Gilded Age Finger Foods

Saratoga Chips or ‘chipped potatoes’ were a favorite dish in the gilded age. Shown above is a gilded and sterling Saratoga Chip server” in the Hope” pattern by Mount Vernon Silver, circa 1899“Chipped potatoes are generally eaten with the fingers by epicures. There must be no particle of fat adhering to the chipped potatoes and they must be crisp.” —Delineator, 1903

Finger Food Etiquette is Particular 

There are a number of things that the most- fastidious and well-behaved persons now eat at the dinner table without the aid of either knife, fork or spoon. The following are a few examples:

• Olives, to which a fork should never be applied. whether hot or cold, when served whole, as it should be. 
• Lettuce, which should be dipped in the dressing or a little salt. 
• Celery, which may properly be placed on the tablecloth beside the plate. 
• Strawberries, when served with the stems on, as they usually are. 
• Bread, toast, tarts, small cakes, etc… 
• Fruits of all kinds, except preserves and melons, which are eaten with a spoon. 
• Cheese, which is almost invariably eaten with the fingers by the most particular. 
• Either the leg or small pieces of a bird. 
• Ladies at most of the fashionable lunches pick small pieces of chicken without using knife and fork.
• Chipped potatoes are generally eaten with the fingers by epicures. There must be no particle of fat adhering to the chipped potatoes and they must be crisp.—The Delineator, 1903

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Breakfast Party Etiquette of 1912

Giving a breakfast in 1912 was more like hosting a “brunch” in 2024. These breakfasts could last a few hours and have elaborate entertainment, with a quartet of musicians, or something more along the lines of a simple harpist. The menu should suit the formality of the occasion, however, and as Saratoga Chips (aka potato chips) were still a trendy novelty at the time, Etiquipedia supposes that including them in the menu then would certainly be amusing, but would most definitely raise her eyebrows at seeing them served at brunch or a formal breakfast in 2024.
– Above, 2 Gilded Age Saratoga Chip Servers from the book, “What Have We Here? The Etiquette and Essentials of Lives Once Lived, from the Georgian Era through the Gilded Age and Beyond...” One sterling, with a matte gilded bowl and the other, sterling silver without protective gilding. ~ Image source, Etiquipedia Private Library

Hosting an Entertaining Breakfast

Would you kindly give a few suggestions as to the menu and entertainment suitable for a breakfast for about 25 young ladies? This is for no special occasion, but I wish something a little different. – A FOLLOWER

For so many guests you will probably seat them at small tables. It would be pretty to have a different color of candle and flowers at each table. Serve first a chilled fruit mixture, chicken and mushroom patties, Saratoga potatoes, tiny hot, buttered biscuit, olives, salted nuts, radishes. Asparagus salad or tomatoes stuffed with shrimps,

A strawberry mousse, with small cakes or a tutti-frutti ice cream makes an acceptable finish. Grape juice, iced tea or coffee may be the choice of beverages, with a cordial. Afterward have a reading or a short musical programme. Perhaps you have some friend who is clever enough to entertain with personal reminiscences of some unique or interesting experience in travel at home or abroad.– From Madame Merri, 1912

 🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia 

Gilded Age Potatoes and Champagne

Above is a Hope pattern Saratoga Chip server, with a gilded, pierced bowl, by Mount Vernon Silver, circa 1899 — In Saratoga Springs, New York, legend has it that in 1853, a wealthy, but grumpy patron entered Moon’s Lake House, a restaurant on the shores of Saratoga Lake. The patron ordered Moon’s Fried Potatoes. These were a well-known house specialty. Fried potatoes were commonly served then in the French manner, which were thick-cut slices. The patron found them too thick and soggy for his tastes, though. Sending them back to the kitchen, he requested that they be thinner. He was served a second portion, but still not satisfied; he returned them a second time, insisting they be even thinner. The annoyed cook, a Mr. George Crum, wanted to teach the patron a lesson, so he sliced potatoes as paper thin as he could and over-salted them, thinking they’d then be inedible. When deep fried, these became crispy and impossible to eat with one’s fork. The surprising reaction from the diner was one of enthusiasm and an unexpected request for a second serving of chips. Soon other diners requested “Crum’s Saratoga Chips” beginning the illustrious history of “Saratoga Chips”, a Moon’s Lake House specialty.

A Gilded Age Fashion at Saratoga?

Potatoes and Champagne

At Saratoga, they have the funniest custom of eating potatoes with champagne. In fact, the Spa might be called the “Kingdom of Potatoes.” Everybody eats them, and not only at regular meal hours, but wherever two or three people are gathered together to have a good time, the potato flaunts itself before the palate of the party. 

At Moon’s, on the lake, when a bottle of champagne or pitcher of mint julep or claret cup is ordered, a plate, or several of them, heaped with crisp Saratoga chips, is brought on. Chips go even with a glass of lemonade. At the club house at the race track, the same peculiar custom prevails. It is the only summer resort where the potato has full sway. Out at Oarsman Jim Reilly’s hostlery, his hashed cream potatoes are famous, and anyone who doesn’t like potatoes has to eat them or be out of fashion at Saratoga.— Mercury News, 1894

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia