Ah, St. Valentine’s Day. School children mandatorily pass out cards and sentiments of youthful affection to one another, candy companies melt down all the leftover Christmas chocolate into heart-shaped molds, and romantically inclined adults plan a meal. Yes, much like two sweethearts trekking to Lover’s Lane, Valentine’s Day and food go hand-in-hand. These days there are many amazing restaurants in town to share that romantic meal, but 116 years ago you would have been hard pressed to find a fancier meal than in one of Henry Flagler’s gilded age hotels. Luckily for us, some of the menus from those meals have been preserved, digitized, and made available through the New York Public Library Digital Collections.
Here are some highlights from Valentine’s Day dinner served in 1900 at the Alcazar Hotel (present-day Lightner Museum and City Hall):
To start off you might try the Chicken Cumberland, chicken topped with a fruity sauce made with red currant jelly, orange juice, sherry, and a little ginger, or the Consomme, Celestine, a clear broth soup (using egg whites to keep the broth extra clear) with a thinly sliced herbed crêpe for “noodles.” Another starter is the Crabs Farcies, a la Diable, a French-style stuffed crab, with “a la diable” referring to a coating of mustard and hot pepper (likely cayenne).
Moving into the more filling portion of the menu, you could enjoy the Bluefish au Gratin, D’Uxelles. Au gratin, still a familiar term in cooking today, is a browned topping of seasoned bread crumbs and cheese. The D’Uxelles is where it gets interesting – Duxelles is a mushroom, shallot, and butter reduction, resulting in a sort of paste. Sounds delicious!
I would definitely be sampling the Pommes, Marquise: this is essentially a nest of mashed potatoes with a dollop of tomato concasse (diced tomato, peeled and seeded), right in the middle. On to the main courses. We all know filet mignon (aka the most expensive thing on the menu). This cut of meat is naturally very tender because it comes from tenderloin, an area of muscle that cows don’t really use. With the Filet mignon, Portugaise, the meat is seasoned with chili peppers, garlic, and red wine, and cooked in a pan, instead of on a grill.
The Salmi of Duck, a la Cavour is next. This is a classic French style, where the roasted duck is sliced and reheated in a thick tasty sauce, probably involving wine, fois gras (puréed liver) and maybe even truffles (yes, Truffles). The “a la Cavour” refers to flaming the duck with booze, likely cognac, which cooks the fat off the duck.
No Valentine’s dinner would be complete without libations: Punch, Crème Yvette. This has a bit of an interesting story. This crème liqueur was first produced by the Sheffield Company in the 1890’s. It was a sweet, fruity addition to cocktails (or in our case, punches), flavored with violet petals, citrus, and vanilla. Sadly, it went out of production in 1969. But reverse-sadly, it was revived in 2009 by Cooper Spirits Company. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because they also revived St. Germain, the French liqueur made from elderflower blossoms, in 2007.
After the punch comes the Leg of Venison, crabapple jelly, or Bambi with Jelly. Technically any wild apple can be considered a crabapple – more technically, any undomesticated species of apple in the genus Malus. Horticulture specialist J. Klett has a better dichotomy for Malus fruits: if it’s larger than 2 inches in diameter, it’s an apple; if it’s smaller than 2 inches in diameter, it’s a crabapple. As anyone who has bitten into a raw crabapple can tell you once their cheeks un-pucker, they are extremely tart. This makes the liberal application of sugar, a la jelly, an important feature for this dish.
Among the list of familiar desserts, I would like to draw special attention to Steamed Cherry Pudding. Being born in 1985, I have been sufficiently brainwashed by H. J. Heinz Company (via Kraft/General Foods, via Jell-O) to believe that “pudding” refers to a sweet custard or mousse type dessert. However, the term is incredibly broad covering both sweet and savory dishes – the traditional Scottish dish haggis can actually be considered a pudding. Steamed pudding is made with butter, flour, eggs, and sometimes suet, so it has qualities I associate more with a cake than a pudding, but when it comes to desserts I tend not to argue as long as I can have a bite.
So there you have the menu for a romantic meal in 1900. Remember, the 3 most important words you can say to your Valentine are, “I love you,” but the next 2 important ones are, “bon appétit!”
Featured image by UFHSA Government House Research Collection
