Westbound Transatlantic Crossing
18 May 1950 Farewell Dinner Menu
The 1st Class Farewell Dinner on board Caronia was always a very festive, if slightly formal affair. Think mixture of birthday and anniversary celebrations. This menu has been chosen because the person who was served this meal then went out of their way to collect several autographs.
Apart from the other table guests, I'm assuming, there are several autographs from prominent people within the Crew. Considering that these signatures were collected at the tail end of the crossing, there's a fair selection of names.
It was also a last fling for the Chefs on board to impress. Very often, the Chef and a select few from the galley would don their best “whites” and actually come into the restaurant. With prime rib of beef on the menu it's likely that a specially roasted side of beef was brought into the restaurant placed on a huge trolley, built of oak and fitted with a silver domed lid.
This monster was heated from below with charcoal embers, and it would be the Chef who would carve straight from the bone of the roasted carcase. Always a very impressive sight!