To Honor Leo, Cook the Real Menu from the RMS Titanic

Just in case you missed it, professional nominee Leonardo DiCaprio finally won an Oscar for his role in The Revenant.

Super happy for you, Leo! But I’ve got to be honest: You will always be Titanic’s scrappy Jack Dawson to me. And when Jack and Rose (ahem, Kate and Leo) (ahem, Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio—sorry I forget we aren’t actually friends) unleashed the powerful winds of nostalgia by walking the red carpet together, it was all I could do not to switch off the telecast to re-watch Titanic then and there.

But I’ll do us all one better. The menu from the actual RMS Titanic has been recovered, and it’s pretty insane. So why not pay homage to the bright-eyed Leo of 1997 by preparing a dish inspired by those served on the doomed ocean liner?

Third-Class Menu

Since Jack Dawson is a steerage passenger, we’ll start with the third-class menu. These are the peons, but don’t feel too bad for them. They have roast pork, some sort of beef served with pickles, pudding, and a choice of biscuits or currant buns. (Most restaurants don’t even give you free bread anymore.)

Second-Class Menu

Second class starts to look Grubhub-level diverse: They’ve got dumplings, spaghetti, chicken curry, buckwheat pancakes, a very seasonal spring lamb with mint sauce (this is April 1912, after all), and wine jelly served with a mysterious “coconut sandwich” for dessert. I can’t even name a restaurant that serves all those things, including my sketchy corner diner with the 14-page menu. And this is a boat!

First-Class Menu

The first-class menu offers all of the above… with the addition of actual fruits and vegetables, because lack of scurvy is the height of luxury. Try an asparagus soup, a Waldorf salad, or some dainty, delicious watercress for a first-class dining experience. There’s oysters and foie gras, of course. And they get éclairs for dessert, because they're fancy.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some important business to attend to.

Which Titanic-inspired dish would you cook?