The Thousand Dollar Dinner

August 31, 2015
Diamond, a journalist and research historian (Mrs. Goodfellow: The Story of America’s First Cooking School) specializes in reconstructing 18th- and 19th-century American recipes. This richly detailed chronicle showcases the fantastic dining experience concocted in 1851 by Philadelphia chef James W. Parkinson in response to a challenge from 15 wealthy New Yorkers who claimed their city produced the best meals. Parkinson, an early advocate of American foods, devised a 17-course banquet (including wines) that took more than 11 hours to consume. Diamond dishes out more than the menu of this remarkable meal, deconstructing each course with details of the class mores, cultural habits, and food preferences of elite 19th-century Americans. Diamond adds another layer of richness to her account by weaving in the history of the various foods and the array of utensils, touching on soup’s 5,000-year-old history and heralding “the invention of leak-free containers which could withstand boiling over an open fire.” This tale of a Gilded Age mega-meal will delight culinary historians and anyone wanting a peek at over-the-top consumption.

December 1, 2015

In 1851, after being feted at New York's legendary Delmonico's restaurant, a group of Philadelphia elites returned the favor for their Knickerbocker friends, choosing the establishment of young chef James Parkinson to host the gala. The 17-course masterpiece Parkinson and his chefs presented cemented his city's reputation as the leader in American cuisine and served as a precursor to the lavish formal banquets of the Gilded Age. Allotting one chapter per course, Diamond (Goodfellow: The Story of America's First Cooking School) guides the reader dish by dish through the menu. The history, regional significance, and preparation techniques of each ingredient make for dozens of entertaining digressions. No recipes are included, but given the complexity, or, in the case of the green sea turtle soup, illegality of some dishes, their absence is not particularly troubling. VERDICT An appetizing read that should find a receptive audience among culinary historians and those with an interest in 19th-century high life.--Neil Derksen, Pierce Cty. Lib. Syst., Tacoma

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2015
Cooking competitions existed long before cable television made them the nation's evening diversion. In 1851, New York and Philadelphia vied for dominance on the eastern seaboard. Manhattan's famous Delmonico's hosted a dinner for 15 Philadelphians to show off their gourmetachievements. Not to be outdone, Quaker City restaurateur James Parkinson invited the New Yorkers to his eponymous eatery. This dinner, a 12-hour feasting marathon, astonished even tasted-it-all Gothamites with its 17 exquisitely perfect courses paired with the world's finest wines. Researcher Diamond spiritedly deconstructs the food and drink from this lavish entertainment. She does not go so far as to offer recipes, but her sensible and sensitive detailed analyses of each of the dozens of dishes virtually materialize them for the reader's sight, smell, taste, and touch. Although the age of this sort of sumptuous banqueting has passed, contemporary tasting menus from acclaimed chefs owe much to the precedents of feasts such as this one. Includes extensive bibliography.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)