Life Is Meals_ A Food Lover's Book of Days - James Salter [36]
The king, Charles VII, met Agnès Sorel at a festival in 1444. She was twenty-two years old, from a family of minor nobility, and exceptionally beautiful. His love for her continued until her death, following the birth of their fourth child in 1450. The object of much jealousy and intrigue, she may have been poisoned.
HOT DOGS
Its parentage was European, but the hot dog has been American since it was christened here in 1901. Previously called a frankfurter for its German hometown and then a wiener when it migrated to Vienna, it was first known in this country as a dachshund sausage, after the elongated dog.
At the Polo Grounds in New York on a chilly April day when the baseball Giants were playing, cold foods and drinks weren’t selling. Concessionaire Harry Stevens told his vendors to try shouting, “Get ’em while they’re hot!” Sports cartoonist Tad Dorgan captured it for the newspapers, but he didn’t know how to spell dachshund. His caption called them “hot dogs.”
In St. Louis at the World’s Fair in 1904, they made their official debut in buns that matched their shape, garnished with George French’s newly created yellow mustard, a combination that has remained popular for more than a century.
YR. OBEDIENT SERVANT
April 13, 1987, opening night of Yr. Obedient Servant, a one-man play about the immortal Dr. Johnson at the Lyric Hammersmith Theater in London—Kay’s first produced play. The lead was played by Scots actor Robbie Coltrane, who occasionally misread his lines, which did not go undetected by an English audience steeped in Johnson.
At the small rented house in nearby Chiswick, preparations had been going on all day for the after-theater party for the producer, director, sole cast member, and friends who had come from the United States and other parts of Europe. The girls hired to help with the serving showed up in short black skirts with little aprons and caps like maids in bedroom farces.
After the buffet, dessert appeared—a huge cake decorated in icing with a likeness of Samuel Johnson. It was served with a fresh fruit salad, the origins of which are now lost but that is simple to make and that we still serve. It continues to be excellent several days later, should there be leftovers, in which case it’s also good for breakfast.
FRESH FRUIT SALAD YR. OBEDIENT SERVANT
1 fresh pineapple, cut into small chunks
3 or 4 navel oranges, peeled, divided into sections, the sections cut in thirds
Large bunch black or red seedless grapes, halved
The marinade:
Dry white vermouth and cassis, about half and half or to the desired sweetness
½ cup sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
A dash of vanilla extract
Mix ingredients together and allow to marinate for several hours or overnight in the refrigerator. Serves about eight.
TITANIC
On this night in 1912, passengers in the Titanic’s first-class dining room were served ten elaborate courses, each with a specially selected wine. Oysters were followed by soup—consommé or cream of barley—and then a mousse of poached salmon. Next came a choice of filet mignon or chicken Lyonnaise. The fifth course, which included an array of vegetables, was lamb, roast duckling, or beef sirloin. Then a palate-cleansing punch, followed by squab, asparagus vinaigrette, and foie gras. Dessert was an array of puddings, peaches, éclairs, and French ice cream. Coffee and port, along with cigars for the gentlemen, concluded the evening’s meal.
In today’s prices, those in first class were paying more than $120,000 for the privilege of crossing on the maiden voyage of the luxurious new ocean liner. Late that night, four days out of England, the ship struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank in less than three hours. Of the more than 2,220 people aboard, only about 705 lived to eat another meal.
WAVERLY ROOT
1903. Journalist and food writer Waverly Root is born in Providence, Rhode Island, and named for the Waverly novels of Sir Walter