm, tossed over the heat to dry, then finished with fresh butter, salt and pepper.

  3. Two upright rolls of white sole fillet with pale forcemeat showing at the top, in a pool of butter sauce on an oval white plate, beside a folded half of glossy braised lettuce, with a fish knife on a dark wooden table.
    Paupiettes de Soles Choisy

    Fish & Seafood · 1 hr 40 min total

    Paupiettes of Sole Choisy (1907) 

    Paupiettes of sole Choisy after Escoffier (1907): fillets spread with fish mousseline, rolled, stood upright and poached in fish stock, with braised lettuce for the Choisy garnish.

  4. A double-crust pie with a golden, slightly rustic top crust on a tin pie plate, one wedge cut out to show a pale, soft, apple-like filling.
    Apple pie without apples

    Desserts & Sweets · 4 hr 10 min total

    Apple Pie without Apples (1863) 

    An apple pie without apples from the Confederate Receipt Book of 1863: soaked crackers sharpened with tartaric acid, butter and nutmeg, in the same book’s potato pastry.

  5. A tall pan loaf of white bread with a floury golden crust on a wire rack, three slices cut to show a soft, even, pale crumb, beside an old dark iron loaf pan on pale wood.

    Breads & Cakes · 18 hr total

    Army Potato Bread (1862) 

    Army potato bread from Captain Sanderson’s 1862 handbook for the troops: a one-pound loaf raised on an overnight ferment of potatoes, flour and yeast, cut down from an army baker’s method.

  6. Four round artichoke bottoms, hollow side up, in a smooth ivory velouté sauce in a round white porcelain dish on a linen napkin, with a silver spoon.
    Fonds d’artichauts au velouté

    Vegetables & Sides · 1 hr 5 min total

    Artichoke Bottoms with Velouté (1907) 

    Artichoke bottoms with velouté, after Escoffier’s 1907 method: globe artichoke bottoms simmered white in a lemon and flour court-bouillon, finished in butter and coated with a simple velouté sauce.

  7. Small oval corn fritters, golden brown and glossy with butter, on a white ironstone plate beside an empty cast-iron skillet on a wooden table.
    Artificial oysters

    Vegetables & Sides · 40 min total

    Artificial Oysters (1863) 

    Artificial oysters from the Confederate Receipt Book, printed in Richmond in 1863: grated green corn fritters, fried a spoonful at a time to the size of an oyster.

  8. An oval brown earthenware dish of baked bread pudding with a deep brown crusty top and a spoonful taken out, showing a soft pale custard crumb, with a serving on a small plate, on a linen cloth.

    Desserts & Sweets · 1 hr 35 min total

    Baked Bread Pudding (1896) 

    A baked bread pudding from the War Department’s 1896 Manual for Army Cooks: dry crumbs soaked in boiling milk, enriched with egg yolks, butter and a little sugar, lightened with beaten whites and baked brown.

  9. Four cored baked red apples, scored around the middle and dusted with cinnamon, in bubbling honey syrup in a brown earthenware dish on a worn wooden table.
    Baked Honey Apples

    Desserts & Sweets · 1 hr 10 min total

    Baked Honey Apples (1918) 

    Baked honey apples from a Pittsburgh club’s cookbook of the First World War: whole apples scored and cored, baked in honey syrup thickened with a little flour, dotted with oleomargarine and dusted with cinnamon.

  11. A brown, rough-topped loaf of quick bread on a wooden board, several slices cut to show a close, oat-flecked crumb studded with walnut pieces.
    Barley nut bread

    Breads & Cakes · 11 hr 5 min total

    Barley Nut Bread (1918) 

    Barley nut bread from a 1918 lunch-room book: a wheatless, yeastless loaf of barley flour, rolled oats and walnuts, raised with baking powder, with no added fat.

  12. Four folded white fillets of sea bass under a pale green, herb-flecked sauce on an oval white platter, with a fish knife and fork and a glass of white wine.
    Bar glacé vénitienne

    Fish & Seafood · 1 hr 25 min total

    Bass with Venetian Sauce (1907) 

    Bass with Venetian sauce, after Escoffier: sea bass fillets poached in white wine and fish stock under a white wine fish sauce sharpened with tarragon vinegar and turned green with herb juice.