Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving Dinner Menus & Recipes: The Gilded Age

If you were invited to dine at a Thanksgiving Dinner during The Gilded Age what dishes would you be served? Take a tasty trip back in time with these old-fashioned Thanksgiving menus collected from antique cook books ranging from the 1870s to the 1900s. Included with the menus are the old-time recipes to help you recreate these historic dishes. There are classic dishes (Chicken Pies), unique dishes (Mock Biscuit Tortoni) and some of the stranger Thanksgiving recipes no longer found on the modern menu (Creamed Sweetbreads in Ramekins). Choose a simple menu for a small family's Thanksgiving meal, or more elaborate menus for larger celebrations, or mix and match to create the old-fashioned Thanksgiving menu that fits your family. Sprinkled throughout are antique ads and advice from these old-fashioned cook books.

1875 Tomato Gravy
1878 Buttered Peas Cooked in Lettuce Leaves
1881 Crab Croquettes
1882 Shrimp & Celery Stuffed Tomato Salad
1882 Orange & Spice Pumpkin Pie
1882 Walnut Plum Pudding
1883 Potato Puffs
1883 Cider Punch
1884 Roast Ham with Cheese & Bread Crumbs
1886 Apricot Ice Cream
1886 Open Jam Tart
1887 Orange Maraschino Salad
1887 Green Tomato Mince Meat Pie
1887 Quaking Bread Pudding
1889 Chestnut Stuffing with Mushroom & Sausage
1889 Blackfish Au Gratin
1889 Stewed Oyster Plant
1889 Orange Gravy
1892 Liver & Onion French Roll Stuffing
1893 Lemon & Cinnamon Grated Apple Pie
1893 Hickory Nut Macaroons
1894 Galantine of Turkey with Spiced Forcemeat
1899 Parsnip Patties
1900 Mother's Chicken & Oyster Pie with Biscuit Crust

“A dirty kitchen and bad cooking have driven many a husband and son, and many a daughter too, from a home that should have been a refuge from temptation. Bad dinners go hand in hand with total depravity; while a properly fed man is already half saved.”
Practical Housekeeping (1887)