Preparing a Gelatin Dish That Was Once Featured at a Vanderbilt Dinner During the Gilded Age

Max MillerofTasting History prepared Gelee macedoine aux fruits", a molded gelatin dish that was once featured at a lavish supper hosted by Grace (Mrs. Cornelius) Vanderbilt during the Gilded Age of the late 19th century.

During the Gilded Age balls and dinner parties were out of this world. One evening's festivitiescould cost up to $10 million in today's money. Now this was of course for the privileged very,very few of which I am not one of them but thatdoesn't mean that I can't eat like one of them.

As the dish was setting, Miller talked about why this period was known as gilded", particularly since much of the city was living in abject poverty at the time.

The term theGilded Age came from the 1873 novel of the samename by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner, ...See when something is golden it's typicallygold all the way through but when it's gildedit's just a little bit of gold on top of a hunkof iron or some other less precious metal. Andwhile the wealthy of the Gilded Age glitteredat the top just beneath that was a sea ofpolitical corruption with many Americansliving in desperate poverty.

He also spoke in detail about these unbelievably extravagant meals that were served in wealthy households such as the Astors or Vanderbilts, gentlemen's clubs, and other exclusive events.

And perhaps nothingillustrates this dichotomy more than the granddinners and balls of New York society...Many of these plateswould end up going back to the kitchen barelyeven touched, and there sometimes the food wouldbe eaten by the servants but very often it wouldjust be tossed out or givento the animals.And there was something to be said about being able to waste food at this period, it was a sign thatyou could afford to do it.

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