New dinner menu

[FritzG]

20 hours ago, Princessfan20 said:

 

Princess Love Boat Dream is not even close to what it use to be.  Had it on our last cruise and it is really lacking in many qualities now.  This is such a limited menu, especially for those of us who do 20 to 30 day cruises that it makes one wonder if their new pricing and cutbacks have reached the point where Oceana, Viking or Regent might be more worth it now.

Love Boat Dream and the pistachio dome are a joke. They look terrible and have no taste.  If they can’t afford the chocolate coating  on the Love Boat D they should retire it. 

[FritzG]

21 hours ago, Suite Susie said:

Can’t take credit for this, but this was posted on Facebook last night

 

February 23rd dinner menu  on the Regal Princess in Falmouth, Jamaica 

 

This was the menu on Enchanted last night. The Wellington and lamb chops were very good. Without even noticing  that shrimp cocktail wasn’t on the menu I ordered it with no problem.  I don’t like seeing the extra cost items on the menu most nights. 

[JimmyVWine]

11 hours ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

Is it mushrooms or liver?  I’ve never tried it because I thought it was liver.

It is a mixture called duxelles which is a minced mixture of mushrooms or mushroom stems, onions or shallots, herbs such as thyme or parsley, and black pepper, sautéed in butter and reduced to a paste. Cream is sometimes used as well, and some recipes add a dash of madeira or sherry.  The cooled paste is laid on the rolled out pastry and then the seared beef tenderloin is placed on the duxelles. The pastry gets wrapped and folded around the meat and baked. 

 

10 hours ago, Mike45LC said:

I don’t risk pork, which the Italians frequently use in cooking. 

The Italians???  Hmmmm.  Who else frequently uses pork in cooking?  Portuguese. Spaniards. Germans. Chinese. Hawaiians. Vietnamese. Nigerians. Go anywhere in the world and you will find pork used for cookings. “The Italians” aren’t trying to slip anything past you. 

[talkorpi]

9 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Your hopes are dashed.

 

That is the version that was on the Ruby in January.

 

Used to be my favorite dessert. This time had no desire to even try it.

 

Ugh!  Say it isn't so!

 

Well, thank you for letting me know so that I can lower my expectations :(

[Dreamcruiser185]

24 minutes ago, FritzG said:

This was the menu on Enchanted last night. The Wellington and lamb chops were very good. Without even noticing  that shrimp cocktail wasn’t on the menu I ordered it with no problem.  I don’t like seeing the extra cost items on the menu most nights. 

I am confused?   I am going on the Sky Princess soon, my first princess cruise.  Can you still order shrimp cocktail and French onion soup even though both are not listed on menu?  We are in CC dining room, does that make a difference?

[Torfamm]

13 hours ago, BamaVol said:

I can only hope.  I feel like there were at least 2 fish choices on old menus I’ve seen.  Salmon was always there.

That is still true. There is almost always always a fish option in addition to salmon  and sometimes shellfish. 

[Torfamm]

The menu in the first post was served on my cruise last night. Here are tonight’s options for those who would like another example. It is a formal night

[CruiseCrabs]

It is about time that Princess reduced the number of menu offerings per night to potentially ensure that dishes came out correct and consistent! Some of the menus over the past year were less than cohesive with mocktails masquerading as cold soups, random offerings that don’t flow course-to-course, and a deep menu with offerings that can easily be ordered off-menu (shrimp cocktails are thrown together, for example) or belong elsewhere (alfredos seemed like a perfect match for… wait for it… Alfredos). I’d rather have a tight list of well-crafted, fresh plates than a deep list of food that is largely sitting warm somewhere and a deep list is a recipe for food waste, which is never a good thing in any restaurant, let alone a cruise ship. 
 

Im not mad at the new menu and, if they can finally work out rendering the ft off the duck breast correctly, I will be happier than seeing a bunch of 1990’s Princess Favorites that are on par with a boring chain restaurant, not an experience.

[caribill]

1 hour ago, JimmyVWine said:

It is a mixture called duxelles which is a minced mixture of mushrooms or mushroom stems, onions or shallots, herbs such as thyme or parsley, and black pepper, sautéed in butter and reduced to a paste. Cream is sometimes used as well, and some recipes add a dash of madeira or sherry.  The cooled paste is laid on the rolled out pastry and then the seared beef tenderloin is placed on the duxelles. The pastry gets wrapped and folded around the meat and baked. 

 

 

 

Is this the way you know that Princess makes it or is it the standard recipe which Princess may or may not be following??

