St. Patrick’s Day, which is observed by the Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Eastern Orthodox churches, was as good a reason as any for a party on a lengthy ocean cruise. In 1932, when this menu was used, the Empress of Britain was in the middle of a four-day voyage from Hilo to San Francisco, so a holiday to relieve the boredom was no doubt welcomed.

Click image to view and download a 1.0-MB PDF of this menu from the University of British Columbia Chung collection.

Unlike the Robert Burns birthday supper, which featured a traditional menu of Scottish foods, only a few items on this menu seem particularly Irish. Mostly, it is a typical eight-course meal that might be found any day on a Canadian Pacific ocean liner.

It started with a choice of four appetizers, then one of two soups, followed by a fish course of scallops or salmon, and then an entrée of chicken or beef sirloin. To clear the palette, this was followed by a punch shillalah, which has Irish overtones. A shillalah was traditionally a walking stick or fighting stick, but I doubt a punch shillalah was getting hit in the head by a stick.

The joint course was roast quail. Then came a choice of three salads, one of which was called “Salad St. Patrick,” but it isn’t clear how St. Patrick would have influenced a salad. Dessert was the most Irish course, at least by names, as it was a choice of soufflé Erin-go-bragh, shamrock cakes, and coupe Valera, named after an Irish political leader.

Finally, a savory course was described as croute a l’Irlandaise. Croute was fried or baked bread or pastry dough surrounding some other food, and this could have been made Irish by baking it around some traditional Irish meat such as lamb.