The Forgotten Menu
Back to home

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.

Search by recipe name or ingredient.

Sort & filter213 recipes

49–60 of 213 recipes

  1. A whole chicken split and opened flat, skin side up, browned and crisp with the drumsticks turned in, on a white oval platter in a pool of buttery pan drippings.
    Fried or broiled chicken

    Meat & Poultry · 1 hr 5 min total

    Broiled Chicken (1931) 

    Broiled chicken from Aunt Sammy’s Radio Recipes Revised, 1931: a young bird split down the back, buttered, floured, broiled on both sides and finished in a moderate oven.

  2. Plump oysters with curled edges, dusted with paprika, in a pale butter broth with bits of celery over slices of toast in a shallow white bowl, with a lemon half beside it.
    Oysters (in any way)

    Fish & Seafood · 20 min total

    Chafing-Dish Oysters (1896) 

    Chafing-dish oysters à la George Trimble Davidson, 1896: oysters warmed in butter and their liquor with celery, paprika, Tabasco, lemon and sherry, poured over hot toast.

  3. Small pink shrimps in a thick, pale coral cream sauce heaped on four buttered square crackers on a gold-rimmed white plate, with a cut-glass dish of celery sticks beside it.
    Cosmos Club shrimps

    Fish & Seafood · 17 min total

    Cosmos Club Shrimps (1914) 

    Cosmos Club shrimps, a Midnight Feasts spread of 1914: cooked shrimps heated in a cream sauce tinted pink with tomato and sharpened with cayenne and lemon, on hot buttered crackers.

  4. Browned mushroom pieces, each cut through cap and stem, in a pale tan cream sauce over one slice of crisp toast on a white plate, with a fork beside it.
    Creamed mushrooms

    Vegetables & Sides · 30 min total

    Creamed Mushrooms (1931) 

    Creamed mushrooms as read out on the USDA’s radio chat in July 1931: sliced mushrooms floured, browned in butter and simmered in cream with their saved juices, on crisp toast.

  5. Six golden-browned skinless sardine fillets, each laid along a narrow strip of toast and dusted with cayenne, on a white oval platter with two lemon wedges.
    Grilled sardines

    Fish & Seafood · 15 min total

    Grilled Sardines on Toast (1914) 

    Grilled sardines on toast, a Midnight Feasts chafing-dish spread of 1914: boneless sardines turned once in hot olive oil, seasoned with salt, cayenne and lemon, on narrow strips of toast.

  6. Ten browned mushroom caps, stems removed and hollow side up, on two slices of golden bread glossy with paprika-red oil, on a white plate beside a small silver dish with its lid ajar.
    Mushrooms for “Jim”

    Vegetables & Sides · 20 min total

    Mushrooms on Toast (1896) 

    Mushrooms on toast, the bachelor’s chafing-dish supper from Deshler Welch, 1896: caps browned under a lid in olive oil with paprika, on bread warmed in the same pan.

  7. Two scoops of rosy pink strawberry ice cream flecked with bits of red fruit in a footed glass dish on a saucer, with three small round vanilla wafers and a spoon beside it.
    Strawberry ice cream

    Desserts & Sweets · 3 hr 45 min total

    Strawberry Ice Cream (1931) 

    Strawberry ice cream from Aunt Sammy’s Radio Recipes Revised, 1931: fresh berries stood in sugar, pressed through a colander and churned with light cream and lemon juice.

  8. Rows of small, thin, round vanilla cookies, pale in the middle and golden brown at the edges, cooling on a black wire rack.
    Vanilla wafers

    Desserts & Sweets · 1 hr 10 min total

    Vanilla Wafers (1931) 

    Vanilla wafers from a July dinner menu in Aunt Sammy’s Radio Recipes Revised, 1931: tiny crisp butter cookies dropped from a half teaspoon and baked until golden at the edges.

  9. Eight small clear glass cups filled with a smooth, pale apricot-orange set cream with a soft matte top, one with a spoonful taken out, on a pale ash wood tray beside a teaspoon.
    Bavarois aux Abricots

    Desserts & Sweets · 5 hr total

    Apricot Bavarois (1907) 

    Escoffier’s apricot bavarois of 1907: poached apricot purée, sugar syrup and lemon set lightly with gelatin and folded with whipped cream, served in cups.

  11. A roasted breadfruit with patches of charred black rind, cut open to show soft creamy white flesh, with thick pale slices beside it on a wooden board.
    Bread-fruit

    Vegetables & Sides · 2 hr 10 min total

    Baked Breadfruit (1697) 

    Baked breadfruit as William Dampier saw it made on Guam in 1686: a whole green fruit baked until the rind blackens, then scraped and sliced like bread.

  12. A deep brown earthenware baking dish of baked navy beans, browned and fairly dry on top, with thin slices of salt pork showing between the beans and a serving spoon resting in the dish.
    Beans and bacon

    Meat & Poultry · 19 hr 15 min total

    Baked Pork and Beans (1896) 

    Baked pork and beans after the War Department’s Manual for Army Cooks, 1896: navy beans soaked overnight, boiled, layered with parboiled salt pork and baked slowly until nearly dry.