How to Give An 1865 Dinner. [A stroll down memory lane]

Housemouse ^

[yankeedame]

1860s Victorian House
DINING ROOM.

"The dinner-table is the only place
where men are not bored
during the first hour."

How to Give An 1865 Dinner. A dinner, no matter how recherché, how sumptuous, will never go off well if the wine is bad, the guests not suited to each other, the faces dull, and the dinner eaten hastily.
But some impatient reader will exclaim, How can we manage to unite all these conditions, which enhance, in a supreme degree, the pleasures of the dinner-table?
I will reply to this question, so listen attentively, gentle reader.

• Let the number of your guests never exceed twelve, so that the conversation may constantly remain general.

• Let them be so collected that their occupations are different, their tastes similar, and with such points of contact that it is not necessary to go through the odious form of introduction.

• Let your dining-room be brilliantly lighted, your cloth perfectly clean, and the temperature of the room from 13 degrees to 16 degrees Réaumur.
  
• Let the men be clever without presumption, the women amiable without conceit.

• Let your dishes be limited in number, but each excellent, and your wines first-rate. Let the former vary from the most substantial to the most light; and for the second, from the strongest to the most perfumed.

• Let everything be served quietly, without hurry or bustle; dinner being the last business of the day, let your guests look upon themselves as travellers who have arrived at the end of their jouney.

• Let the coffee be very hot, and the liqueurs of first quality.

• Let your drawing-room be spacious enough to allow a game to be played, if desired, without interfering with those addicted to chatting.

• Let the guests be retained by the pleasant company, and cheered with the hope that, before the evening is over, there is something good still in store for them.

• Let the tea not be too strong; the hot toast well buttered; and the punch carefully mixed.

• Let no one leave before eleven, but let every one be in bed by midnight.

  ... The Handbook of Dining, or Corpulency and Leanness Scientifically Considered, by Brillat-Savarin, 1865.
  

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GREAT DINNERS in the 1860s

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1860

Prince of Wales, Albert Edward, 19, dines at an elaborate dinner held in his honor at The Academy of Music, 14th Street in New York during his first visit to America.
Main course: Beefsteak-and-kidney pie. -- Related article: Tour of His Royal Highness, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, Through the United States, Our First Century, by R. M. Devens.

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1862

Napoleon III dines at James de Rothschild's French estate. They join a hunting party in the afternoon, killing over 1200 heads of game. Returning, the Paris Opera entertains them with hunting songs.
Main course: Boar and pheasants en plumage.

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1863

Thanksgiving Day becomes a U.S. national holiday to commemorate the Pilgrims' 1621 feast honoring their Native American benefactors.
Main course: Turkey

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1864

The steamer proved to be the Nutfield, perfectly new, and, as her papers showed, laden with arms and stores for the Confederate Government. She had been chased the day before, and escaped only to find herself at night in the very midst of the inside blockaders off Wilmington...In the cabin of the prize, which was most luxuriantly furnished, stood the breakfast-table hastily abandoned.

"A Cruise on the "Sassacus," by Edgar Holden; Harper's New Monthly Magazine, November, 1864. from Cruise on the Sassacus 14-page.

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1865

The Six Chinese Companies in California host a dinner in honor of Hon. Schuyler Colfax, Speaker of the U. S. House of Representatives; Hon. Wm. Bross, Lt-Governor of Illinois; Albert D. Richardson, New York Tribune; and Samuel Bowles, Springfield (Mass.) Republican at the Hang Heong Restaurant, 308 Dupont Street, San Francisco, California.
Main course: Bamboo soup, bird's nest soup, stewed sea-weed, stewed mushrooms, fried fungus, banana fritters, shark fins, shark sinews, reindeer sinews, dried Chinese oysters, pigeons, ducks, chickens, scorpions' eggs, watermelon seeds, fish in scores of varieties, many kinds of cake, and fruits ad infinitum.

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1866

Citizens of Augusta, Georgia hold a barbecue honoring General Steadman and General Fullerton, sent by President Johnson to investigate the Freedmen's Bureau. Black families have their barbeques, generally at the close of their labors in getting in the cotton crop. -- Harper's Weekly.

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1866

Banquet in honor of Cyrus W. Field, at The Metropolitan Hotel in New York, with telegraph-pole centerpieces, celebrating the first successful attempt to lay a transatlantic telegraph cable.

-- Successful Laying of the Telegraph Cable Across the Atlantic Ocean, Our First Century, by R. M. Devens.

