By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com
Blue point oysters, bisque of lobster, baked shad with piquant sauce, cheese straws, Philadelphia capon, Roman punch, cream tartlets with foam sauce…and, we’ve not yet mentioned the roasts on the menu.
Sounding like exceptional cuisine of a multi-star restaurant, it is actually from a Main Street Bluffton restaurant of 125 winters ago.
Here’s your invitation to enjoy an 1898 Christmas dinner in the Stephan Hotel at the corner of Main and Church streets. Read the history of the hotel at the bottom of this story.
As found in a December, 1898, Bluffton News, the following is the Christmas dinner 1898 bill of fare.
OYSTERS
Blue Points, lemon quarters
SOUP
Bisque of lobster, cheese straws
RELISH
Celery, queen olives, mixed pickles
Durkee’s salad dressing
Olive oil
FISH
Baked shad
Sauce piquant
BOIL
Philadelphia capon
Sauce a la Stephan
ROASTS
Prime western beef
Mushroom sauce
Young turkey, cranberry sauce
Brown ribbed beef
Brown Jersey potatoes
DRINK
Roman punch with fruit
ENTREES
Little pigs in blankets
Sauce imperial
Cream tartlets with foam sauce
VEGETABLES
Mash potatoes
Brown Jersey sweet potatoes
Evergreen corn
French peas
PASTRY
Apple
Mince
Pumpkin
DESSERT
Metropolitan ice cream
Assorted cake
Oranges
Bananas
Apples
Malaga grapes
Coffee
Tea
Milk
How significant was this Christmas dinner? It is the earliest of such menus ever discovered in the Bluffton News.
Click HERE for more of this story plus photos.
