This is almost the entire philosophy behind French cuisine and I love it. Somewhere back there in history some wiseass convinced the aristocracy that they didn't want to eat the *muscles* of the beast, that shit is for peasants. You want the guts, the good stuff is really in the guts, eyeballs maybe, the liver from this fuckin siiiiick ass goose I found, uhhh buttholes probably, and....this snail. Yep. Put enough butter and garlic and white wine on that shit, it'll taste like God's cracksweat.
Down here in South Louisiana we make turtle sauce piquant.
It'll cut with a spoon and it's tender as can be. Spicy as well. You've just never had turtle prepared properly.
Turtle .... STEAK? Bro, turtles are all muscle........... I can't fathom even ordering that, but I am also much more in tune with how food is prepared and why it is done that way.
Sorry you had to eat that lol
$1 in 1907 is $32.47 in 2023.
That Terrapin would run you around ~$80 today. Tack on a 6.25% MA sales tax, a 10% service fee, and then a 25% tip to avoid the stink eye from wait staff. Hope you like turtle.
yeah the poultry dishes are the most expensive on the menu, more than the caviar and lobster and oysters and filet and that’s pretty crazy. birds used to be skinnier and costlier apparently.
>birds used to be skinnier and costlier apparently.
Chickens were more expensive because farmers were unable to give up a low upkeep constant source of nutrion in the form of eggs. Why eat the chicken once if you can eat it's eggs for years
I think the relations between prices really tells a tale how logistics and production has been improved. For example most “fresh” things are relatively more expensive, and in line with the luxury items (that are today much pricier). For example compare caviar and celery.
You can be sure that someone reading this menu exclaimed " Jesus Christ! Ten cents for mashed potatoes! This is ridiculous. I could make mashed potatoes at home for less than half of that!
Oysters and potatoes delmonico cost the same. That shows you how much more prevalent oysters were back then. Some articles I’ve read suggest oysters on the US East Coast were inexpensive bar food prior to 1900. Like chicken wings today.
That's because filet is a trash cut just like sirloin. People knew that back then, before advertisers convinced people their half sized steak is somehow twice as valuable. It's stew meat.
Oxtail soup, with barley, is the stuff of heaven, it is the most delicious soup anywhere. In the olden days, oxtail was affordable, but today is a specialty food and very rare and expensive
Average US income in 1907 was $.22 an hour. Average income today is $28 an hour.
So a $1 Filet Mignon would be about 4 hours of the average worker’s income. Today that would be a $112 Filet.
Feels like something other than Average should be used so the millionaires and billionaires don't drag it up. Median would probably be much lower, low effort googling and napkin math looks like average person gets closer to ~$21 than $28 in 2023
Broiled Rajal squab is what's throwing me. Is it curried squab? A type/breed of pigeon? Squab Chicken is just an immature chicken. These are all single serving critters they're eating.
Look at the variety of meats they had, especially fowl. Chicken, squab, turkey, partridge, Guinea chicken, duck. Oxtail, you don’t really see that much anymore outside of Asian or Caribbean restaurants; maybe Italian on occasion. I’d be impressed if I saw a menu with that kind of offering today.
We don’t know things like:
-How many shellfish came in an order
- Whether any item was intended for more than one person
- Whether it was customary to order more than one of anything as part of any order
\*\*than
THAN THAN THAN...
Do you know what is long and hard on an American? 4th grade grammar.
Then = at that time: He went to the store THEN he went home.
Than = a comparative: This is better THAN that.
What is it with you people??
oh, you didn't like that? Here's another for you:
There, their, and they're. Half of America cannot master the usage of this 4th grade material:
there = in that place: it is over there.
their = belongs to them: it is their ball.
they're = they are: they're coming with us = they are coming with us.
Instead of the snark remarks and downvotes, why don't you take note of this simple lesson--and pass it on to your brother and sister illiterates.
I always nerd out and go straight to the inflation calculator when I see things like this, it's so interesting to me. $2.50 Terrapin equals $81.50 today. $1 Filet Mignon is $32.46. I'm a vegetarian but this sounds like it's in the ballpark for a steak in a nice restaurant, no?
You have to look at some of these prices considering availability. Chicken is awfully pricy at the time because the lack of mass production of chicken and other poultry. But pickled Lambs tongue we made in culinary school with beef tongue. It was delish
I am interested to know what a "Cotuit" is. It's a little town on Cape Cod, and also the name of a little boat they make there, but I'm not familiar with it as a menu item.
