Another Titanic thread

[Harry P.]

Yes, I know I have already started a thread on Titanic a while back, but I just find this ship fascinating. Just doing a little web surfing today, I found this list of what Titanic carried as far as provisions for the passengers and crew. I know today's ocean liners are much bigger than Titanic, but the amounts of items Titanic carried for just one trip across the Atlantic is amazing...

•  Fresh Meat 75,000 lbs
•  Fresh Fish 11,000 lbs
•  Salted/Dried fish 4,000 lbs
•  Bacon/Ham 7,500 lbs
•  Poultry/Game 25,000 lbs
•  Fresh Eggs 40,000
•  Sausages 2,500 lbs
•  Potatoes 40 tons
•  Onions 3,500 lbs
•  Tomatoes 3,500 lbs
•  Fresh Asparagus 800 bundles
•  Fresh Green Peas 2,500 lbs
•  Lettuce 7,000 heads
•  Sweetbreads 1,000
•  Ice Cream 1,750 lbs
•  Coffee 2,200 lbs
•  Tea 800 lbs
•  Rice/Beans 10,000 lbs
•  Sugar 10,000 lbs
•  Flour 250 barrels
•  Cereals 10,000 lbs
•  Apples 36,000
•  Oranges 36,000
•  Lemons 16,000
•  Grapes 1,000 lbs
•  Grapefruit 13,000
•  Jams and Marmalade 1,120 lbs
•  Fresh Milk 1,500 gal
•  Fresh Cream 1,200 qts
•  Condensed Milk 600 gals
•  Fresh Butter 6,000 lbs
•  Ales and Stout 15,000 bottles
•  Wines 1,000 bottles
•  Spirits 850 bottles
•  Mineral water 1,200 bottles
•  Cigars 8,000
•  57,600 items of crockery
•  29,000 pieces of glassware

    ◦  Tea Cups: 3,000
    ◦  Dinner Plates: 12,000
    ◦  Ice Cream Plates: 5,500
    ◦  Soufflé Dishes: 1,500
    ◦  Wine Glasses: 2,000
    ◦  Salt Shakers: 2,000
    ◦  Pudding Dishes: 1,200
    ◦  Finger Bowls: 1,000
    ◦  Oyster Forks: 1,000
    ◦  Nut Crackers: 300
    ◦  Egg Spoons: 2,000
    ◦  Grape Scissors: 1,500
    ◦  Asparagus Tongs: 400

Linens
    ◦  Aprons: 4,000
    ◦  Blankets: 7,500
    ◦  Table Cloths: 6,000
    ◦  Bed Covers: 3,600
    ◦  Eiderdown Quilts: 800
    ◦  Single Sheets: 15,000
    ◦  Table Napkins: 45,000
    ◦  Bath Towels: 7,500
    ◦  Fine Towels: 25,000
    ◦  Roller Towels: 3,500
    ◦  Double Sheets: 3,000
    ◦  Pillow-slips: 15,000

That's a pretty hefty list of provisions for one trip!

[Harry P.]

First Class passengers were obviously treated to the highest standards as far as menu selections and food quality. And Second Class passengers' meals were also prepared in the same kitchen, and by the same people, as that for First Class... the only difference for Second Class being fewer choices. But on Titanic, even Third Class passengers were treated very well. Considering the fact that most of the Third Class passengers were people immigrating to America, and not "society types," Titanic's Third Class menu was probably better than what most Third Class passengers were used to in their own personal lives.