[rj59]

I've sailed on 6 different lines since re-start, and cutbacks/upcharges are more and more common. Even lines comparable to Princess have cutback more, so on HAL there is no free lobster or creme brûlée, and a single lunch menu for the entire cruise (and the loss of their once-sublime cold soups). Celebrity stopped serving prime rib in the MDR and upcharges for a second lobster tail and for any room service, and they make their MDR menu as bland and limited as possible to push people to specialty dining (the same is true of painfully slow wifi and very limited drinks options for their basic package, to push upgrades). They've also cut down their evening buffet significantly to about a third of what it once was. So I still think that Princess has the best evening and lunch menus, the best desserts, and the most varied and comfortable buffet for me. Then there's the OceanNow ordering, still free and delivered to your location, and the best free specialty restaurant at sea, Alfredo's, as well as the best pasta selection of any line. I also find that Princess replicates a lot of MDR foods in the buffet, so I can try a soup or other dish before or after dinner. While it's not food-related, I also just returned from the Norwegian Joy, which had the most miserable embarkation day ever, with the return of in-person mandatory muster drills and rooms not ready until after 4:30, so when the Joy bow swung close past the Royal Princess stern in Ensenada, I wanted to jump ship to my familiar favorite. 

[t&atravel]

13 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

Is this the way you know that Princess makes it or is it the standard recipe which Princess may or may not be following??

Standard usually has both mushrooms and pate.  Princess only uses the mushrooms

 

What is the original Beef Wellington?

 

 

 

 

Beef Wellington is a steak dish of English origin, made out of fillet steak coated with pâté (often pâté de foie gras) and duxelles, wrapped in puff pastry, then baked. Some recipes include wrapping the coated meat in a crêpe or parma ham to retain the moisture and prevent it from making the pastry soggy

[memoak]

3 minutes ago, rj59 said:

I've sailed on 6 different lines since re-start, and cutbacks/upcharges are more and more common. Even lines comparable to Princess have cutback more, so on HAL there is no free lobster or creme brûlée, and a single lunch menu for the entire cruise (and the loss of their once-sublime cold soups). Celebrity stopped serving prime rib in the MDR and upcharges for a second lobster tail and for any room service, and they make their MDR menu as bland and limited as possible to push people to specialty dining (the same is true of painfully slow wifi and very limited drinks options for their basic package, to push upgrades). They've also cut down their evening buffet significantly to about a third of what it once was. So I still think that Princess has the best evening and lunch menus, the best desserts, and the most varied and comfortable buffet for me. Then there's the OceanNow ordering, still free and delivered to your location, and the best free specialty restaurant at sea, Alfredo's, as well as the best pasta selection of any line. I also find that Princess replicates a lot of MDR foods in the buffet, so I can try a soup or other dish before or after dinner. While it's not food-related, I also just returned from the Norwegian Joy, which had the most miserable embarkation day ever, with the return of in-person mandatory muster drills and rooms not ready until after 4:30, so when the Joy bow swung close past the Royal Princess stern in Ensenada, I wanted to jump ship to my familiar favorite. 

Alfredo’s is not available on all ships. Wouldn’t want someone to get on the Royal or Emerald for example and start searching for it

[CruiseCrabs]

36 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

Is this the way you know that Princess makes it or is it the standard recipe which Princess may or may not be following??

You can ask when you are onboard but the new chef for the line is into technique so deviation from what makes Wellington a Wellington shouldn’t happen.

[PescadoAmarillo]

11 hours ago, trinitygirl said:

Vegetarians do eat dairy, and they use vegetarian gelatine in the veggie dishes.  So there is the terrine and the coconut soup to start, and the veggie pie or the souffle for mains.  And i agree, its awesome to see two possibilities instead of just one.  Yay!

But the terrine doesn’t state that it’s a vegetarian dish. That’s why I’m suspect about the source of the gelatin. 
 

I am pescatarian (salmon and shrimp only) with no dairy, and I’ve never had a problem finding something to eat in the dining room, but generally have to go off menu with the help of the Restaurant Manager. 

[memoak]

45 minutes ago, memoak said:

Alfredo’s is not available on all ships. Wouldn’t want someone to get on the Royal or Emerald for example and start searching for it

Oops. Auto correct got me should say Ruby not Royal

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, caribill said:

 

Is this the way you know that Princess makes it or is it the standard recipe which Princess may or may not be following??

This is the traditional way of making it. I know of no other way even if it is being scaled up for a crowd. Could be that the tenderloin is blasted in a really hot oven or broiler in large quantities instead of pan seared before being encased in the pastry. 

Edited February 25, 2023 by JimmyVWine

[JimmyVWine]

58 minutes ago, t&atravel said:

Standard usually has both mushrooms and pate.  Princess only uses the mushrooms

 

What is the original Beef Wellington?