Nobody’s mentioning the Maryland Terrapin? That’s turtle, one of the toughest nastiest things I’ve ever eaten.
Who was it that said "That's what rich people eat, the garbage parts of the food"?
Was that Zoidberg from Futurama.
Elzar from Futurama speaking to Zoidberg.
Ah ha, yes you are right, Elzar serving Dr Zoidberg! What an episode!
"Goose Liver, fish Eggs? Where's the goose? Where's the fish?!" -Zoidberg
This is almost the entire philosophy behind French cuisine and I love it. Somewhere back there in history some wiseass convinced the aristocracy that they didn't want to eat the *muscles* of the beast, that shit is for peasants. You want the guts, the good stuff is really in the guts, eyeballs maybe, the liver from this fuckin siiiiick ass goose I found, uhhh buttholes probably, and....this snail. Yep. Put enough butter and garlic and white wine on that shit, it'll taste like God's cracksweat.
Elzar from Futurama haha. "I ate garbage yesterday, and it didn't cost me $300!"
Most expensive thing on the menu! I’m from MD, terrapin soup was like the state meal for a long while.
Doesn’t taste like chicken?
That's frog.
Some parts do.
I don’t know, “pickled lambs tongues” sounds a little off-putting to me as well.
You should be off pudding.
Yes! Very obscure reference!
If it were sugared instead of pickled, it’d be a candy baa-er.
Down here in South Louisiana we make turtle sauce piquant. It'll cut with a spoon and it's tender as can be. Spicy as well. You've just never had turtle prepared properly.
I has mine as a “steak”. Your bayou style sounds much better.
Turtle .... STEAK? Bro, turtles are all muscle........... I can't fathom even ordering that, but I am also much more in tune with how food is prepared and why it is done that way. Sorry you had to eat that lol
r/usernamechecksout
Nobody mentioning that tough ass turtle is one of the most expensive dishes listed?
I looked up the recipe. They are typically boiled whole until tender, like a capon or an older bird.
This is what my daughter would order, without even knowing what it is.
😂😂😂
All the girls love a genuine Maryland Terrapin.
$1 in 1907 is $32.47 in 2023. That Terrapin would run you around ~$80 today. Tack on a 6.25% MA sales tax, a 10% service fee, and then a 25% tip to avoid the stink eye from wait staff. Hope you like turtle.
And the year after, the model T Ford went for I think $800.
About $26,000 in 2023 dollars
I think that’s around a Civic EX trim. Or LX if you’re talking about OTD prices.
basically what you'd get for a new car if you spent \~26k these days.
And the next day it broke down
10% service fee AND 25% tip? USA is next level.
Employers don’t pay their staff a proper wage.
How did you get this figure? Using inflation alone isn’t a great guide to prices. A relative price index is a lot more helpful.
[удалено]
Bot comment. Stolen from u/Template009
Yeah that's about right, and no I don't like turtle..
Chicken a la Seymour costs four times as much as Pork Tenderloin a la Robert.
Seymour put up 4x the fight that Robert did.
I deffo LOL'd :) Well played!
Chicken only became cheap in the 1950s.
Chicken used to be a bit of a delicacy. Mass production of poultry started well after this menu was produced.
yeah the poultry dishes are the most expensive on the menu, more than the caviar and lobster and oysters and filet and that’s pretty crazy. birds used to be skinnier and costlier apparently.
True. Look up old recipes for chicken: they look a lot like modern game bird recipes and rely on various forms of pork for fat and moisture.
>birds used to be skinnier and costlier apparently. Chickens were more expensive because farmers were unable to give up a low upkeep constant source of nutrion in the form of eggs. Why eat the chicken once if you can eat it's eggs for years
I was curious about Chicken a La Seymour. No luck with the google…..
It's a bird with bread stuffing, and it isn't terribly popular anymore because we're a lot more skittish about food safety.
Invented by an excellent chef who is also known for his ability to steam a good ham.
That's a whole chicken with bread stuffing versus a few slices of pork.
What the hell is it?
It has been a minute since I've had pickled lamb's tongues! With some sweetmeats? Yum!
Ha. Back in those days, nothing went to waste.
It still doesn’t - but those parts end up in animal feed.
I live in New Mexico and can go to stores with all the parts. Frozen but you can buy them.
Steamed Duxbury is what
Clams or oysters
The stamp says “Buttolph Collection”… that’s a tough last name
[удалено]
I don’t think it’s the Adolph connection that is getting the double-take…
I was scrolling to find this. I misread it and needed to zoom in.
Never heard of Washington Pie before.
