Yeesterday I went driving around the eastern half of the district looking for stores that will let us beg for money in the 2008 Pasta for Pennies campaign, and I was lucky enough to have my steadfast companion of NPR's Talk of the Nation throughout most of the journey.
Of particular interest was the interview with author James Lileks whose newest book is titled Gastroanomalies. Lileks's oveure seems to be snarky reflections on past practices that we would certainly now label as transgressions. In this book, he provides photos and commentary of horrific foods from the mid-twentieth century. He covers fish pie, heart, brains, party loaf, and other horrors of the post-WWII era.
Not only does the book sound/look entertaining, but the author's voice was built for radio - nice pear-shaped tones.
6 comments:
holy crap, I listened to the exact same show thinking, "oh...I should get that book for Dusch for Christmas..."
did you like the line when he said, "Heart? People used to serve heart...now when it's grinded up and stuffed into tubing, that's fine, that's good stuff, that's the 4th of July...but when you can see the anatomy of the thing, the ventricles and all, that's a different dish"
good stuff...
so uh. yea. i really should probably get my hands on one of those boxes you have in your backroom sometime.
You ready to get the P4P campaign started at UD, young Joseph?
Or do you plan to send your collected funds our way?
Who is this Dusch of whom you speak?
And I loved that line...the description of the heart being okay if we chopped it up along with whatever other organ meats but not if we put it on a platter with nothing but a bit of parsely to save it...parsely is to the cook of the fifties what bushes are to architects...they cover a multitude of sins...
Parsley is just as lame when they put a useless wedge of orange on top of it for no good reason whatsoever. That's more of a British greasy spoon cafe trying to be posh than anything you're likely to see here in the States, I think. I listen to the teachings of the mighty Gordon Ramsay and am aware of the cardinal sins of chefs of the past. He does, however, fully endorse the use of table-side preparation of flambees, which died out in the fifties, I think.
Thanks for letting me know about this book, it's certainly right up my culinary alley!
I've never been to a restaurant and gotten tableside service of anything - flambee or otherwise. My total dream dinner would involve tableside preparation of a Caesar salad - raw egg, vinegrette, anchovies all thrown together freshly for me right at the table.
I have no idea why, but that seems like the absolute epitome of elegance in my head.
And I'm not down with the Ramsey for the most part...I was turned off by the awfulness of the American version of Hell's Kitchen (I've seen clips of the Brit version, and he's apparently far less obnoxious there). I tend to worship at the alter of Chris Kimble and occasionally the lesser Alton Brown.
Post a Comment