I'm currently putting together our Christmas Day menus and procuring the needed foods. This morning I headed over to Fred Meyer and took advantage of the 97 cent/lb half-ham deal. So I know I have a ham I can work with for brunch and/or dinner.
While poking around on the Internet Archive site (archive.org) the other day, looking for Christmas menus from times past, I came across a gem of a cookbook from over 100 years ago, The White House Cook Book; A Comprehensive Cyclopedia of Information for the Home, by Hugo Ziemann and Mrs. F. L. Gillette. The original copyright was from 1887. The publication date from the edition on archive.org was 1913.
This cookbook was written for the general public as both a practical guide to cookery/housewifery and a source of interesting information about White House hospitality during the later 1800s. There are menus for everyday meals, holiday celebrations, and also state occasions. There’s a menu for Gen. Grant’s birthday dinner, Mrs. Cleveland’s Wedding Lunch, and a menu for a 1,000-guest buffet. On the practical side, there are suggestions for teething children, making poultices, and a cure for ringworm.
Would you like to know how to seat 50 people around the table? Here's what the layout would have looked like at a White House state dinner.
There was in fact a page of Christmas menus.
Here's the Christmas Day Breakfast Menu (found on page 500):
Oranges
Boiled Rice
Broiled Salt Mackerel
Poached Eggs à la Crème (poached eggs smothered in a warm thin white sauce)
Potato Fillets (sounds a lot like French fries, sliced into 1/4-inch sticks, fried twice, until puffed)
Feather Griddle Cakes (yeast leavened pancakes)
Wheat Bread
Coffee
How about you? Have you begun planning your holiday meals for later this month?
