Life Is Meals_ A Food Lover's Book of Days - James Salter [31]
CAFÉ AU LAIT
Café au lait, coffee made with milk, was a favorite of Marie Antoinette and also of Mme de Sévigné, whose doctor, perhaps knowing more than we do about these things, prescribed it for her chest. Balzac, however, a man who lived on coffee, vehemently disapproved of its combination with milk, claiming that this saddened the soul and weakened the nervous system.
Coffee itself, at least when made from roasted beans, was probably first enjoyed in the 13th century in the Middle East. In Paris it was introduced in the early 1600s but popularized only later in the century by the Turkish ambassador, Soliman Aga, whose black slaves, dressed in dazzling Oriental costumes, served it to the French ladies who came to call.
The best café au lait is made with freshly ground coffee beans and brewed stronger than regular American coffee. Heat whole milk in a pan, just to the boiling point, and add it, to taste, to a large cup of the hot coffee. Sweeten if desired.
BREAKFAST
“When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,”
said Piglet at last, “what’s the first thing you say to yourself?”
“What’s for breakfast?” said Pooh. “What do you say, Piglet?”
“I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?” said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully. “It’s the same thing” he said.
—A. A. MILNE, Winnie-the-Pooh
The 1918 edition of the Fannie Farmer Cookbook lists two dozen “suitable combinations” for breakfast. All include cereal with sugar and cream; all include coffee, the favorite morning beverage in the United States even then. After that, the list cuts a wide swath: applesauce griddle cakes, creamed potatoes, fried hominy, broiled liver, codfish hash, and minced lamb on toast, along with eggs in every configuration, matched with bacon or sausage, and many varieties of breads and muffins.
There’s fruit, but no juices. Authorities on physical training today say the best antidote to having consumed too much alcohol the night before is a morning that includes plenty of fruit, along with exercise to circulate the nutrients and repair the damage.
LAMB
Louis XVI referred to them irreverently as “walking cutlets,” but lambs have had the dubious honor of being part of religious ceremonies for millennia. In the Middle East, sheep have been raised for over nine thousand years. They are mentioned forty-five times in the Bible, far more often than any other creature. In a dramatic story in Genesis, God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, then at the last instant relents, spares Isaac, and allows father and son to discover a lamb in the nearby bushes to be used as the offering. Isaac’s descendants, the tribes of Israel, rubbed lambs’ blood over their doors in remembrance of the first Passover, to identify themselves as the chosen people, protected by God. Jesus, a Jew himself, was called the Lamb of God, sacrificed for the sins of the world, and lamb is still a traditional Easter dish, especially in Greece and Italy.
Lamb and mutton dishes are also at the heart of Islamic tradition. They are served on all important occasions, including the feast that ends the month-long prayer and fasting of Ramadan and at a celebration called Bakri-eid-el-Kurban that commemorates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac. On that day wealthy families kill a sheep or lamb, roast it on a spit according to ancient custom, and use it to feed the poor.
KNIVES
When it comes to kitchen knives, the important thing is to buy good ones. The best—high quality, stainless steel, and with a wooden handle—are worth the price. Knives last a long time and should be comfortable to hold and keep an edge, although they should be lightly honed with stone or steel almost daily.
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