Historical Banqueting

Contents:

1.1. Learning Objectives

1.2. The Banqueting Hall
1.3. Banqueting during the Renaissance Europe
1.4. 18th Century Banqueting
1.5. 19th Century Banqueting
1.6. Native American Feast
1.7. Presidential Banqueting

Learning Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, the students will be able to demonstrate and
practice:

1. Appreciate the historical background of banqueting from renaissance Europe up

to the present day.
2. Compare and contrast 18th century banqueting from 19th century banqueting.
3. Outline different menu revisions during the 19 th century banqueting to meet the
needs of customers.

Introduction

The catering industry as we know it in the twenty-first century has a long and fascinating
history that can be traced back to ancient civilizations. The Egyptian nobles stuffed their
graves with food and utensils to ensure their survival in the afterlife, while also painting
murals depicting food preparation styles and table settings. Banqueting scenes with
meal presentations, table traditions, decorative arts, and recipes documenting a range
of delicacies stunning in their variety may be found in Greek and Roman documents
and art.

Rather of menus for whole meals, written records from the ancient Greek and Roman
periods focus on the sorts of foods consumed. Cookery and Dining in Ancient Rome, a
compilation of recipes spanning from around 42 B.C. to A.D. 37, does survive, though.
This collection of recipes, which focuses on ancient Roman eating habits, contains
famous meals like Sole in White Wine and Asparagus, as well as numerous now-
unknown foods like Sea Scorpion with Turnips and Dasheens. Baian Seafood Stew, in
which minced poached oysters, mussels, scallops, and sea nettles are blended with
toasted almonds, rue, celery, pepper, coriander, cumin, raisin, wine, broth, reduced
wine, and oil, traces the origins of popular twentieth-century foods. This seafood stew is
similar to the basic recipe for bouillabaisse, a staple of the modern cuisine of southern
France.

The hors d'oeuvre cart was a common sight at Greek banquets, with a variety of dishes
offering little quantities of various foods. Among the foods available were garlic (boiled
and roasted), sea urchins, cockles, sturgeon, and sweet wine sop. This idea was
expanded upon at a fifth-century Roman feast:

With a drink of heated wine with honey, to be followed by fresh eggs, quarters of beef,
mutton, and pork, all highly seasoned with pepper, pickles, caraway, and poppy seeds,
saffron, aromatic balsam, honey, and salt. There was also boar meat with a garniture of
cooked apples, deer, roebuck, hare, and even urus, a wild buffalo. Everything was
tasted, from grasshopper to ostrich, from dormouse to wild boar. The whole world was
put to gastronomical use, by both soldiers and travelers. Guinea fowl and truffles were
brought from Africa, and rabbits from Spain and pheasants from Greece and peacocks
from Asia. The number of courses of the banquet gradually rose to twenty and more. A
kind of herald announced the merits of such dishes as were worthy of special attention
and prolong the pleasures of the table. There must always be actors, singers, mimes,
clowns, and everything that could add to the pleasure of people who had gathered for
the sole purpose of being amused.

The Banqueting Hall

The origins of the current banqueting menu can be traced back to European history's
medieval period. The following guidelines for serving foods were laid down by
Bartholomaeus Anglicus, a Parisian professor of theology, in the thirteenth century:

At feasts, first meat is prepared and arrayed, guests be called in together, forms and
stools be set up in the hall, and tables, cloths, and towels be ordained, disposed, and
made ready. Guests be set with the lord in the chief place of the board before the
guests wash their hands. First knives, spoons, and salt be set on the board, and then
bread and drink and many diverse messes. The guests are gladdened with lutes and
harps. Now wine and messes of meat are brought forth and departed. At the last
cometh fruit and spices, and when they have eaten, cloths and relief [trestles] are borne
away, and guests wash and wipe their hands again. The grace is said, and guests
thank the Lord. Then, for gladness and comfort, drink is brought yet again.

