1920s Dinner Party Ideas

FairyPrincessk

ditsykitchen wrote: »

I have drawn two ideas on how to be a 'bright young thing' from the supersizers program:
-be drunk
-be fabulous
:rotfl:

Sounds fabulous to me!:rotfl:

Also I love that timeline website..fascinating!

ditsykitchen

Found some lovely cocktail recipes. Going to make peach bellinis as a welcome drink, using Tesc0 cava and tinned peaches Might add a home grown rose petal to each glass, that aways looks posh even though it's free!
They mentioned consomme in the supersizers program, but instead of beef I'd be making this one, which I love. I've had no problems making it with tinned plum tomatoes and balsamic vinegar.
They also mentioned melba toast but I don't really know what that is or what to serve it with.
I'll be getting my BIG traditional french and italian cookbooks out tomorrow to figure some more ideas out.

FairyPrincessk

Melba toast is sort of like pre-toasted bread that comes in packets. I think it was originally either a health food or for children...but it is sort of just..well, pre-packaged extra dried out toast. I think you could make it yourself by setting your oven fairly low and toasting bread on both sides very slowly so it sort of hardened all the way through.

adouglasmhor

Melba toast is cold dry toast with no crusts. Serve it with a veggie pate or a cheese sauce maybe.
http://www.food.com/recipe/melba-toast-24802

Downsizing__for_sanity

FairyPrincessk wrote: »

Melba toast is sort of like pre-toasted bread that comes in packets. I think it was originally either a health food or for children...but it is sort of just..well, pre-packaged extra dried out toast. I think you could make it yourself by setting your oven fairly low and toasting bread on both sides very slowly so it sort of hardened all the way through.

Yep, you toast thick slices of bread (homemade would be good) either on the grill or toaster, then slice them through the middle so you have 2 very thin pieces of toast, cut into triangles, and then toast again on the soft side. It should curl up nicely. You can buy it in bags, not too expensive, but free obviously if you already have bread in and the time!

Ellie
DFS

ash28

1920s cooking was very meat orientated.....

I was given a Mrs Beeton's Cookery Book from 1933 (a wedding present for MIL)....

There are some vegetarian dinner menus (only 2) and for dinner parties they usually finished with a savoury course after the desert.

1. Lentil soup- stock or water, milk, lentils, onion, carrot, celery, bouquet garni, butter, flour and cream (optional)
Cucumber & Eggs
Macaroni & cream - macaroni, gruyere cheese, parmesan cheese, cream & toast or fried bread triangles....
Tomato salad - scald and skin the tomatoes, place in a salad bowl, mix together 2 salt spoons of salt, 1 salt spoon pepper, 2 teaspoons salad oil, 1 tablespoon vinegar, mixed grain mustard. Add finely chopped parsley to the dressing before serving and pour over the tomatoes.
Cold cabinet pudding or Fruit salad - fruit must be simmered in a syrup until sufficiently cooked and not broken.
Welsh rarebit -
Cold Cabinet Pudding recipe
http://chestofbooks.com/food/recipes/Lessons-In-Cookery/Lesson-Twenty-Seventh-Cold-Cabinet-Pudding.html#.UhIY7T_vuIk

2. Vegetable soup - carrots, turnip, onion, leek, celery, chopped parsely, butter & flour, water and milk....veg should be cut into match stick size....
Cheese omelet
Baked windsor beans (broad beans served with parsley butter sauce)
Iced Asparagus - cooked asparagus (about 6 each), mayonnaise, vinaigrette or other salad dressing, leave asparagus on ice for 2 to 3 hours then coat the tips with the sauce
Apple amber (a kind of apple pie) or Fruit in jelly
Grilled mushrooms - peel mushrooms, cut off a bit of stalk, grill turning once, arrange them on a very hot plate, season with salt, pepper and a few drops of lemon juice.

I'm quite fascinated by the book.....and the labour saving devices, the mechanical carpet sweeper, the long handled mop, the suction sweeper, ironing machines (several makes nearly all being driven by electricity), whether to have gas or electric lighting, how a gas or electric cooker only saves on the servants time - I wish.....

ditsykitchen

ash28 wrote: »

1920s cooking was very meat orientated.....

I was given a Mrs Beeton's Cookery Book from 1933 (a wedding present for MIL)....

There are some vegetarian dinner menus (only 2) and for dinner parties they usually finished with a savoury course after the desert.

