Clear turtle with cheese straws? Bizarre and wonderful dishes on old Irish menus

When we were clearing out the family home in Co Clare recently, I discovered a cache of menus my mother Catherine had kept. My father Joe had been Clare County Council manager in 1960-1983 and they had attended many a function during those years. I often came home from school to find my mother sewing a long dress for a dinner that night: she made most of her own clothes.

I looked through these menus, many of them beautifully designed, and noted what produce and courses featured during those decades.

Then taoiseach Sean Lemass opened the Gardimax factory in Ennis on December 3rd, 1962. A celebratory lunch was held at the Old Ground Hotel there. The emphasis was on local produce: Smoked Shannon Salmon, Liscannor Lobster Salad, Roast Cappa Pheasant, and “Clare Apples” for desert.

Dinner for the 39th AGM of the Irish Tourist Association was held at the Gresham Hotel on October 17th, 1963. There was something called Clear Turtle with Cheese Straws (could it really have been a soup made from turtles?), Mousse of Galway Lobster, boned stuffed baby chicken and desserts of Pineapple Ritz and Champagne Cream Ice. Fresh pineapple in 1963 was probably unusual in Ireland: I am assuming Pineapple Ritz did not come from a can.

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My parents were present for the opening of the Bunratty Folk Park on July 10th, 1964, which was conducted by Erskine Childers, then minister for transport and power. There was a medieval banquet at Bunratty Castle with a menu I found impossible to understand. Was it Latin? French? Olde English? What was Sew Lumbarde, Tarte Fysthe, Salomene Joutes (salmon something?), Salat Salamagundy (salad something?), Traye Roste, Syllabub (mousse?) Manchets? I can imagine the guests in 1964 staring at the menu and not having an idea what was coming, not to mention the fact that each course was called a “remove”.

I consulted the platform formerly known as Twitter. The “sew” course may have been soup, or stew. Fish tart, maybe? Game stew? Spit cake? Curdled cream? I still don’t know what was served up at Bunratty Castle that evening. Answers on a postcard, please.

Shannon International Free Airport celebrated its Silver Jubilee on September 5th, 1962. The lunch menu suggested a chef had been creative both with their presentation and naming of dishes: I have never heard of most of them. Aran Prawns in Pastry Currachs (I would love to have seen this one), Thomson’s Broth, Stuffed Sole Sinéad (who was Sinéad, and why was this named for her?), Fillet of Ceef Cluain Tarbh, Tara Potatoes, Jubilee Mist Cream, and Shannon Pastries. Wines were Bernkasteler 1959 and Chateau Leoville Barton 1959.

The following year, they were back at Shannon Airport, which at one point had the best-known restaurant in Clare: their motto was “fresh food and old wine”. The lunch was to mark a visit to the Shannon Industrial Estate by pretty much the entire cohort of Clare County Council officials. On the menu was prawn cocktail, consommé Sinéad (Sinéad at Shannon again!), Grilled Golden Vein (a typo for veil, surely?) Steak Chasseur, Roast Cratloe Chicken and Baked Limerick Ham, with Baked Alaska for dessert.

The menu was beautifully illustrated by Owen Charles of Dublin. It featured green drawings of various flying things, some fanciful: Pegasus, a flying carpet, angels and food items – crab, lobster, salmon, turkey, ham and again, worryingly, a turtle. The illustrator had incorporated names of passenger and cargo airlines into the menu, some of them now long since ceased operating, or absorbed into other companies. Pan American (1991); Seaboard and western (1980); and British Overseas Airways Corporation (1974).

The main courses had notions, as they were (partly) in French. Fillet of Beef en Croute, and Paupiette de Pork auz Apri. Dessert was Grand Marnier bombe

Galway’s Cathedral – its full name is the Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and St Nicholas – was dedicated on August 15th, 1965. Papal Legate Richard Cardinal Cushing, Archbishop of Boston, did the honours. The menu featured Galway produce: Aran Prawn Cocktail, Galway Salmon Mayonnaise and Roast Saddle of Connemara Lamb.

On August 31st, 1972, Lisdoonvarna Fáilte held a dinner at the town’s Imperial Hotel to mark the formal opening of stage one of the Lisdoonvarna development scheme. The ceremony was conducted by minister for foreign affairs Patrick Hillery. The menu featured Melon “Taffe” (sliced melon?), Potage Madrilene, lobster salad and curiously for an August dinner, roast stuffed turkey, cranberry sauce and all the trimmings.

The 1975 Jacobs Radio and Television Awards took place in the Limerick Inn Hotel on February 28th, 1976. The awards were presented by then taoiseach Liam Cosgrove, and Frank Hall was the compère. Members of the judging panel included Ken Gray, a former deputy editor of this newspaper. Prawn cocktail “savorite” (I don’t know what this means), roast stuffed leg of Ballyvaughan lamb, French style peas, creamed cauliflower and cheese – with, of course, Jacob’s cream crackers. The Limerick Inn Hotel was sold in 2001, and later became a Radisson.

Given my profession, I was delighted to see a menu for the annual dinner of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) South western Branch at the Ennis West County Inn on January 17th, 1976. There were four toasts, the first of which was the “Toast of Éire” The second was on behalf of the NUJ, and given by my father, with the response given by the then president of the NUJ, Rosaline Kelly – the first woman president of the NUJ.

On the menu was cream of asparagus, Consommé Celestine, fresh salmon mayonnaise, roast sirloin of beef with horseradish sauce and various buttered and creamed vegetables. Rosaline Kelly died aged 90 in 2013, and retained an active interest in NUJ matters for many years.

The Ennis Chamber of Commerce held their annual dinner at the Old Ground Hotel on May 12th, 1978. Consommé Celestine must have been a 1970s thing: it features here too, along with chilled gaspazcho. Baked avocado (I must try that, I found myself thinking). The main courses had notions, as they were (partly) in French. Fillet of Beef en Croute, and Paupiette de Pork auz Apri. Dessert was Grand Marnier bombe.

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My parents had their wedding breakfast in the Gresham Hotel and returned there two years later to celebrate their second wedding anniversary. On 20th August 1957, their five-course restaurant dinner cost 12/6 a head with a 10 per cent service charge added, and was typed wonkily on a blue card.

Starters were fresh grapefruit or tomato juice (I recall my father regularly ordering tomato juice in restaurants when I was a child); then Consommé Diable (I looked this up in the Larousse Gastronomique I inherited from my mother – it’s chicken consommé thickened with tapioca), and Crème St Germain Aaux Croutons; then a fish course of Delice of Plaice Portugaise; the meat course was Roast Stuffed Duckling, with apple sauce (apple sauce with duck?), and vegetables, some in French – Pommes Parmentierre – and some in English – garden peas. Dessert was Biscuit Glacé Nougat followed by Petit Fours.

The wines came by the half or full carafe (10/6), Beaujolais or Macon Blanc. At 10/6 for a full carafe, it was almost the same price as the five-course dinner. My parents went on to have many more happy anniversary dinners: they were married for 65 years.