Liberty Science Center recreates the last first-class supper served on the Titanic
JERSEY CITY, New Jersey (WABC) -- A string trio welcomed guests at a dinner meant to sound, look, and taste just like it did for first-class passengers on the most famous ship never to make it to New York.
"I thought it'd be wonderful to stage 'The Last Supper,' so to speak, on the Titanic. The first-class passengers had this incredible multi-course meal that probably lasted four or five hours to maybe just a few minutes before they hit the iceberg," said Paul Hoffman President & CEO of the Liberty Science Center.
The Liberty Science Center is home to an exhibit of the most recovered items from the doomed ship that has ever been assembled in one place, together.
Seeing what a first-class room looked like and some of the old photos might make you think of the movie's depiction of the luxury on board, in first class.
Wednesday's dinner to thank those who helped make the exhibit possible, was also meant to capture the finest culinary experience money could buy in April of 1912.
"What they did was incredible to make it more opulent than even the fanciest five-star hotels in the world at the time," Hoffman said.
The updated version of the menu mimics the dishes and flavors of the original first-class meal. Recreating it entirely would have required some guesswork.
"A lot of it, over 100 years later needs some interpretation. They're just dishes that we don't make anymore, that we don't eat anymore, and some of which we'd never really heard of," said Chef Gail Simmons.
Simmons had no recipes to work with, but plenty of clues.
"What's fascinating is that we know the menu because some of the survivors took the menu and had it in their pockets," Hoffman said.
The meal was reduced from 10 courses to seven.
Some of them were reinterpreted into passed hors d'oeuvres like poached salmon and a barley soup that became a risotto.
The guests Wednesday may have also been impressed enough to hang on to the menu.
"Everything has been very fresh, very esthetically pleasing, very beautiful," guest Suzanne Cohen said.
And a deep dive into history.
"In a restaurant setting, in a professional kitchen, on land, it's an enormous endeavor. But to do it at sea over 100 years ago is really quite remarkable," Simmons said.
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