Authentic dinner and dessert recipes from the SS United States.
Imagine being on a trans-Atlantic crossing lasting nearly five days. What are you going to do to fill the time? Watch a movie, play deck games, read, laze in a deck chair, explore the ship, watch the ocean go by – and eat. The liners of the golden age were famous for their restaurants and the dishes offered to passengers, often the equivalent of any five star or Michelin rated restaurant on land.
Of course, one could also order off menu within reason, but reason covered a whole lot of ground. It was not unusual to see over 60 items listed as dinner choices. The breakfast menu alone carried nearly 75 items, and there was also a kosher kitchen aboard.
If you’re feeling First-Class, here are two authentic dinner and dessert recipes from the SS United States.
A typical menu from the RMS Queen Mary in 1936.
French country-style chicken casserole
Rub the cavity of a 4-pound roasting chicken with salt and pepper and truss it. Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a large flameproof casserole and in it sauté the chicken over moderate heat, turning it to brown on all sides. Remove the chicken to an earthenware casserole. To the juices remaining in the cocotte ad ½ cup each of white wine and chicken stock and stir in 2 or 3 tablespoons rich veal juice or demi-glace sauce (or any good-quality meat extract). Reduce the mixture over high heat by one half. Coat the chicken with the sauce and surround it with 2⁄3 cup each of sliced carrots and turnips, which have been steamed in butter in another pan with a little sugar and salt, 12 small onions, glazed, 12 potato balls browned in butter and ½ cup diced bacon, browned. Cover the chicken with a piece of buttered paper. Cover the casserole and roast the chicken in a hot oven (400° F) for 30 minutes. Remove the chicken to a warm platter and carve it into serving pieces. Return the pieces to the casserole and place it on a plate. Bring it to the table covered with a napkin. Serves 6.
A creamy, sweet, almondy filling
Mix together in the top of a double boiler 1 ¾ cups sifted confectioner’s sugar, ½ cup flour, and a pinch of salt. Blend in 1 whole egg and 4 egg yolks. Add 1 more egg and 1 egg yolk. In another pan scald 2 cups milk with a 1-inch piece of vanilla bean and remove the bean. Stir the milk gradually into the flour-and-egg mixture. Set the pan over hot water and cook the cream, stirring vigorously, until it has thickened. Cook the cream, still stirring vigorously, for two minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in 6 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons dry crushed macaroons. Chopped blanched almonds may also be added. Cool the cream, stirring occasionally to prevent a crust from forming. Place in sherbet glasses edged with lady fingers. Serves 6 to 8.
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