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1869

Farewell Dinner at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia for Honorable Andrew Curtin (former Pennsylvania Governor) after his acceptance as minister to Russia.

Books.
Victorian House Plans & Victorian Homelife Book Catalog.

General Reference.
Home. | Requests.

[yankeedame]

I figured out (okay..okay..I stumbled on ...) how to tranfer the text of the page, but not the pictures that went with it. So here they are [this first one belongs on the rectangluar box in the upper left]:

And here's the picture that goes in the box next to the 1864 "The steamer proved to be the Nutfield, perfectly new, and..."

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I found this site while wandering around that new (to me anyway) search engine Clusty.com
and thought I'd pass it on, figuring, "What the hey? Why not?"

[onyx]

Bookmarked!

[Semper Vigilantis]

Very cool post, but you lost me at "scorpions' eggs". *shudder* :~)

[flashbunny]

I think I'm going to start discussing temperatures using the Réaumur scale.

[GottaLuvAkitas1]

Great read! Thank you.

[PennsylvaniaMom]

Thanks for the post. I love stuff like this.

[martin_fierro]

Seems like there's one of these dinners in every Chick Flick ever made.

[martin_fierro]

How to Give An 1865 Dinner.

Get over it. It's 2005.

< |:)~

[yankeedame]

Thanks for the post. I love stuff like this.

Me too! Here's another great site: Victorian Lace- Victorian Lifestyle

It, alas, has shut down but the creator of the site has left it open -- in that you can still klick on various links and check out things like:

1. Society and Lifestyle

CLOSED 4/3/05 The Flutter of a Fan (an unspoken language)

CLOSED 6/15/05 Romance and Relationships of the Victorian Era (courting practices of the 19th century)

Victorian Parasols (A Victorian Lady's most essentail accessory)

Gala and Glamour (Aristocratic social life of the Gilded Age)

Presentation at Court (A Victorian Debutante's "Coming Out" into fashionable Society)

Taking the Waters (The elegance of Victorian era resorts where the Society "Upper Crust" spent their summer months known as "The Season")

The Grand Hotels (Features some of the most magnificent hotels of the era)

Victorian Etiquette and Basic Rules of Propriety (A page detailing the essential Victorian manners, propriety, and etiquette rules--contains many excerpts and quotes from actual 19th century etiquette manuals)

Luncheon: "The Fasionable Luncheon" and "The Victorian Picnic" (The history and etiquette of the "mid-afternoon" meal, whether it was eaten as a social gathering indoors, or outside in the countryside)

Dinner at Eight: Victorian Dinner Parties (The pleasure of your company is requested......)

Welcome to "The London Season" (A page done in Q & A format, detailing the daily agenda for the most glittering Season of the Victorian Era---The London Season!)

The Victorian Ballroom (A glimpse into the history and etiquette of the fabulous balls held during the 19th century. Page describes all aspects of a Victorian Ball, including etiquette, fashions, music, dances, invitations, food, favors and much more!)

BELOW STAIRS: Life of the Victorian Domestic Servant (A comprehensive view of the lives of 19th-century servants, spread out over three webpages, (because each pages is filled with images and is, therefore, graphically heavy). This series provides a compendious look at THE VICTORIAN DOMESTIC SERVANT.)

etc. etc. etc.....

[I don't know how long this site is going to stay up, but I know I'm off to do a whole lot of printing off this site!]

[codyjacksmom]

Totally awesome post! Things like this are absolutely fascinating to me...

[Soaring Feather]

To live in Victorian times would be
a dream it seems for me.
The wealthy lived very well and dined
on fine China of the Oriental kind.

The poor on the other hand
had it quite dismal
lived in cold houses
with left over scraps to eat.

Children died in work houses
the poor were abused by most
while luxury rode in closed carriages
usually warm as toast.

bentfeather
Copyright 2005

[PennsylvaniaMom]

Me too!!! Many thanks...I have long thought I was born in the wrong era. Sigh.

[Larry Lucido]

Dinner at the Lucido house, 2005:

Several large pizzas

A case or two of beer

6 - 10 guests

A large screen TV with the football game on (if I had a large screen TV)

[Larry Lucido]

Ah, ya beat me.

[pissant]

LOL. My kinda joint!

[SunkenCiv]

Interesting, a new search engine? Thanks for that, also interesting quaint topic -- a GGG topic after I get home.

http://www.Clusty.com/

[SunkenCiv]

Alright, time to eat!

[stylecouncilor]

ping

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks yankeedame.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

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