3rd Class Menu

BREAKFAST.
Oatmeal Porridge & Milk
Smoked Herrings, Jacket Potatoes
Ham & Eggs
Fresh Bread & Butter
Marmalade
Swedish Bread
Tea
Coffee

DINNER (what we would call "lunch" today)
Rice Soup
Fresh Bread
Cabin Biscuits
Roast Beef with Brown Gravy
Sweet Corn
Boiled Potatoes
Plum Pudding with Sweet Sauce
Fruit

TEA ("snack time," late afternoon)
Cold Meat
Cheeses
Pickles
Fresh Bread & Butter
Stewed Figs & Rice
Tea

SUPPER (basically a late night snack)
Gruel
Cabin Biscuits
Cheese

[SfanGoch]

Note that there were 1,000 oyster forks listed; yet, no oysters. They forgot the friggin' oysters! What good are oyster forks if you don't have oysters??!? They're right there on the menu dammit, right below the horse d'ovaries!

 

 

That would have been reason enough to turn around and cancel the voyage. Is it too late to ask for a refund?

[slusher]

That is a bunch of food. Did they have freezers back then...

[Harry P.]

That is a bunch of food. Did they have freezers back then...

They must have had some sort of way to refrigerate the stuff. Not sure how, though.

[slusher]

They must have had some sort of way to refrigerate the stuff. Not sure how, though.

Could have been salted and cured..

[Harry P.]

Could have been salted and cured..

No, the list includes fresh meat, eggs, fruits, etc.

[Tom Geiger]

They must have had some sort of way to refrigerate the stuff. Not sure how, though.

Um, they had an iceberg!

[Harry P.]

Um, they had an iceberg!

But not until the third day...

[SfanGoch]

They must have had some sort of way to refrigerate the stuff. Not sure how, though.

Mechanical refrigeration and air conditioning were in existence even back in the early 20th century. Willis Haviland Carrier of New York, invented the first air conditioner in 1902 in Brooklyn . Titanic had a very complex refrigeration/freezing system:

Refrigeration and Insulation

[MGL]

In my almost 13 years at sea and over 20 years with first the U.S. Navy, and now the U.S. Coast Guard I speak with some authority when I say 2200 pounds of coffee is not enough.

[MGL]

Note that there were 1,000 oyster forks listed; yet, no oysters. They forgot the friggin' oysters! What good are oyster forks if you don't have oysters??!? They're right there on the menu dammit, right below the horse d'ovaries!

 

 

That would have been reason enough to turn around and cancel the voyage. Is it too late to ask for a refund?

That's funny! I bet the oysters were part of either the 75,000 pounds of fresh meat or the 11,000 pounds of fresh fish.

[SfanGoch]

That's funny! I bet the oysters were part of either the 75,000 pounds of fresh meat or the 11,000 pounds of fresh fish.

The British were too cultured to consider oysters as "fresh fish". After all, they used to eat this

for breakfast and at High Tea, ay wot!

Edited May 20, 2016 by SfanGoch

[Harry P.]

Note that there were 1,000 oyster forks listed; yet, no oysters. They forgot the friggin' oysters!

Pretty sure the oysters would have been part of the 11,000 pounds of fresh fish. Probably should have called it fresh seafood...

[SfanGoch]

You know how that goes, Harry. They call car hoods bonnets.

Put on your old grey car hood with the blue ribbons on it
While I hitch old Dobbin to the shay
Through those fields of clover you'll ride up to Dover on our golden wedding day

They got to show off and have a different word for everything, sorta like the French.

[SfanGoch]

Speaking of ersters, always provide plenty of butter when serving oyster stew. You don't want to rile up your dinner guests by cheaping out on the moo spread.. 

From the Brooklyn Standard-Union of September 15, 1877::

