Book of Days Tales

On this date in 1912 the passenger liner R.M.S. Titanic hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic at 23:40 and sank early the following morning.  Certainly the general events of that night are well known through several (fictionalized) movies as well as websites and documentaries, and need not be repeated here.  Instead I will focus on the passengers’ last meals, in all classes.  Sometimes on this date (particularly on major anniversaries) people like to make a “Titanic dinner.”  But they usually focus on the first class menu for the elite. I would like to take a broader view and look at the menus in all classes.  Fortunately, the dinner menus for all classes for the night of 14 April 1912 survive, as do some details of the various dining salons.

In the third-class dining saloon, located in the Middle (F) deck, diners sat at long tables that could seat 20. They hung their hats, coats, and scarves on hooks attached to the walls. The saloon was large and spare. It could seat 473, which means that two sittings were necessary to accommodate all 710 passengers in third class.

The food was plain and wholesome with no choices, making it quick to prepare and serve.  By good fortune all three menus from 14 April 1912 have survived. I’m pleased to note they had tripe and onions for breakfast. I am also interested to note that this dish was fried rather than prepared in a thickened milk sauce as was usual in England at the time.

Breakfast: Oatmeal porridge and milk; vegetable stew; fried tripe and onions; bread and butter; marmalade; Swedish bread; tea; coffee

Lunch: Bouillon soup; roast beef and brown gravy; green beans, boiled; potatoes; cabin biscuits; bread; prunes and rice

Dinner: Rabbit pie; baked potatoes; bread and butter; rhubarb and ginger jam; Swedish bread; tea

Being the egalitarian that I am, I am going to give a recipe for rabbit pie.  There is no telling exactly how it was prepared but Isabella Beeton can come to the rescue. 

RABBIT PIE.

981. INGREDIENTS.—1 rabbit, a few slices of ham, salt and white pepper to taste, 2 blades of pounded mace, ½ teaspoonful of grated nutmeg, a few forcemeat balls*, 3 hard-boiled eggs, ½ pint of gravy, puff crust.

Mode.—Cut up the rabbit (which should be young), remove the breastbone, and bone the legs. Put the rabbit, slices of ham, forcemeat balls, and hard eggs, by turns, in layers, and season each layer with pepper, salt, pounded mace, and grated nutmeg. Pour in about 1/2 pint of water, cover with crust, and bake in a well-heated oven for about 1-1/2 hour. Should the crust acquire too much colour, place a piece of paper over it to prevent its burning. When done, pour in at the top, by means of the hole in the middle of the crust, a little good gravy, which may be made of the breast- and leg-bones of the rabbit and 2 or 3 shank-bones, flavoured with onion, herbs, and spices.

Time.—1-1/2 hour. Average cost, from 1s. to 1s. 6d. each.

Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons.

Note.—The liver of the rabbit may be boiled, minced, and mixed with the forcemeat balls, when the flavour is liked.

*Forcemeat balls are meatballs made from equal quantities of finely ground meat and fat pounded together, much like a sausage filling, sometimes bound with an egg (and breadcrumbs) and shallow fried.