As seen in the working figures from the Angelus Book of Hours, food preparation
methods included roasting, boiling, or stewing. Banquets in the medieval period were
accompanied by elaborate preparations and customs. The head table was put on an
elevated platform and long tables were laid parallel to it at a 1387 feast in honor of
England's Richard II. The king was given an armchair, while the rest of the guests were
seated on backless benches or banquettes. The term banquet comes from the usage of
banquettes for seating.

The supper began after a rite in which the king's trencher (a dish made from stale
bread) was prepared and drinking water was tried.

As the Latin grace is chanted in unison, a procession of trusted servants emerges from
the kitchen, each carrying a resplendent creation prepared by the chefs. Hidden under
ornate silver covers are the multitude of delicacies that Richard will sample on this day.

The three-meal banquet, which was typical of the medieval period, included up to 25
dishes per course. Long into the eighteenth century, this was the standard for menu
planning. In 1393, a three-part banquet menu served in Paris detailed the usual
combination of sweetness, sourness, and spices found in each course. The colorful
prayer book, which is made up of several hand-decorated prayer books, provides more
record on Middle Ages foodways. The pictures are what document the food history
known as the Book of Hours, whose famous-colored illustrations record the historical
and seasonal events of the time. The images in the Book of Hours, which were created
between 1412 and 1416 for the Duc de Berry, depict a dinner with linen tablecloths,
gold and jeweled silverware, a stuffed peacock, and other edibles.

FIRST COURSE
Miniature Pastries Filled with Cod Liver or Beef Marrow
Cameline Meat Brervet (pieces of meat in a thin cinnamon sauce)
Beef Marrow Fritters
Eels, in a Thick, Spicy Puree
Loach, in a Cold Green Sauce Flavored with Spices and Sage
Large Cuts of Roast or Boiled Meat
Saltwater Fish
Fritters
Roast Bream and Darioles
Sturgeon
Jellies
.,
 SECOND COURSE
“The Best Toast That May Be Had”
Freshwater Fish
Broth with Bacon
Meat Tile
(sautéed chicken or veal in a spiced sauce of pounded
crayfish tails, almonds, and toasted bread)
Capon Pastries and Crisps
Blank Manger (blancmange)
.,
THIRD COURSE
Frumentry
Venison
Lampreys with Hot Sauce
Sweets and Confections
Spiced Wine and Wafers
Figure 1.1 ,
MEDIEVAL THREE-COURSE MENU, 1393
(Source: Tannahill, Food in History, 1973, pp. 185–186)

Renaissance European Banqueting

Each item on the banqueting menu for Henry VI of England's marriage to Joan of
Navarre in 1403 included a sotelte. Food sculptures and showpieces molded or
sculpted into animals, humans, or clowns and coats of arms were known as soteltes.
The sotelte evolved into the magnificent pièces montées of the seventeenth and
nineteenth centuries.

In 1529, the Archbishop of Milan gave a sixteen-course dinner that included caviar
and oranges fried with sugar and cinnamon, brill and sardines with slices of orange
and lemon, one thousand oysters with pepper and oranges, lobster salad with citrons,
sturgeon in aspic covered with orange juice, fried sparrows with oranges, individual
salads containing citrons into which the coat of arms of the diner had been carved,
orange fritters, a soufflé full of raisins and pine nuts and covered with sugar and
orange juice, five hundred fried oysters with lemon slices, and candied peels of
citrons and oranges.

. Figure 1.2 ,
DINNER FOR THE ARCHBISHOP OF MILAN, 1529
(Source: McPhee, Oranges, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1966, p. 69)

Eighteenth-Century Banqueting
The banquet meal had been reduced to two main-course settings by 1727, with the third
course consisting of fruits, nuts, and cheese served with appropriate ports. Menus in the
American colonies were like those in England throughout the mid-1700s.

