A Complete Treatise of Analytical and Practical Studies
on the Culinary Art
Charles Ranhofer, chef de cuisine of Delmonico’s, set down in 1894 the whole art of the grandest kitchen in America — every soup, sauce, roast and ice of the Gilded Age table, together with the menus, wines and ceremonies that surrounded them.
The Recipes
The Kitchen & Elementary Methods
The foundations of the craft — how to blanch, braise, bread, bone, carve and clarify; the elementary preparations upon which the whole kitchen rests.
Soups & Broths
Clear consommés, thick purées, bisques and garburés — with a chapter of restorative broths for invalids.
Sauces, Stocks & Garnishings
The stocks, essences and glazes; the great hot and cold sauces; the compound butters and garnishings of the classic kitchen.
Side Dishes — Hors-d’Œuvre
Cold relishes, canapés and dainties; hot timbales, croustades, rissoles, bouchées and cromesquis.
Shellfish, Turtle & Frogs
Oysters, lobster, crabs, terrapin, green turtle and their kin — the glories of the American raw bar and chafing dish.
Fish
From striped bass and pompano to salmon, sole and sturgeon — boiled, broiled, braized and à la meunière.
Beef & Veal
The American and French cuts; sirloins, tenderloins and rib roasts; cutlets, sweetbreads and the delicacies of veal.
Mutton, Lamb & Pork
Saddles and legs of mutton, spring lamb, sucking pig, hams and all the divisions of pork.
Poultry
Capon and pullet, chicken in its hundred guises, ducks and geese, pigeons, squabs, turkey and guinea fowl.
Game
Venison and bear, partridge, pheasant and grouse, canvas-back duck, woodcock, snipe and the small birds of the field.
Entrées — Made Dishes
Croquettes, timbales, vol-au-vents, salpicons and the miscellaneous made dishes of the grand service.
The Cold Table
Galantines, aspics, chaudfroids and boned birds — the cold service and its elaborate garnishings.
Salads
Cooked salads, vegetable salads raw and cooked, and the green salads with their dressings.
Vegetables
Artichokes to truffles — the vegetable garden dressed for the table in the French manner.
Eggs & Farinaceous
Eggs and omelets in every fashion; macaroni, noodles, rice, hominy and the farinaceous dishes.
Sweet Entremets — Desserts
Hot puddings, fritters, pancakes and soufflés; cold creams, jellies, charlottes and bavarois.
Pastry, Cakes & Bakery
Large cakes for entremets, breakfast cakes, small cakes, tea cakes, petits fours and the bakery of breads and brioches.
Ices & Frozen Desserts
Ice creams, water ices, biscuits glacés, frozen puddings, molded showpieces and iced drinks.
Confectionery & Preserves
Sugar work and show pieces, candies and bonbons, preserves, jams and jellies; salted almonds, cheeses and fruits.
Wines & Punches
The celebrated cellar of Delmonico’s, the service of wines, and the punches, cups and warm drinks of the age.
The Astonishing Table
Roast peacock re-dressed in its own plumage, the original baked Alaska, a chariot of swans and bear steak with horseradish — the Gilded Age at its most astonishing.
Eight Marvels of the House
The most extravagant and curious dishes a Delmonico’s guest might actually have been served, each linking to the recipe as written.
The Art of the Table
How to set the table, serve the wines, compose a bill of fare, and provision the larder — with more than thirty years of menus from Delmonico’s own dining rooms.
Table Service & the Art of Dining
How a dinner is composed and served — American, French and Russian service; the bill of fare; the order of wines; buffets, luncheons and the breakfast table.
The Market — Tables of Supplies
The model market list: fish, shellfish, poultry, game, meats, fruits and vegetables in their proper seasons.
Kitchen Utensils
The batterie de cuisine of a great kitchen — roasters and spits, sautoirs and braziers, molds, whisks, sieves and thermometers.
Menus — Breakfasts
Light breakfasts of coffee, chocolate and tea, and composed breakfast menus for every month of the year.
Menus — Luncheons
Luncheon menus for ladies and gentlemen, by size of party and by month.
Menus — Dinners · Part One
Dinner menus for parties of eight to twenty, with grand services in the English, French and Russian styles.
Menus — Dinners · Part Two
Further dinner menus through the seasons, with gros gateaux and pieces for the grand table.
Menus — Suppers, Buffets & Parties
Dancing parties, garden parties, ambigus, picnics, and suppers for one hundred to four hundred persons.
Last Century Tables
Table decorations of the eighteenth century — dormants, sand arabesques, gum-paste borders and horseshoe tables.
Delmonico’s Menus — 1862 to 1894
A gallery of famous bills of fare served at Delmonico’s: the Dickens dinner, the Morton dinner, and thirty years of grand occasions.