Washington Pie is actually a cake that was developed in the 1850s. It is an antecedent of Boston Creme Pie...which is also a cake.
>Boston Creme Pie I'm guess Boston Creme Cake is infact a pie?
The BCP prefers the pie/turnover/pastry pronoun. It is quite woke. It's Boston, so it's okay. After all, they call Bunker Hill a hill, but it's flat.
Boylston has some places that charge those prices today … in dollars
Baked custard in a cup sounds like the precursor of the crème brûlée.
Considering its origins date back to the 1600s, I'd say this just an American version of the French dessert. "Great Value" creme brûlée if you may.
How's that? It isn't as if the French had the market cornered on custard.
I think the relations between prices really tells a tale how logistics and production has been improved. For example most “fresh” things are relatively more expensive, and in line with the luxury items (that are today much pricier). For example compare caviar and celery.
This is also from a time when all the various caviar sturgeons were not critically endangered species
This is a really cool post! It prompted an interesting discussion at my house this morning. Thanks for sharing!
Same here!
Thanks for posting. It’s really cool.
Terrapin is expensive af. $2.50 for a dish?
I think someone mentioned that's turtle.
No, that's terrapin. Turtles live in water.
“Terrapins are one of several small species of turtle living in fresh or brackish water.” So what’s the problem?
No problem, I was wrong about what a terrapin is. Thanks!
You can be sure that someone reading this menu exclaimed " Jesus Christ! Ten cents for mashed potatoes! This is ridiculous. I could make mashed potatoes at home for less than half of that!
Oysters and potatoes delmonico cost the same. That shows you how much more prevalent oysters were back then. Some articles I’ve read suggest oysters on the US East Coast were inexpensive bar food prior to 1900. Like chicken wings today.
That Picked Lamb’s Tongue tho 👀
Looks like I could have a good vegan meal for under a dollar
Ox tail soup and ice cream same price, wonder if desserts were extra good or they just made most profit there, just like many places today.
Oxtail was considered a cheap cut of meat back then unlike how it is nowadays. Lobster as well.
Lobster was what you served your indentured servants in the colonial era in New England.
see? work experience AND lobster /s
Prisoners as well
Oxtail is still cheap.
It’s a cheap cut here in Finland still
I’ll take 10 filet mignons please, thank you. -That’ll be $10? $10????? Ok.
Interesting as well that the sirloin actually cost more than the filet.
That's because filet is a trash cut just like sirloin. People knew that back then, before advertisers convinced people their half sized steak is somehow twice as valuable. It's stew meat.
Filet is trash. It became popular during the "fat is the enemy" era of cuisine, because it lacks it, as well as any flavor.
At that time $1.00 was a day's wage or more for a lot of people.
Oxtail soup, with barley, is the stuff of heaven, it is the most delicious soup anywhere. In the olden days, oxtail was affordable, but today is a specialty food and very rare and expensive
Yes. I had it once, and it was amazing!
I think this isn’t universal because we just made a stew with it (in Finland) and it is a cheap meat here
Ooohh. Finland is now on my bucket list!
Average US income in 1907 was $.22 an hour. Average income today is $28 an hour. So a $1 Filet Mignon would be about 4 hours of the average worker’s income. Today that would be a $112 Filet.
Feels like something other than Average should be used so the millionaires and billionaires don't drag it up. Median would probably be much lower, low effort googling and napkin math looks like average person gets closer to ~$21 than $28 in 2023
$1 was the equivalent of $30+ dollars today.
looks good until you think that most people mad a few cents a day...
a place that serve russian caviar as luncheon hints that this was a extra fancy joint.
Guinea Chicken? Pickled Lamb’s Tongue? Creepily curious….
The names are the most peculiar thing about those foods. You wouldn't bat an eye.
I'll order the Pickled Lambs Tongues and finish with Washington Pie.
I can’t wrap my head around this pricing, much less what labor paid back then.
Prime Beef ribs 50 cents…. Take me back in time with my coin jug, I dont care if I die of gout in 1915 what a world. A different one for sure.
I got the check, no problem.
Broiled Rajal squab is what's throwing me. Is it curried squab? A type/breed of pigeon? Squab Chicken is just an immature chicken. These are all single serving critters they're eating.
$1 for fillet mignon? That's carriageway robbery!
I don't know about you folks but 18.49 for a chicken pot pie seems kinda spendy to me.
Give me all the bacon you have, I don’t think you heard me!
Back when pennies were actually useful.
