Earlier today, I promised to post the menu from Mark Twain’s seventieth-birthday party, which was held at Delmonico’s a few days after Thanksgiving in 1905, having been displaced by that holiday. The menu comes to us via “Mark Twain Himself: a Pictorial Biography.” This book contains a description of the event and a reproduction of the physical menu, which featured a list of all nine courses surrounded by charming illustrations of scenes from Twain’s life. The courses were:

Oysters—Consommé Souveraine, Green Turtle—Timbales Perigourdine—Filets of Kingfish Meunière, Cucumbers, Persillade Potatoes—Saddle of Lamb Colbert, Stuffed Tomatoes—Baltimore Terrapin, Mushrooms on Toast with Cream, Sherbet with Kirsch—Quail, Red Head Duck, Fried Hominy and Currant Jelly—Salad: Celery Mayonnaise—Fancy Ice Cream, Assorted Cakes, Bonbons, Coffee Served with Sherry, Sauterne, Champagne, Mineral Water, and Liqueurs.

What strikes me about the menu is how few of the dishes I know—your guess is as good as mine what Green Turtle is (a soup, presumably, but of green turtles or green in color?). Perhaps I ought instead to be surprised at how many I know, given that I am over a century removed, and should feel happy that certain staples of fancy dining are unchanged: oysters, bonbons, and champagne forever!

I decided to see how this menu measured up against the Thanksgiving feasts Twain’s guests would have enjoyed six days earlier. I took a spin through the archives and—lo and behold, I discovered something quite fascinating: today, even the richest among us do not eat Thanksgiving like the rich of 1900. They ate like this:

But neither does today’s average Thanksgiving table resemble the poorer folks’ table in 1900. That year, Good Housekeeping ran a menu for the household on a budget, which looks sadly shrivelled in comparison with the Park Avenue Hotel’s feast:

Tomato soup, Croutons, Roast turkey, Cranberry sauce, Mashed potatoes, Onions in Cream, Mince and pumpkin pie, Cheese, Coffee

Now, if you’d like to incorporate some dishes from the turn of the last century into your own Thanksgiving, I suggest you consult Fannie Farmer’s 1905 cookbook “What to Have for Dinner,” which includes two Thanksgiving menus with instructions for preparing the dishes, and can be viewed online. Cranberry punch with floating cooked raisins, anyone?

(Top image via; menu via.)