Roman Punch Reached Titanic Tables

Formal Gilded Age dinners paused between the fish and roast courses to serve Roman punch, a frozen rum-and-champagne slush meant to cleanse the palate. Also called punch à la romaine, it combined egg whites, rum, wine, citrus juice, and syrup before chefs poured it over crushed ice and topped it with champagne. The drink dessert later appeared among the courses served to the Titanic's first-class passengers during their final dinner at sea. Hours later, the ship struck an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic, killing roughly two-thirds of its more than 2,000 passengers and crew.

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