Life Is Meals_ A Food Lover's Book of Days - James Salter [104]
The best guide to restaurants is an informed individual, someone whose standards are high, who has a palate, an eye, impartial judgment, and who has been around.
An expert in 1925, J. A. P. Cousin, had a snobbish but succinct scale of classification for the restaurants of Paris:
• Perfection
• The Last Word
• Very High Class
• Smart
• Reliable
• Savory and Plentiful
• Good Little Place
• Good Atmosphere
To these might be added the categories of:
• Innovative
• Welcoming
• Undiscovered
• Inexpensive
• Outrageous
Very little else, other than type of cuisine, is necessary.
SANDWICH
On this day in 1718, John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich, was born. He grew up in Cambridgeshire at Hinchingbrooke House, which had been the family home and was the birthplace of Oliver Cromwell. Montagu attended Cambridge but left before earning a degree. Nevertheless, he rose to become first lord of the admiralty and was at the helm (1771‑82) when the colonies were lost during the American Revolution. He helped finance Captain Cook’s expedition, and when Cook discovered the Sandwich Islands in 1778, he named them for the earl, in place of the name used by the natives and later restored: Hawaii.
Accomplished but dissolute, Montagu spent long days and nights both at his desk and at gambling tables, and it was allegedly at one of the latter that, unwilling to interrupt himself for a meal, he ordered some meat brought to him between two slices of bread. The practice caught on.
RISOTTO
Risotto is an Italian rice dish, cooked by slowly absorbing liquid and producing exceptional flavor. So many things can be added to the cooking rice—wild mushrooms, seafood, asparagus, meat—that risotto is almost a cuisine by itself. In The Food of Italy, Waverly Root lists thirty-seven different recipes. Burton Anderson, in Treasures of the Italian Table, has an impressive, detailed account of the rice and of risotto preparation by an Italian chef.
Arborio—an Italian rice that is widely available—is the first choice for risotto. It adheres to itself without becoming gummy and will absorb generous amounts of broth and, hence, flavor. Risotto takes from twenty to thirty-five minutes to make, being stirred and with liquid added a little at a time. It is pleasant to make in an atmosphere of complete informality, as when everyone is sitting at a big kitchen table.
There are two broad types: Milanese, which is heavier and a bit drier, and Veneto, which is looser and moister. The styles use the same technique but are finished off differently.
Nothing is like real risotto. You will almost never find the authentic thing in restaurants since it is so labor-consuming and, like a soufflé, takes so long to prepare. In restaurants, they usually stop cooking risotto at the three-quarter point and hold it there, resuming when it is ordered but with a lessening in perfection.
The finest risotto we ever had, apart from certain notable efforts of our own, was in a small hotel on Lake Garda in Italy. It was risotto alla Parmigiana, the simplest and most pure, nothing in it but rice, butter, shallots, broth, and fresh Parmesan cheese, all’ondo, soft and flowing, the way the Venetians like it. It was late in the season, and the hotel was nearly empty. The chef probably had nothing better to do.
Afterward we asked the owner if we could have a larger bulb for the bedside lamp in our room, which shed a very feeble light. He finally agreed, yes, all right. He went to the safe in his office, opened it, and gave us one of his big ones, perhaps forty watts.
RISOTTO ALLA PARMIGIANA
2 cups Arborio or converted (not instant) rice
½ cup finely chopped onion
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 ½ cups dry white wine
3 ½ cups (or less) hot chicken broth, made with bouillon cubes
Salt to taste
Butter
1 cup freshly