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Consommé de Gibier á la Desliquae
Game consommé made from venison, hare, rabbit, grouse, partridge, leek, juniper, and white wine; with quenelles made from minced game birds mixed with cream and nutmeg
Bisque de Homard à la Richelieu
Lobster bisque garnished with poached thin slices of shaped carrots and turnips
Eperlans frits Sauce Ravigote
Smelt dressed in a spicy Ravigotte sauce using a veal sauce mixed with white wine, vinegar, shallots and herbs
Filets de Soles à la Marguery
Sole filets poached in white wine and served in a ring of prawns and mussels dressed in a sauce made from the cooking juices mixed with egg yolks and topped with baked pastry discs (named after French chef, Nicolas Marguery)
Mousses de Lièvres à la Carlsbadoise
Hare mousse served atop squares of buttered toast and garnished with chopped tomato
Aloyau à l’Anglaise
Roast beef sirloin
Poulardes Rôties au Cresson
Roast chickens dressed in creamed watercress
Canards Sauvages á l’Orange
Wild ducks served in an orange sauce flavoured with mandarin and apricot liqueur
Salade à la Rachel
Salad of celery, potato and artichoke hearts dressed in mayonnaise and garnished with asparagus tips and sliced truffles
Truffes à la Serviette au Champagne
Whole truffles served in individual napkins that have been roasted after being stewed in Champagne flavoured with ham and herbs
Suêdoises Granitées à la Maltoise
Blood orange granita flavoured with rum atop a base of jellied blood oranges; and topped with tangerine flavoured Chantilly cream
Bouches Duchesse
Variety of meringue shells sandwiched with flavoured butter-cream
Croûtes au Fromage
Puff pastries toasted with cheese
Glacees à la Venitienne
Cream filled Eclairs topped with a glaze of coffee or chocolate mixed with apricot sauce
Patisseries Fondantes
Frosted cakes
Menu dated 25th January 1903
Dinner at Windsor Castle hosted by Their Majesties King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra of Great Britain for visiting members of the Danish royal family.
It was heaven in a napkin. Just before dessert each guest was handed a fine linen serviette, embroidered with the King's monogram, which had been daintily wrapped around a whole roasted truffle. Each guest’s truffle had first been poached in Champagne with herbs and ham; then roasted on an open fire; before being delectably drizzled in melted butter; and then served nestled in a fluted serviette, to prevent the juices dripping down to the royal elbows.
This finest of finger-food, so rich in flavour, was followed by a tart and refreshing blood- orange granita, flavoured with rum, that had been topped with tangerine cream and served on a base of jellied segments of blood-oranges.
When Edward VII hosted this dinner in 1903, he was joined by members of the Danish royal family who had gathered at Windsor Castle ahead of the next day's baptism of the King’s grandson, Prince George: the infant son of the Prince and Princess of Wales.
It appears the King had helped create the menu of game soup, wild ducks and hare mousse given his previous day’s hunting expedition on Windsor Great Park with three future Kings: the Prince of Wales (future King George V) and Princes Charles and Christian of Denmark (future King Haakon VII of Norway and King Christian X of Denmark, respectively).
On the day before this dinner The Times reported that the King had set out from Windsor Castle in heavy rain for Flemish farm where he and his hunting partners:
"...shot over the coverts of the Royal Farm and in the Forest near the Deer Paddock, finishing about half-past one o'clock near Cranbourne Tower… the stretches of fer at Brookes-comer on the west of the Ascot-road; and thereabouts, which shelter numerous ground -game, were reserved for the afternoon’s shooting".
It is likely, therefore, that the hare mousse on this menu had its origins at Brookes-comer that day.
(Above) King Edward VII shooting with his attendant; (Below) the State Dining Room at Windsor Castle
(Photo:s (and masthead photo) Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2021)
