““At 4.20 P.M., Sunday, we rolled out of the station at Omaha, and started westward on our long jaunt. A couple of hours out, dinner was announced—an “event” to those of us who had yet to experience what it is to eat in one of Pullman’s hotels on wheels; so, stepping into the car next forward of our sleeping palace, we found ourselves in the dining- car. It was a revelation to us, that first dinner on Sunday. And though we continued to dine for four days, and had as many breakfasts and suppers, our whole party never ceased to admire the perfection of the arrangements, and the marvelous results achieved. Upon tables covered with snowy linen, and garnished with services of solid silver, Ethiop waiters, flitting about in spotless white, placed as by magic a repast at which Delmonico himself could have had no occasion to blush; and, indeed, in some respects it would be hard for that distinguished chef to match our menu; for, in addition to all that ordinarily makes up a first-chop dinner, had we not our antelope steak (the gormand who has not experienced this—bah! what does he know of the feast of fat things?) our delicious mountain-brook trout, and choice fruits and berries, and (sauce piquant and unpurchasable!) our sweet-scented, appetite- compelling air of the prairies?”
A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.
516. INGREDIENTS.--1 oz. of whole black pepper, 1/2 oz. of allspice, 1 oz. of salt, 1/2 oz. grated horseradish, 1/2 oz. of pickled shalots, 1 pint of mushroom ketchup or walnut pickle. _Mode_.--Pound all the ingredients finely in a mortar, and put them into the ketchup or walnut-liquor. Let them stand for a fortnight, when strain off the liquor and bottle for use. Either pour a little of the sauce over the steaks or mix it in the gravy. _Seasonable_.--This can be made at any time. _Note_.--In using a jar of pickled walnuts, there is frequently left a large quantity of liquor; this should be converted into a sauce like the above, and will be found a very useful relish. THE GROWTH OF THE PEPPER-PLANT.--Our readers will see at Nos. 369 and 399, a description, with engravings, of the qualities of black and long pepper, and an account of where these spices are found.
Sources: The passage is from Mark Twain, Roughing It, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Beeton, The Book of Household Management of 1861, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — ochre cloth, teapot stamp.