Another book I often consult is Dinner at Buckingham Palace by Charles Oliver. It is rich with details of the British royal families, their eating habits, the customs of the Palace and filled with menus, recipes, and recollections from Mr Oliver who began work in the Palace during the reign of Queen Victoria.
Here is a June menu from the Windsor household at Buckingham Palace:
Dinner for 6 persons
1 SOUP:
Green-pea a la Conde
1 FISH:
Baked whitings with fine herbs
2 REMOVES:
Chicken pie a l'anglaise
Breast of veal and stewed peas
2 ENTREES:
Mutton cutlets a la Milanaise
Rabbit curry in a border of rice
SECOND COURSE
1 ROAST:
Pigeons
3 ENTREMETS:
Stewed peas a la Francaise
Bavarian strawberry cream
Puff-paste royals
Formal menus at Buckingham Palace are still issued in French. (Did you know the current queen is fluent in French?) Table service though at the Palace in no longer a la Francaise; rather, service is a la russe, meaning that food is served in courses rather than all at once. Footmen and butlers pass platters of each dish before guests who choose which entry and how much of it they would like. This type of service is time-consuming, back breaking and, honestly, lovely. It was one of my favorite functions as a butler--there is something so civilized about it--laying plates and flatware before a course is served, and then going around with the food to serve the guests or sometimes to let the guests serve themselves. I expect at the Palace, the butlers and footmen are serving the food from the platters to the plates.
And about those Palace platters and flatware--theirs is spectacular:
And about those Palace platters and flatware--theirs is spectacular:
From The Royal Collection, online:
"The magnificent dining silver-gilt used at a State Banquet is from the Grand Service, originally made for George IV when Prince of Wales. It was first used to celebrate the 73rd birthday of his father, George III, in 1811. As king, George IV continued to add to the service throughout his life, and by his death it included more than 4,000 pieces. Today the Grand Service forms the core of the royal silver and encompasses the best examples of 19th-century design, drawing on Egyptian, Greek, Roman and medieval sources. The dining plate is dominated by the monumental Mercury and Bacchus and Apples of the Hesperides candelabra, which stand over a metre tall. Made by the master goldsmith Paul Storr and designed by the sculptor John Flaxman, they are always placed on the table opposite Her Majesty The Queen and the visiting Head of State."
And here's a sad tale from the annals of Palace life, reflecting poorly on Americans:
The magnificent gold and silver plate, meticulously maintained in the gold and silver pantries of Buckingham Palace, is used only on great occasions such as state banquets. But the Queen also likes gold plates to be used for serving sandwiches to guests when there is a film show at the palace. Somehow eating sandwiches off gold plate seems to make them extra special.
Until the reign of King Edward VII, it was customary for the best solid silver, engraved with the royal crest, to be brought out even at the big garden parties held in the palace grounds, From time to time a few spoons would be unaccounted for, but these were casually written off as mislaid through the carelessness of servants. However, one day, after a large number of American guests had attended at the King's special invitation, literally hundreds of silver knives, forks and spoons bearing the royal insignia had vanished. The horrified silver pantry reported the loss of 1,000 teaspoons alone! Probing such a scandal could only be done discreetly, but the palace officials found that nearly all the articles had been taken by the Americans, among whom souvenir-hunting was all the rage at that time. King Edward coldly instructed that all his missing silver should be disreguarded, and that in future only ordinary plated cutlery without the royal crest should be put out for garden parties. from Dinner at Buckingham Palace
*****
Tomorrow, we'll look at service and menus from The American Embassy in Paris; and later at menus from some of the top restaurants around the world. Stay tuned!
4 comments:
Great post! A few things caught my attention - I've never seen the word "Removes" used on a menu, that the dessert is considered part of the 2nd course (perhaps having a 3-5 course meal would seem overly indulgent to the British royal family) and that there isn't a cheese course.
And even though they did a bit of discrete probing after the King's garden party, how do they know who took the silver? It seems like a bit of anti-American propaganda to me. Although come to think of it, maybe that's why one of my family's most precious heirlooms is a silver spoon with the royal insignia on it! ;-)
Mary Kay, I believe that the dessert is served after the roast, but is simply not called a course, in the same way that a starter or entree is not always called a course. The terms and procedures are often very specific to the location. As you know, we here in the States call an entree a main course, but in France and elsewhere it is an 'entry' or starter to the meal.
On your other point, I suspect it was a garden party for Americans. And your family must have found the spoon at an estate sale, yes? Surely they would not have brought it home from an afternoon at the Palace.
Joseph, That's the problem with communicating via computer, it's hard to see when someone is making a feeble attempt at humor. My family has never owned a silver spoon with the royal insignia. That was just a joke, although not a very good one.
Well, the clarification is pretty funny, so the joke worked!
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