Fit for a Queen: Reviving the Spectacle of Dining on the Queen Mary

It's hard to fete a Queen. Especially when she weighs over 80,000 tons and is about to celebrate the 80th anniversary of her maiden voyage.

But that was the challenge handed to Chef Todd Henderson of the Queen Mary. Asked to replicate the extravagant dinner menu served on May 27, 1936 on her her maiden voyage between Southampton, England and New York City, with a quick stop in Cherbourg, France. Henderson, normally calm and confident began to panic.

It's a big challenge, he admitted. And the dinner certainly needs to live up to her legacy.

Chef Henderson's first order of business: Find the original menu and find the Commodore, the ships de facto historian. As Henderson put it, the Commodore is the walking encyclopedia of all things Queen Mary .

It's these sorts of events that give me great pleasure, said Commodore Everette Hoard, who has worked on board the famed ship-turned-hotel, (now docked in Long Beach) for the last 35 years. Considered the fastest and most luxurious cruise liner of her time, The Queen Mary boasts a Grand Salon, (the original first-class dining room ) which is where the 80th anniversary dinner will be served. The event will include remarks by Randolph Churchill, Winston Churchill's great grandson and Lord Alan Watson, the Baron of Richmond and a noted scholar who will discuss Churchill's long standing connection to the Queen Mary.

An advertisement from the Cunard Magazine featuring dining on board. From the collection of Joe Bertoldo.

Having a well-researched menu for the evening is imperative, mused the Commodore, because after all dining onboard for the first-class passengers was the social event of the year and the dinner service was the pinnacle of luxury, he said. We want to be sure that we infuse the novelty of that first voyage into the present day anniversary dinner.

Together Henderson and the Commodore culled through dusty literature, images, and other dining memorabilia. In the archives, housed in the bowels of the ship, there are over a thousand beautifully designed original menus, a culinary history lesson in their own rite. Unfortunately, the menu from the maiden voyage could not be found.

Henderson was undeterred. He knew the first chef, Martin Riccault was French and cooked in that style, so he consulted books from culinary school and brushed up on his french. Finally, in a tattered copy of The Queen Mary by Neil Potter and Jack Frost, published in 1961, the menu appeared. I felt like we found the holy grail, Henderson said, admitting that his excitement didn't last long. Unfortunately, dishes like Honeydew Melon Glace, Croutes-au-pot perles, Tranche de Turbotin poche Normande and Pommes Garfield (essentially french fries) don't exactly translate into a anything resembling a modern menu, he said. People ate very differently then and once I saw what they really served, I realized we were going to have to take some creative license. In the end he created a five course modern interpretation , that will include:

Charentais melon gelee speck, sea salt, basic herb crystalsCroute-au-pot au pomme perles puff pastry, fried ramp and potato soup, bacon leek oilcotes courtes braisee belle mere wagyu short rib, fava bean puree, glace di viandeSalade Francaise petit greens, french vinaigretteChocolat creme brulee with strawberries and chantilly cream

Hoard expects the dinner will be well attended, especially by Queen Maryians as he respectfully refers to the cult regulars on board, Queen Mary aficionados and enthusiasts, nautical history buffs or anyone that gets generally more excited about the Queen Mary than the average visitor.

It is Chef Hendersons hope that the evening will garner a renewed appreciation for the history of the ship and a bygone era of cruising. If through this dinner we can transport everyone back to her maiden voyage at sea and manage to capture some of the glamour and excitement, I think it will be a success, he said optimistically. And that's the goal.

The royal family had lunch on board two days before that Monday in 1936 when, just before tea time the majestic liner pulled out of Southampton as thousands cheered, roaring planes swooped overhead and horns tooted from every boat in the port. The passenger list that day read like a social register.

That first evening, the French ten-course dinner was served to the first-class diners. The meal took a battalion of behind-the-scenes kitchen workers, from the chef all the way down the line, to droves of waiters and service people insuring every guest was attended to lavishly. Beyond first-class, there was The Verandah Grill, a small restaurant that required reservations and only allowed the Who's who onboard and then there was the second and third-class dining rooms --with the quality and service lessening with the class, and of course cost per ticket.

And it wasn't always smooth sailing. Special gold-plated cutlery with an insignia was used on the maiden voyage for first class passengers. It all disappeared, along with lots of other items on board, because people wanted souvenirs, Hoard said. And during war time, when the ship was used for transporting troops, a group of Australian soldiers were so upset about the food, they stormed the kitchen and stuffed the chef into an oven. He was severely injured and later died.

Geoffrey Le Marquand, a Commis Waiter, photographed in the First Class dining room, taken during his first week of work in 1957. Image courtesy of Geoffrey Le Marquand.

Michael Gallagher, Historian for the Cunard Line, based in London England, said the Queen Mary was famous for savoir faire, food and incomparable service, including an hors d'oeuvres trolley with a rotating selection, menus that changed daily featuring dozens of choices and 12 different ice creams. At the time

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