This is an extremely unique book containing the recipes used by the
Dining Car Department of one of the top 5 railroads in the history
of the United States. It also contains serving instructions going as far
as to detail of what to do in different weather conditions and seasons
for some items. Then it tells the cooks and dining car attendants exactly
what type of china and any special utensil that may be necessary for the item.
While there are many dishes that are not as common today as
they once were, there are many that are still staples today.
Overall this gives us not only a glimpse into how everyone from
normal travelers to the upper levels of society enjoyed their food.
The Pennsylvania naturally was on the cutting edge of culinary dishes
due to the tastes and expectations of riders traveling between
New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and the rest of the system.
Many of those passengers were likely world travelers in
an era when only the wealthy were able to afford to do so
and the rest of the passengers were able to enjoy those benefits.
These recipes and instructions cover everything served in the
dining cars from soups to desserts, beverages to jams to salad dressings.
The first 3 of the sample pages are the index showing all the categories of
recipes and the first page of serving instructions. Toward the end of the samples
is one of the pages covering definitions of the many French terms used in cooking.
This book has 110 pages. Most pages have at least 3 recipes per page.