 

 

 

 

Beef Wellington is a steak dish of English origin, made out of fillet steak coated with pâté (often pâté de foie gras) and duxelles, wrapped in puff pastry, then baked. Some recipes include wrapping the coated meat in a crêpe or parma ham to retain the moisture and prevent it from making the pastry soggy

This is correct. Though with recent issues involving the ethics of foie, the pâté is not nearly as common as it once was. As for the Parma ham, I have to say that I’ve never seen that. Lousy weather this weekend so maybe I’ll spend some time with my cookbook collection. 

[MsSoCalCruiser]

11 hours ago, brisalta said:

 

It is mushrooms.

Why are you afraid of liver?

Thank you, I will try it on my next cruise.  I can’t stand the taste of liver.  

[MsSoCalCruiser]

3 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

It is a mixture called duxelles which is a minced mixture of mushrooms or mushroom stems, onions or shallots, herbs such as thyme or parsley, and black pepper, sautéed in butter and reduced to a paste. Cream is sometimes used as well, and some recipes add a dash of madeira or sherry.  The cooled paste is laid on the rolled out pastry and then the seared beef tenderloin is placed on the duxelles. The pastry gets wrapped and folded around the meat and baked. 

 

Thank you for sharing this with me. It sounds wonderful. I have a dairy allergy so if there is cream in it, I won’t be able to have it which is a bummer because it really sounds good.

[suekel]

3 hours ago, cjpj said:

Parmesan bowl has been gone for awhile. 

Last time we could get the parmesan bowl was 2019 in club class.  My husband misses it.  

[Torfamm]

1 hour ago, JimmyVWine said:

This is correct. Though with recent issues involving the ethics of foie, the pâté is not nearly as common as it once was. As for the Parma ham, I have to say that I’ve never seen that. Lousy weather this weekend so maybe I’ll spend some time with my cookbook collection. 

I have seen it with the ham. It made me sad because I really didn’t enjoy it. I prefer the original version with duxelles and pate.  I never order it on cruises, it seems to me that the pastry is always soggy.

Edited February 25, 2023 by Torfamm

[Princessfan20]

2 hours ago, CruiseCrabs said:

I’d rather have a tight list of well-crafted, fresh plates than a deep list of food that is largely sitting warm somewhere and a deep list is a recipe for food waste, which is never a good thing in any restaurant, let alone a cruise ship. 
 

 

LOL.  I am not sure you have done a thorough tour of Princess kitchens if you think everything is being individually prepped, prepared and cooked.  

 

It is simply more cutbacks, not a well thought out dining experience, and that menu would be short lived if it were in a restaurant on land.  It really is lacking in so many ways and many of the new changes we have tried on the current Princess menus are really void of imagination, presentation and taste.

[JimmyVWine]

13 minutes ago, Torfamm said:

I have seen it with the ham. It made me sad because I really didn’t enjoy it. I prefer the original version with duxelles and pate.  I never order it on cruises, it seems to me that the pastry is always soggy.

Same. It’s a tough dish to scale up for 700 people. Best for a small dinner party. 

[JimmyVWine]

2 hours ago, Torfamm said:

I have seen it with the ham. It made me sad because I really didn’t enjoy it. I prefer the original version with duxelles and pate.  I never order it on cruises, it seems to me that the pastry is always soggy.

Well, with well over 50 cookbooks on my shelves, I only found one with a recipe for Beef Wellington and that book is from the early 70's.  And I wouldn't follow that recipe on a dare.  It called for roasting the tenderloin in the oven to an internal temperature of 130 before wrapping it in pastry and baking.  So the meat is overcooked before it even gets wrapped!  And it omits the duxelles completely and uses canned pate as the coating layer.  No ham.  But no amount of even the finest Prosciutto could save this recipe.  It was from "Better Homes and Gardens."   

[malba2366]

1 hour ago, JimmyVWine said:

Well, with well over 50 cookbooks on my shelves, I only found one with a recipe for Beef Wellington and that book is from the early 70's.  And I wouldn't follow that recipe on a dare.  It called for roasting the tenderloin in the oven to an internal temperature of 130 before wrapping it in pastry and baking.  So the meat is overcooked before it even gets wrapped!  And it omits the duxelles completely and uses canned pate as the coating layer.  No ham.  But no amount of even the finest Prosciutto could save this recipe.  It was from "Better Homes and Gardens."   

I always thought Beef Wellington was a way to dress up poor cuts of meat...until a buddy of mine convinced me to order it at Gordon Ramsey Steak.