ALL ABOUT A STEW--Oysters That Did Not Have Enough Butter With Them What Came of a Request for More Butter-Deadly Sunday Morning Affray in a Saloon Stabbed with a Knife and Bitten by a Dog-Alleged Bad Record of Assailant The oyster saloon of Adam CHRISTMAN, No. 416 Broadway, E.D.. was the scene of a brutal affray at a few minutes after one0'clock yesterday morning. It appears that two employees of SCHULZ' bakery, one of them John GRAHAM, the brother-in-law of the foreman of the bakery, and a resident of 53 Harrison avenue, visited the saloon and ordered stews. CHRISTMAN, the proprietor, was behind the counter, and under his direction the oysters were in a short time placed before the visitors. GRAHAM, thinking that the amount of butter in his stew was insufficient, added to it the piece that the waiter had provided for the crackers, and then called for more. CHRISTMAN, however, OBJECTED TO FURNISHING MORE BUTTER and on GRAHAM expostulating with him positively refusal to accede to the latter's demand. "Well," exclaimed GRAHAM, "if I can't have more butter I won't take the stew," and suiting the action to the words angrily dashed his oyster dish down upon the counter. The dish broke into fragments, and its contents spattered in very direction. The proprietor, CHRISTMAN, is an excitable, quarrelsome German, and it scarcely required the breaking of his crockery to arouse his passionate nature to a dangerous degree. Catching up a long oyster knife he struck GRAHAM two powerful blows on the head with it, at the same time hitting his victim with his left fist, while a black spitz do belonging on the premises fastened its teeth first in the left and then in the right leg of GRAHAM. Then GRAHAM was PERMITTED TO CRAWL OUT of the saloon, and with the assistance of his friend reached his home where Dr. SMITH attended to him. A citizen of No. 468 Broadway, NAMED John GRADY, heard of the affray and carried his information tot he Thirteenth Precinct Stationhouse. Sergeant-in-command BARWICK at once placed Sergeant LEAVEY, Roundsman CORNELL and the reserve force on the case, and CHRISTMAN was found, secreted in a closet in his house, and arrested. He gave his age as fifty. At first it was thought that GRAHAM, who is only twenty-five years of age, was not dangerously injured, but this morning his condition was reported to be so critical that Police Surgeon MURPHY was directed to give him a careful examination. Acting Captain BARWICK says, that while from all accounts GRAHAM is a hard-working and law-abiding man, the prisoner CHRISTMAN, on the other hand, bears a bad reputation. Fifteen years ago, according to BARWICK, CHRISTMAN shot a peddler, but no complaint was ever made and the case was hushed up. The peddler is now dead. CHRISTMAN next served four years for committing mayhem, having bitten a man in the nose, and was subsequently arrested in connection with a clubbing case. The prisoner was this morning committed to jail for examination.

Edited May 20, 2016 by SfanGoch

[Harry P.]

I think they had the butter issue covered. Titanic carried three tons of it.

[slusher]

The British were too cultured to consider oysters as "fresh fish". After all, they used to eat this

for breakfast and at High Tea, ay wot!

Does not look like breakfast or dinner that i would eat. I would eat Grits first..

[SfanGoch]

Does not look like breakfast or dinner that i would eat. I would eat Grits first..

With plenty of butter. And, don't be cheap with it, or else.

 

Edited May 20, 2016 by SfanGoch

[Joe Handley]

The British were too cultured to consider oysters as "fresh fish". After all, they used to eat this

for breakfast and at High Tea, ay wot!

I'm kinda afraid to ask, but......what was that?

[SfanGoch]

I think they had the butter issue covered. Titanic carried three tons of it.

Three tons can go pretty fast. Ten course meals require a lot. Plus you have to take into consideration the vast amounts used in a pinch as hair dressing when some gentleman forgot to pack his goose grease pomade. Proper grooming was essential in high society.

Edited May 20, 2016 by SfanGoch

[SfanGoch]

I'm kinda afraid to ask, but......what was that?

Kippered herring. Bon appetit!

[Harry P.]

For any of you gourmet chefs out there, here are the recipes to recreate the dinner menu on the Titanic's last day. Bon appetit!

http://www.thedragonskitchen.com/2012/04/complete-first-class-titanic-menu.html

[Harry P.]

Kippered herring. Bon appetit!

I've had kippered herring many times. It's quite good!

[SfanGoch]

I checked that site out to get the recipe for Consomme Olga.