The good old New Year’s Eve. How receptions have changed

From turtle broth: rites, etiquette, etiquette. Constance Spry suggests topping the soup with a glass of sherry. Dorothy Draper a “gypsy style” picnic. And now with two courses, a salad and dessert, there is a risk of excess. What were the holidays once upon a time

According to the “1939 House Book” of Editoriale Domus, the ideal menu for New Year’s Eve 1940 receptions had to include macaroni timbale, chicken galantine with jelly, creamed spinach, stuffed caramelized pasta, or tortellini in broth, roast pheasant with “Brussels sprouts” (the Italianization of toponymy had already been done for five years), trifle and fresh grapes. By the way, ten hours in the kitchen even in the presence of “house help”, excluding the time for shopping and of course the time to arrange your hands and wash your hair after such a culinary feat, to which the “Italian aluminum pans of the Metallurgica Lombarda Piemontese”, indispensable “to every good Italian housewife to contribute to the autarkic campaign” as well as a shining example of advertising passed off as patriotism, had to offer zero help.