Reception

Blue Point oysters, shrimp à la mode, crudités & canapés

Dinner

Crème of Celery à la Princesse

Iced Punch à la Romaine

Filet of Sole, Joinville, Brined Cucumbers, Potatoes Josephine or
Tenderloin of Beef, Richelieu, Fresh String Beans, Potatoes Bolette

Salad

Charlotte Russe or Vanilla Ice cream

Selection of Fine Cheeses, Coffee, Tea


 

 

The menu you are about to enjoy was adapted from FDR’s 1901 Freshmen & 1902 Sophomore class dinners at the Vendôme, once the most luxurious hotel in Boston. Had these meals taken place a quarter century earlier, during Theodore Roosevelt’s time at Harvard, our dinner this evening would be something akin to boiled meat and overcooked vegetables. Fortunately for us however, by the time FDR arrived in Cambridge, American cuisine, at least of the haute variety, had undergone a considerable transformation. This was due in large part to the influence of Georges Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935), the French chef, restaurateur and culinary writer. While borrowing heavily from traditional sources such as Antoine Carême, Escoffier simplified and updated the recipes of his predecessors, making French cuisine accessible to gourmands around the world for the first time. Fame spread quickly. In 1890, in association with the now famous hotelier Monsieur Ritz, Escoffier opened a restaurant at the Savoy Hotel in London, which became an overnight sensation. He later transferred to the Carlton Hotel, also in London, where his meals delighted kings and statesmen, among them Emperor Wilhelm II, who once remarked: “I am the Emperor of Germany, but you are emperor of chefs.” By 1900, numerous restaurants in fine hotels across America, including the Vendôme in Boston, were emulating Escoffier’s style and menus. In addition to the recipes he revised or invented, Escoffier revolutionized how large kitchens were run, creating the now universal brigade de cuisine system, whereby each section is supervised by a chef de partie responsible for a single portion of the meal. He also replaced the outdated service à la française (serving all dishes at once) with service à la russe (serving each dish in the order printed on the menu), a practice we follow to this day.

Some interesting tidbits about individual menu items:

Though originally named for Blue Point, Long Island, where this oyster is said to have been first found, bluepoint is now used as a general term referring to any of many small Atlantic oysters from 2 to 4 inches long.

A La Princesse is one of simpler of the many elaborate garnishes considered indispensable by Escoffier. The term indicates decoration with asparagus tips.

Palette cleansing ices, like the rum based Punch a la Romaine, were typical components of Victorian meals, marking the transition to the next course as well as providing a welcome pause in meals that often lasted many hours. In the original FDR menu, the punch followed a secondary fowl course, which for the sake of modern waistlines, we’ve decided to forgo.

Armand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu, Cardinal-Duc de Richelieu (1585 –1642) was a French clergyman, noble, and diplomat. Consecrated as a bishop in 1608, he later entered politics, becoming Secretary of State in 1616; cardinal in 1622; and King Louis XIII's chief minister in 1624. He remained in office until his death in 1642. One of the many eponymous tributes  the Cardinal received throughout his long career, Richelieu, when applied to beef, describes a garnish composed of stuffed tomatoes and mushrooms, braised lettuce and potatoes lightly roasted in butter.

François-Ferdinand-Philippe-Louis-Marie d'Orléans, prince de Joinville (1818 - 1900) was the third son of Louis Philippe, King of the French from 1830-1840. A renowned sailor, Joinville rose to become admiral in the French Navy. Perhaps in acknowledgement of his ocean-going career, Joinville indicates a seafood/Hollandaise sauce served with shrimp, lobster or other crustaceans.

Potatoes Josephine is a Victorian recipe almost completely fallen from the cooking vocabulary; most likely named after Napoleon’s consort, the Empress Josephine, it utilized a vegetable rarely seen today but extremely common on Victorian tables – the turnip – mashed with potatoes in butter and cream. The exact recipe for Potatoes Bolette, another common Victorian dish, has now passed into obscurity; the bolet however, is a common mushroom in the Parisian region, and this clue has allowed our chef to create this delicious mushroom and potato combination.

Charlotte is a dessert lined with strips of sponge cake, often called ladyfingers. The original dish most likely took its name from Queen Charlotte (1744-1818), wife of the English King George III; the additional appellation Russe was added by the French chef Marie Antoine Carême (1784-1833), who replaced the traditional apples with custard and named the creation in honor of his Russian employer, Czar Alexander.