Life Is Meals_ A Food Lover's Book of Days - James Salter [46]
Within vegetarianism, there is a wide spectrum of practice. At one end are those who eliminate only meat, poultry, and fish; at the other are those, vegans, who give up eating not only all animals, but everything that comes from them, including milk, cheese, and eggs, which makes it more complicated, but not impossible, to get all the protein and amino acids needed for good health.
GOSKY PATTIES
On this day in 1812, Edward Lear first looked on a world that, as an illustrator and humorist, he would populate with an owl and a cat setting out to sea:
The owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
“O lovely Pussy, O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are.”
A pig later figures in the poem, as one does in Lear’s recipe for Gosky Patties:
Take a pig three or four years of age, and tie him by the off hindleg to a post. Place 5 pounds of currants, 3 of sugar, 2 pecks of peas, 18 roast chestnuts, a candle, and 6 bushels of turnips, within his reach: if he eats these, constantly provide him with more.
Then procure some cream, some slices of Cheshire cheese, 4 quires of foolscap paper, and a packet of black pins. Work the whole into a paste, and spread it out to dry on a sheet of clean brown waterproof linen.
When the paste is perfectly dry, but not before, proceed to beat the pig violently with the handle of a large broom. If he squeals, beat him again.
Visit the paste and beat the pig alternately for some days, and ascertain if at the end of that period, the whole is about to turn into Gosky Patties.
If it does not then, it never will; and in that case the pig may be let loose, and the whole process may be considered as finished.
STRANGE KITCHENS
In a rented house, the kitchen is more or less a matter of chance: what is in it, where things can be found, what is missing. It is a good idea to bring along a few essentials. We include:
• A good knife. Usually, there is not a decent one.
• A vegetable peeler
• A corkscrew
• A garlic press. Some of those found are of unimaginable design.
• A good cookbook. We normally take our own, the one we’ve compiled, eclectic but proven. Patricia Wells’s Bistro Cooking is another favorite and the right size.
• A good wine book. Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Encyclopedia is small, succinct, and up to date.
Amend the list to your needs.
CHEESE
Cheese is entirely a milk product. Made from cow, sheep, goat, water buffalo, or even reindeer milk, it almost certainly originated as a way to preserve milk and has a relatively long life. It also has a season, a time when it is at its best, usually depending on the pasturage at the time of milking. Generally, the finest milk comes with the rich grasses in late summer and early fall. Cheeses that do not require much aging, such as goat cheeses—chèvres—are best then. Brie and Camembert are best in the early fall. Reblochon and tomme de Savoie are best in early winter. Gruyère is best in the heart of winter, January and February.
Most of the cheese in supermarkets and grocery stores is not worth much, commercially manufactured and bland or simplified. The good cheeses are nearly all imported, though some superior cheeses are being made by small entrepreneurs in the United States. The best are made from raw or unpasteurized milk, but U.S. health regulations bar these unless aged for sixty days or more, which rules out Brie and Camembert, among a number of others.
Regarding cheese:
• Always serve it at room temperature.
• Avoid cheese with a wax or plastic rind.
• In most cases, do not eat the rind, although this can be a matter of preference. The French often eat the rind of Camembert, Roquefort, Muenster, and others.
• Store cheese carefully, with the pieces separately wrapped in aluminum foil and/or plastic wrap and stored near the bottom of the refrigerator. Chèvre, however, seems not to like plastic.
• Think twice about freezing cheese. Some authorities suggest it, but others unequivocally say no, and few things are better for having been