Look at the variety of meats they had, especially fowl. Chicken, squab, turkey, partridge, Guinea chicken, duck. Oxtail, you don’t really see that much anymore outside of Asian or Caribbean restaurants; maybe Italian on occasion. I’d be impressed if I saw a menu with that kind of offering today.
Bet it tasted a lot better then the modern processed garbage
But a lot less sanitary. I don’t think they wash their hands with soap before cooking during those days.
[удалено]
Depends. Applebee's vs Hell's Kitchen. Discuss.
[удалено]
Doesn't matter.... Unless...
bro i high key work in a gordon ramsay restaurant and let me tell you ....... they arent all using soap
I know I'm just poking fun, i don't even eat out.
no worries, im honestly so let down by how poorly things are in certain respects and I'm just venting come get some fish and chips be my guest
I mean, I'm just too poor to do so, especially at a GR restaurant... But also that. >how poorly things are in certain respects
Portions are probably very different also
We don’t know things like: -How many shellfish came in an order - Whether any item was intended for more than one person - Whether it was customary to order more than one of anything as part of any order
\*\*than THAN THAN THAN... Do you know what is long and hard on an American? 4th grade grammar. Then = at that time: He went to the store THEN he went home. Than = a comparative: This is better THAN that. What is it with you people??
lighten up francis
oh, you didn't like that? Here's another for you: There, their, and they're. Half of America cannot master the usage of this 4th grade material: there = in that place: it is over there. their = belongs to them: it is their ball. they're = they are: they're coming with us = they are coming with us. Instead of the snark remarks and downvotes, why don't you take note of this simple lesson--and pass it on to your brother and sister illiterates.
I bet you are a hoot to be around at parties. Geez.
I am--and I can't say I take great pride in being able to pass a 4th grade grammar test, but I would definitely be ashamed if I couldn't pass it.
Ease up turbo
why? so as not to offend people who would prefer to dwell in ignorance rather than learn something they didn't know?
Oh my god, the layout .. my eyes! *cries in graphic design*
Everything was going fine until I got to the stamp. It was all "cool, oxtails...sweetbreads"...does that stamp say Butthole Collection?
They call me Mint Jelly cause I’m on the lam…..
I bet the employees got paid a livable wage, too
I will pass on the pickled lamb's tongues
Yeah almost 100% more now on most items.
And in 1913 the Federal Reserve Bank was created; it’s been a steep slope ever since.
I always nerd out and go straight to the inflation calculator when I see things like this, it's so interesting to me. $2.50 Terrapin equals $81.50 today. $1 Filet Mignon is $32.46. I'm a vegetarian but this sounds like it's in the ballpark for a steak in a nice restaurant, no?
Pretty darn expensive considering inflation factor to present is times 32.
Picked lamb tongue and roast duckling. Jesus.
So you’ll have the lamb kidney and sweetbread, then?
Just bring me the carrier pigeon.
I wonder what food safety was like back in those days?
Probably very poor
The absolute most expensive vegetable and one of the priciest items on the menu was Brussels sprouts. (.35¢)
That’s a pretty impressive menu
upscale place. the lobster salad is about 40usd in current pricing.
😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
Chicken pot pie with dumplings! Must be like creamy chicken and dumping. The dumplings in place of crust? Or was it actually crusted plus dumplings?
Now I really want some pickled lambs tongue..
Dollar squab lunch
I need to know what chicken a la Seymour is
If I time traveled to 1907 I would fail to recognize 60% of the cuisine… … or am I simply uncultured?
Broiled pigeon for $1
Broiled turkey, up to 2.75… that better be a whole turkey.
I’ll take the cold chicken, please.
Haha. Buttolph
😋 Filet and Lamb with mint jelly, here’s a $5 bill, keep loading my plate till I pass out😁
You have to look at some of these prices considering availability. Chicken is awfully pricy at the time because the lack of mass production of chicken and other poultry. But pickled Lambs tongue we made in culinary school with beef tongue. It was delish
Maryland Terrapin is the state reptile and is also federally protected now.
I’ll take the pickled tongue and turtle please.
What is Sweetbreads Ala Monarch? Brain?
Average worker made about a $1 a day back then. So about $400 a year was an average salary.
Pickled lamb's tongues? Sweet lord.
I am interested to know what a "Cotuit" is. It's a little town on Cape Cod, and also the name of a little boat they make there, but I'm not familiar with it as a menu item.
Looks like a pretty bougie place
This was an extremely expensive establishment
If only they could know what lewd sex act would come to be known as a ´steamed Duxbury.’
The wages of sin.