Topic starter
17/12/2012 6:44 pm
Steamboating colleagues:
Digging around here has revealed an interesting account of steamboat food with menu served on the Str. MONARCH sometime in the 1850s and it reveals not all steamboat food was "slop...no better than a second rate boarding house ashore." The MONARCH appears in WAY'S PACKET DIRECTORY Pg. 328 No. 4005. Sidewheeler of 406 tons running in the Cincinnati-Memphis and often on to New Orleans under the 'Cincinnati, Memphis & New Orleans Union Line.' A penned story of the boat and her food most interesting. Contrary to the experiences of Charles Dickens on the MESSENGER some years ealier, the boat offered, "Three fine meals a day, served 4 o'clock coffee with cake and a mid-night lunch [lunch was the common term for a 'snack' then]. Twenty-one days round trip was $36 in period monetary value--still no small amount when converted today. If you're good and hungry at this moment, read the below.
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Soup:
Green Turtle
Oyster al la Pleussy
Roast:
Beef, Pork, Pig, Mutton
Turkey, Chuck Veal, Chicken
Cold Dishes:
Mutton, Country Ham, Corned Beef, Turkey, Tongue, Chicken
Hot Entrees:
Scallop of Chicken with Mushrooms & Green corn, Oyster a La Buckmer, Tenderloins of Veal with dumplings and Green Peas, Fillets of Pork with Mushroom Sauce, Mutton with New Potatoes, Vegetables of the season.
Condiments:
Radishes, Oyster Catsup, Green Onions, Spanish Olives, Worchester Sauce, John Bull Sauce, Lettuce, Chow-Chow, French Mustard, Raw Tomatoes, Chives, Horesradish, Cucumbers, Shrimp Paste, Cold Slaw, Celery, Pickles, Pickled Onions.
Game:
Pate Chaud of Pige a La Chausier, Teal Duck braised a La Mandeira.
Pastries and Desserts:
Pies-Apple, Whortleberry, Peach, Cherry, Gooseberry, and Mince.
Tarts:
Chocolate
Miscellaneous:
Cabinet Pudding, Custard Sauce, Lemon Ice Cream, Russian Cream, Apple Tarts with Quince, Macaroons, Jelly Pie Ornaments, Boiled Custard, Aple Meringues, Naples Bisquits, Boston Cream Cake, Orange Jelly.
Various coffees, teas etc. No mention of bottled or mineral waters. No doubt the MONARCH had a fine bar. Such bars were often chartered out on a type of franchise contract basis with the head bar man often the proprietor. Often the case in the operation of a barber shop aboard.
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Estimates are that one-half of the total fare went for meals with an average of about thirty cents each. Menu reads like one from a later major ocean liner of the CUNARD class. Are your mouths watering? Cheers!
R. Dale Flick
Coal Haven Landing, Ohio River, Cincinnati.
17/12/2012 11:00 pm
I'm hungry! What the heck is oyster catsup?
18/12/2012 2:28 am
OYSTER CATSUP
Oyster Ketchup is a traditional British recipe, based on Mrs Beeton's recipe of 1841, for a classic ketchup or condiment of oysters, sherry, oyster liquor, salt and spices pounded in a mace and passed through a fine-meshed sieve that's boiled before bottling.
Topic starter
18/12/2012 3:18 am
*RE: Oyster catsup and others*
Steamboating colleagues:
I wondered who'd jump in with the comment on 'Oyster Catsup' and Mark did a fine job. No doubt other selections on the menu offered by the Str. MONARCH that arouse curiosity. A few I've known in Great Britain and France. Who'd like to tackle 'John Bull Sauce?' You all know who John Bull was/is, don't you? No mention what dishes were served to the crew; but you can bet, for most of them, it wasn't from the main menu. In fact, officers didn't even wear uniforms then. Mention of oysters on this menu lead me to believe it was in the cool to cold months. Oysters and some other sea foods were never served in a month of the year that didn't have an 'R' in it. Forget May, June, July, August.
R. Dale Flick
Coal Haven Landing, Ohio River Cincinnati.