dining room serving table
the titanic sailed alongthis very stretch of belfast lough. here at rayanne house, we try to keepthe memories of the titanic alive. in fact, it's a celebrationof belfast's maritime history. while upstairs,you can enjoy views across the lough to where the titanic set sail, downstairs, you can enjoythe nine course lavish menu that was servedto the first class passengers on the last night aboard the titanic. we'll be starting with the first coursewhich is the canapes from the admiral.
if you were dining on the titanic,really the emphasis was on the food. if you were to take a cruise now,you'd have so much entertainment. on the titanic really,they emphasised the food as being the main entertainmentfor the evening. they probably would have arrived fordinner maybe around 6:30, 7 o'clock. it started with canapã©sand a glass of champagne and they would be still eatingright up until close to midnight. there were two soups on offeron the last evening. one was clear consommã© olga.
the second was a cream of barley soupwhich we're serving this evening. we are just finishing thatwith some fresh cream, some parsley. and we're just flooding the top of itwith a little whiskey. a little bushmills whisky,an irish twist. but we know there was plentyof bushmills on board the titanic. the third course this evening,we're serving our roasted squab with an asparagus and watercress salad, and we're just going to finish that with a saffron and champagnevinaigrette.
incidentally, this dish was also servedat the launch of the titanic the previous may in the grand centralhotel in belfast for lunch. and also seemed to be a signatory dishright across the white star line. it was served on the olympicand various other white star liners. for our fifth course, we're going to servea rose water and mint sorbet. the rose water i feel is a greatthrowback to edwardian, victorian times where they used rose water widelythroughout their cooking. it's a flavour we may have forgotten,
but with the mint, it reallycleanses the palate beautifully. on such a decadent meal,it's a great palate cleanser. even though it's the sixth course,people still manage to get through. in fact, edwardians at the time, they measured their wealthby their girth. the fatter you were,the richer you were. there we go. we're finishedwith the foie gras, filet mignon. the sixth course that was servedto the first class passengers. a very rich and decadent dish
that was served to somevery rich, wealthy customers. the dessert that was servedwas poached peaches. these were poachedwith cinnamon and cloves, and then served with a chartreuse jelly. chartreuse jelly was widely usedby edwardians and victorians. in fact,it was a secret recipe for chartreuse that had been devised by the monks. only two monks at one time,and still to this day, ever know the recipe of chartreuse.
we know from records, the cheese on the last nightwas emmental, edam, stilton. cheeses that are still on the go today. they would have sat over cheesefor quite a while, actually, and then moved on to cigars andbrandies and all the post-dinner drinks. we came up with the idea to runthe titanic menu around two years ago. we thought we'll just try it for acouple of nights to see how it would go. we had no idea reallythe interest that would have come from running the last mealon the titanic.
so there you go.that was the ninth course. tea, coffee and petit fours. the grand finale to what i hopeeveryone enjoyed was a fabulous meal. exhausting work, but well worth it.