Royal
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Menu
Purée de volaille à la Reine
Thick puréed chicken soup garnished with shredded chicken cooked in court-bouillon (aromatic stock) and diced Royale (a savoury custard made from egg, chervil and chicken consommé)
Consommé à la Royale
Clear chicken consommé garnished with diced Royale
Petites timbales Agnés Sorel
Small tartlets made from a layers of truffles, pickled ox tongue and puréed chicken meat coated in a Madeira sauce originally created by the mistress of King Charles VII of France, Agnés Sorel, a renowned chef in the 1400s
Filet de bœuf à la Godard
Beef filets garnished with quenelles, braised lamb sweetbreads, cockscombs, truffles and mushrooms all bound in a ham and champagne sauce named after 18th century French General Godard d’Aucour
Jambon de Yorck aux laities
Slices of York ham with lettuce
Côtelettes de mouton purée d'artichauts
Mutton cutlets with puréed artichokes
Filets de poulets à l'Anglaise
Chicken filets poached in a white stock served with an Anglaise sauce made from a creamed chicken stock ,nutmeg, lemon and anchovy butter
Perdreaux rouges gras en aspic
Cold dish of young red partridges stuffed with game meats, truffles and foie-gras and set in a Madeira flavored aspic jelly
Pain de Foie-Gras en aspic
Loaf of force-fed goose livers in an aspic jelly mould
Sorbets à l'orange au Champagne
Orange and Champagne sorbet
Cardons à la moëlle
Cardoons with poached veal-bone marrow topped with a baked Gruyere cheese crust
Asperges, sauce hollandaise
Asparagus spears served with a Hollandaise sauce made from egg, butter and lemon juice
Bècasses et Bécassines
Roast woodcocks and roast snipes
Poulardes
Roast chickens
Pudding à la Giraud
Timbale d'ananas à la Venitienne
Pineapple slices poached in a vanilla bean syrup and layered with Venetian cream
Spounne aux framboises
Sponge cake with raspberries
Café moka
Mocha coffee ice-cream
Pêches
Peaches poached in vanilla-bean syrup
Dessert, Fruits & Compotes
Menu dated 10th March 1870
Dinner at the Château Royal de Laeken, Brussels, hosted by Their Majesties King Léopold II and Queen Marie-Henriette of the Belgians
When a young 34 year-old Léopold II sat down to this royal dinner in 1870, he was only into the fifth year of his four and half decade reign as King of the Belgians.
This amazing 20 course banquet, shared with his wife Queen Marie-Henriette, gives a telling insight into how King Léopold II became distinguished by his portliness as he progressed through his reign.
Delicacies including partridges stuffed with foie-gras and set in sherry jelly accompanied a spread of roast woodcocks and roast snipe with a refresing stomach-soothing Champagne sorbet making a timely appearance halfway through the dinner.
King Léopold’s love of fine food caused gastronomic ripples in the early 1900s when his unlimited budget allowed him to secure the chef from the famous Jockey Club in Paris after the King appreciatively devoured the chef's offering of duckling with turnips.
Each morning while the King read his papers a Court officer would arrive to take his orders for the day and present the King with a draft dinner menu of up to 30 courses. Léopold, who enjoyed an impressive apetitie, would then cross-out those that did not tempt his royal palate that day.
Queen Marie-Henriette of the Belgians
