Series: Further Adventures with the 80th Anniversary Dinner of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick- Introduction

When we last left each other, we had received the news that the Historic Food Fortnightly would not have official challenges in 2017. For the 2016 challenge set, I had dedicated the season to the recreated 28th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, company B by working my way through the menu for the 80th Anniversary Dinner of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick. I wanted to give the honorees a chance to taste these dishes and give the whole Thing some closure; so I rented a hall, sent out the invitations, and started making Plans.

The first challenge was solidifying the menu. I knew some ingredients would be cost prohibitive, some ingredients would be unavailable, and our vegetarian honorees would appreciate considered choices.

So here's the menus, side by side, and then my notes:

 

Dishes in GREEN are substitutions from the original menu.

Grilled Shad in White Wine Sauce- Shad is a protected species due to over-fishing. Another comparable Whitefish is substituted.

Quail in Perigneux Sauce- Quail is no longer readily available and Perigneux Sauce includes significant amounts of truffles, which quickly becomes cost prohibitive. We show our House Specialty Macaroni Pudding instead.

Grouse- Grouse is an import item, available seasonally. Cornish Hen is substituted.

Turkey Galantine- This dish includes five kinds of meat, which quickly becomes expensive. Instead, we offer an onion and herb tart, similar to a quiche, which will be more welcoming to our brothers who follow a vegetarian diet.

Russian Salad- the Russian preparation for salad includes a number of meats or seafood, which becomes expensive. We offer a vegetarian salad instead.

Next I choose the recipes I would follow. Some were brushed off from the HFF Challenges of the previous year and some were new. As always, Feeding America: The Historic American Cookbook Project proved an invaluable resource.

With menu and recipes selected, it was time to start cooking, baking, and fussing. More about that in the next installment of the Series. :-)