We need a response to help plan a menu for a banquet on the theme of the Titanic.

-- Lawrence Skoretz (townofituna@sk.sympatico.ca), January 22, 1999

Answers

The quickest way would be to trackdown the book Last Dinner on the Titanic: Menus and Recipes from the Legendary Liner .

A copy should be available at the local bookstore or library.

-- Thomas M. Terashima (tom@nucleus.com), January 22, 1999.

Quoting from the amazon.com synopsis:

Fifty dishes featured on the Titanic's menus have been researched from period sources and carefully tested for modern kitchens. For the April 14th dinner held for Captain Smith in the a la carte restaurant, there are recipes for Quail Eggs with Caviar, Lobster Thermidor, and Oranges en Surprise. In the first-class dining saloon, passengers could choose from a menu that featured Consomme Olga, Poached Salmon with Mousseline Sauce, Filets Mignons Lili, and Chocolate Painted Eclairs.

For a taste of life belowdecks, sample Roasted Pork with Sage and Pearl Onions or Plum Pudding with Sweet Sauce.

Complete directions for hosting a Titanic dinner include ideas for sending the invitations, setting the mood, and decorating the table, as well as choosing the wines and presenting each dish.

-- Thomas M. Terashima (titanicshack@yahoo.com), January 22, 1999.

Setting the mood? How do you create an atmosphere of impending doom and tragedy? Perhaps you could inform your guests that George, or Niles, is the guest of honor....

Or tell them Dalton, regretfully, can not attend.

-- Dalton (foo@bar.com), January 22, 1999.

Setting the mood: a countdown timer to the year 2000.

Of course, no one currently realizes that we're living in a "Golden Age". (People only remember that afterwards.)

Speaking of banquets, does anyone know if jello was served onboard Titanic? Apparently, gelatin-based dishes were very hard to prepare before the advent of mass-produced gelatin/jello, and so were reserved for the rich. (I've been watching those Discovery channel documentaries on beloved convenience foods.)

-- Thomas M. Terashima (titanicshack@yahoo.com), January 22, 1999.