FIRST COURSE
Soup Ragout of Breast of Veal Roast Venison
Boiled Leg of Lamb and Cauliflower served with Smaller Dishes of Stewed Eels
Stewed Carp A Puree of Pigeons
A Roast Pig
.,
SECOND COURSE
Four Partridges and Two Quails Lobsters
Almond Cheesecakes and Custards with Smaller Dishes of Four Pocket and Lamb
Testicles
Apricot Fritters
Sturgeon Fried Sole
Green Peas Potted Pigeons
 Figure 1.3 ,
COLONIAL AMERICAN MENU, 1727
(Source: Tannahill, Food in History, 1973, p. 334)

FIRST COURSE
Tureen of Garbure Gratinée
Palate of Beef à la Sainte-Menehould
Kidneys with Fried Onion
Tripe à la Poulette with Lemon Juice
Rump of Beef with Root Vegetables
Oxtail with Chestnut Puree
Civet of Tongue à la Bourguignonne
Paupiettes of Beef à l’Estouffade with Pickled Nasturtium Buds
Filet of Beef Braised with Celery
Beef Rissoles with Hazelnut Puree
Beef Marrow on Toast
.,
SECOND COURSE
Roast Sirloin
Endive Salad with Ox Tongue
Beef à la Mode with White Jelly
Cold Beef Gateau with Blood and Furancon Wine
Glazed Turnips
Beef Bone Marrow Pie with Bread Crumbs and Candy Sugar
Beef Stock Aspic with Lemon Rind and Pralines
Puree of Artichoke Hearts with Beef Stock and Almond Milk
Beef Jelly with Alicante Wine and Verdun Mirabelles
. Figure 1.4 ,
DINNER FOR THE DUCE DE RICHELIEU
(Source: The New Larousse Gastronomique, by Montagne. Copyright © 1977
by the Hamlyn Publishing Group, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Crown Publishers,
a division of Random House, Inc)

The menu of the eighteenth century was transformed into the cornerstone of the
twentieth-century banquet meal. The menu in Figure 1.4 shows the foods given to
members of the Hanovarian Court in two courses by the Duke de Richelieu. Due to a
scarcity of food, the duke was only able to provide meat-based menu items.

Nineteenth-Century Menu Revisions

The menu format had changed dramatically by 1867, with a substantial reduction in the
number of menu items available and a split of products into discrete menu categories.

SOUPS
Imperatice—Fontanges
.,
INTERMEDIATE COURSE
Soufflé à la Reine
Filet of Sole à la Venitienne
Callops of Tubot au Gratin
Saddle of Mutton with Breton Puree
.,
ENTRÉES
Chickens à la Portugaise
Hot Quail Pâté
Lobster à la Parisienne
Champagne Sorbets
.,
ROTS
Duckling à la Rouennaise
Canapés of Bunting
 .,
FINAL COURSE
Aubergines à l’Espagnole
Asparagus
Cassoulets Princesse
Iced Bombe
Fruit
.,
WINES
Madère Retour des Indes 1846
Sherry 1821
Chateau-D’Yguem 1847
Chambertin 1847
Chateau-Margaux 1847
Chateau-Latour 1847
Chateau-Lafite 1848
Figure 1.5 ,
MENU SERVED AT THE CAFÉ ANGLAIS, PARIS, 1867
(Source: The New Larousse Gastronomique, by Montagne. Copyright © 1977
by the Hamlyn Publishing Group, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Crown Publishers,
a division of Random House, Inc.)

First Course: Soup

Second Course: Hot hors d’oeuvres
Third Course: Cold hors d’oeuvres
Fourth Course: Intermediate fish course
Fifth Course: Intermediate meat, poultry, or game course
Sixth Course: Entrée
Seventh Course: Rotis (poultry, game, or beef)
Eighth Course: Salad
Ninth Course: Entremets (dessert)
. Figure 1.6 ,
NINETEENTH-CENTURY NINE-COURSE MENU FORMAT
(Source: The New Larousse Gastronomique, by Montagne. Copyright © 1977
by the Hamlyn Publishing Group, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Crown Publishers,
a division of Random House, Inc.)