1. Lentil soup- stock or water, milk, lentils, onion, carrot, celery, bouquet garni, butter, flour and cream (optional)
Cucumber & Eggs
Macaroni & cream - macaroni, gruyere cheese, parmesan cheese, cream & toast or fried bread triangles....
Tomato salad - scald and skin the tomatoes, place in a salad bowl, mix together 2 salt spoons of salt, 1 salt spoon pepper, 2 teaspoons salad oil, 1 tablespoon vinegar, mixed grain mustard. Add finely chopped parsley to the dressing before serving and pour over the tomatoes.
Cold cabinet pudding or Fruit salad - fruit must be simmered in a syrup until sufficiently cooked and not broken.
Welsh rarebit -
Cold Cabinet Pudding recipe
http://chestofbooks.com/food/recipes/Lessons-In-Cookery/Lesson-Twenty-Seventh-Cold-Cabinet-Pudding.html#.UhIY7T_vuIk

2. Vegetable soup - carrots, turnip, onion, leek, celery, chopped parsely, butter & flour, water and milk....veg should be cut into match stick size....
Cheese omelet
Baked windsor beans (broad beans served with parsley butter sauce)
Iced Asparagus - cooked asparagus (about 6 each), mayonnaise, vinaigrette or other salad dressing, leave asparagus on ice for 2 to 3 hours then coat the tips with the sauce
Apple amber (a kind of apple pie) or Fruit in jelly
Grilled mushrooms - peel mushrooms, cut off a bit of stalk, grill turning once, arrange them on a very hot plate, season with salt, pepper and a few drops of lemon juice.

I'm quite fascinated by the book.....and the labour saving devices, the mechanical carpet sweeper, the long handled mop, the suction sweeper, ironing machines (several makes nearly all being driven by electricity), whether to have gas or electric lighting, how a gas or electric cooker only saves on the servants time - I wish.....

Sounds like a really interesting read. I expect people will be looking at my copy of 'the cleaning bible' in 80 years and thinking the same things

Interesting that they serve a savoury after the dessert. I suppose I could do a cheese board as that's going to be a bit more pleasing to modern tastes than having mushrooms after pudding

jackyann

It was very common to have something like mushrooms or cheese on toast after the pudding.
There are a lot of discussions about where the term "welsh rarebit" came from; some think it is to do with having a "rare bit" ie: a little treat after pudding.
a welsh rarebit would be cheaper than a cheese board, but more fiddly. If i was doing it, I would have sliced bread ready, and my mix made up, then make it fresh. You wouldn't need much - just a little slice each.

ditsykitchen

Hi all We are having the party on Tues now instead of Wed. Managed to scor my oh a genuine 1920s tail coat off ebay for £6! (He's so slim he only wears a 34 jacket, so small/unpopular size often leads to savings )

For drinks I have decided to go with "champagne" (tesco cava ) cocktails - peach bellinis and elderflower bellinis. Bellinis weren't actually around until the 30s or 40s, but both champagne and all things italian were popular in the 20s, so hopefully no one will notice.

I have come up with some of the courses, but not all. I'm going for about 10, sorbets and appetisers included. I like feeding people The first 4 dishes will be:
Antipasti - sundried tomatoes, mozzarella, tepanade, olive oil, balsamic, hm bread
Rosemary Sorbet
Tomato & Vodka Consomme
Cheese Souffle

Then some other stuff I haven't thought of yet.

I was thinking of making pasta dough with beetroot in the dough itself, then making this into cheese ravioli. Not sure if that would be a main. Could be prepped the day before though which is always good

I've heard a lot about waldorf salad but I'm not big on mayonnaise. Any ideas for a twist on this salad would be appreciated!

For dessert I'll probably do lemon chiffon cake.

At some point there'll be elderflower sorbet, probably after the main to cleanse the palate for dessert. Since I'll be buying the cordial for the cocktails it seemed like a good idea

Further ideas/thoughts appreciated!

PS: As always with me, everything will be gluten free, but I make pretty good gf bread and pasta, or so my husband assures me

Chris25

ditsykitchen wrote: »

I've heard a lot about waldorf salad but I'm not big on mayonnaise. Any ideas for a twist on this salad would be appreciated!

although not Waldorf salad, my daughter makes her coleslaw with natural yoghurt - either plain or greek. Tastes good. She has used creme fraiche & yoghurt mixed before now too.