Royal
Menus
Menu
Huîtres
Oysters
Consommé à la Marguérite
Chicken consommé with asparagus spears and thin slices of poached chicken forcemeat
Petites croustadines à la Diplomate
Small pastries filled with creamed ragout of lobster and truffle flavoured with Cognac
Turbot d’Ostende sauce crevettes
Turbot from Ostende in Belgium, dressed with a shrimp sauce.
Noix de chevreuil à la Grand Veneur
Leg of venison larded with bacon soaked in cognac and parsley and served with a Grand Veneur sauce made from venison stock, redcurrant jelly, and cream.
Filets de poulardes à la Duchesse
Sautéed chicken filets served with duchess potatoes made from frying a rounded mixture potato mixed with butter, egg and nutmeg
Nid d’oeufs de foie-gras de Strasbourg
Small nest-shaped pastry shells each topped with a firm foie-gras mousse in the shape and size of a quail egg; and dressed with apple and prune reduction.
Punch à la Romaine
Sorbet made from Champagne, lemon and meringue over which a glass of rum is poured before serving
Asperges primeurs Sce Hollandaise
Asparagus dressed in Hollandaise Sauce
Rôt: Paon et cailles; Salade nouvelle aux truffes du Piémont
Roast Peacocks and roast quails served with a truffle salad, made from the Royal Family’s own white Piedmont truffles, cut into julienne strips mixed with a vinaigrette and mixed through peeled boiled baby potatoes
Suprême d’ananas à la Hélène
Pineapple and kirsch jelly filled with cherries and
topped with Bavarian cream
Glace: Pistache à l’Italienne
Pistachio ice-cream
Corbeille garnie de patisserie
Baskets, made from marzipan and spun sugar, full of mixed patisseries
Menu dated: 1st January 1900
New Year's Banquet at the Quirinale Palace, Rome, hosted by Their Majesties King Umberto I and Queen Margherita of Italy.
Whole roast peacocks accompanied with Pommery Champagne (then called Pommery & Grino) were offered to royal guests on New Year’s Day in 1900 when the King of Italy ushered in a New Year and new century with this spectacular banquet.
The roast peacocks were served alongside roast quails and a salad made from white Piémont truffles from the Italian Royal Family’s own estates.
King Umberto even ensured the New Year’s Day menu included a consommé named after his wife Queen Margherita; that was accompanied with small pastries filled with a lobster and Cognac ragout.
Prior to the refreshing Champagne sorbet that was served halfway through the banquet, the King’s guests feasted on roast legs of venison and artistically created entrées of foie-gras mousse shaped to resemble quail-eggs and arranged in pastry-shells in the appearance of birds’ nests.
After the roast peacocks were devoured - which were likely stunningly displayed in full plumage as was the want in royal courts of that era - traditional Italian pistachio ice-creams were served.
The royal menu also features the seven piece music score that helped guests embrace the New Year' atmosphere and festivities.
The menu's cover is decorated with the Italian royal family's monogram moto which comprises the initials FERT: for the Latin - Foedere et Religione Tenemur (we are bound by treaty and by religion).
Queen Margherita and King Umberto I of Italy.