Figure 1.7., a menu created by the artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec for a banquet
celebration in Paris in 1896, is an example of this type. It's worth noting that the third
course is made up entirely of imported trout from Lake Michigan in the United States.
Some menu items are merely listed by course, while others are specified specifically.
The seventh course, which would have been sweet, would have been a fruit tart.

Fruit would have been the eighth course, dessert. The typical cheese meal, which was
served before the sweet course, is absent from this menu. Figure 1.8 shows another
variant of the shorter course adaption served to Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle,
England, on December 17, 1894. The United States continued to be influenced by
European menu presentation. Figure 1.9 shows a banquet dinner given in 1866 for
President Andrew Johnson atm Delmonico’s restaurant in New York City.

OXTAIL SOUP
.,
HORS D’OEUVRE
Lake Michigan Trout
Haunch of Venison on a Puree of Chestnuts
Foie Gras in a Crust
.,
SALAD
.,
SWEET COURSE
.,
DESSERT
 Grand Table Wine, Vouvray, Corton
Figure 1.7 ,
TOULOUSE-LAUTREC MENU, 1896
(Source: Toulouse-Lautrec and Joyant, The Art of Cuisine, 1966, p. 159)

Soup POTAGE
Vermicelli à la Windsor À la Pazanne
.,
Fish POISSON
La Barbeau, sauce Hollandaise Les Filet Aigelfin Frits
.,
Main Course ENTRÉES
La Crouquettes de Volaille
La Mousse de Grouse au Fumet
.,
Meat RELEVE
Roast Beef Champignons Etuffe
.,
Roast ROTIS
Les Canarde au Bigarade La Chicores à la Crème
.,
Sweets ENTREMETS
.,
Les Beignets d’Anana Le Pain de Pommes Rubane Chantilly
.,
Cheese FROMAGE
Cheese Straws
Side Table
.,
Hot and Cold Fowl, Tongue, Beef
Figure 1.8 ,
HER MAJESTY’S DINNER, MONDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1894
(Source: Reprinted with permission of PBC International from Greenstein,
A la Carte: A Tour of Dining History, p. 123. © 1992)

Wines POTAGES
Amontillado Consommé Chatelaine Bisque aux Quenelles
.,
HORS D’OEUVRES
Timbales de Gibier à Venitienne
.,
POISSONS
Hechheimerberg Saumon Livonien Paupiettes de Kingfish
.,
RELEVES
Champagne Selle d’Agneau aux Concombres
Filet de Boeuf à la Pocohontas
.,
ENTRÉES
Chateaux-Margaux Supreme de Volaille Dauphine Ballontines de Pigeon
Lucullus
Filets de Caneton Tyrolienne Cotelettes à la Marechale
Ris de Veau Montgomery Bouins à la Richelieu

Sorbet à la Dunderberge
.,
ROTS
Clos de Vougeot Bebcassines Bardees
Ortolans Farcis
Entremets de Legume
Petits Pois à l’Anglaise Tomates Farcies
Aubergines Frites Atichauts Barigoule
.,
ENTREMETS SUCRES
Tokai Imperial Peches à la New York Mille-feuilles Pompadour
Abricots Siciliens Gateau Soleil
Macedoine de Fruits Moscovites aux Oranges
Bavarois aux Fraises Gelée Californienne
Crème aux Amandes Meringues Chantilly
Beausejour au Malaga Biscuits Glacés aux Pistaches
Madère Faquat Fruits et Desserts Pièces Montées
Monument de Washington Fountaine des Aigles
Temple de la Liberte Trophée Nationale
Figure 1.9 ,
DELMONICO’S MENU, 1866
(Source: Cannon and Brooks, The President’s Cookbook, 1986, p. 263)