Dining at the
Metropolitan Hotel
Russian soup is no doubt borsch for which Wikipedia provides six
different spellings, not including Cyrillic or Yiddish. ‘Cold slaugh’
and ‘spinnage’ were proofreading failures. Baked fish was probably a
local catch. Boiled cow or buffalo tongue were delicacies.
I have partaken of many lamb or agneau dishes: kabobs,
shawarma with tzatziki sauce, cevapcici at Dario’s, lamb sausage,
lamb burgers, rack of lamb, lamb chops, leg of lamb with mint
sauce, but I have not seen mutton on a modern menu. Lamb is
young, mutton is sheep gerontocracy, tougher and stronger tasting.
by Oliver B. Pollak
Boiling or stewing mutton would soften the texture; the vegetable
would make the meat more palatable.
Disappeared dishes, items not on contemporary menus, include
he first printed American restaurant menus appeared in the
1830s at Delmonico, the New York pioneer of haute cuisine Veal pot pie, American style, Vermicelli cake and New York factory
and wine. “Bill of Fare”, popular for much of the 19th century, was cheese, perhaps a precursor for New York Cheese Cake. Baked
Heart, organ or offal, today would be pet food (or only found
by 1900 eclipsed by “menu.” The passage of time, changing tastes
at exclusive restaurants). Menu silence raises questions; why no
and recipes, requires translation through 19th century cookbooks.
The village of Lancaster became Lincoln, the state capital in 1867. oysters, chicken, game, deer or buffalo? The only French is “entrée.”
Relishes are important sauces and condiments. They came in
Connected to the transcontinental railway in 1870, the population
bottles or on serving dishes. London Club Sauce, claiming to
rose from 2,500 in 1870 to 7,000 by 1875. The Metropolitan
be half the price of Worcestershire sauce, was served at Boston’s
Hotel, at the corner O and 8th Streets, was one of about a dozen
prestigious Parker House (remember Parker House rolls) in 1865.
Lincoln hotels in the 1870s. The hotel’s 45 rooms accommodated
Young onions are scallions or spring onions. Green corn is young
80 guests. The hotel staff of ten included seven women. The dining
corn and is yellow. Today, relishes are not on the menu, they are
room seated 38.
already on the table. Tomato catsup appeared in 1876.
The Metropolitan bill of fare combined boilerplate food items
Finally, it’s time for pastries, desserts and sweets. The more
accompanied by hand written entries, based on availability. Much
obscure pie plant pie (rhubarb pie) and the tapioca pearl pudding
of the food was canned or tinned, a popular preserving process.
joined the ubiquitous pound cake.
Refrigerated railway cars appeared in 1875.
The Metropolitan cooks had no gas or electricity. Coal and wood
provided the heat for baking, braising, broiling, roasting, steaming
and stewing, but Lincoln did have many grocers, meat markets,
bakers and printers.
(Saturday, May 24, 1873)
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