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Frozen yogurt is made primarily with yogurt instead of milk or cream. It is thought to be more healthful and have the benefit of the bacteria in yogurt, but most of these are destroyed by the cold.

Sherbet (sorbet) is also called an ice or fruit ice. It is made of puréed fruit, juice, and sugar syrup. French sorbets have less sugar and a more intense fruit flavor, while Italian sorbettos are sweeter. Also Italian is the granita, which is less sweet and more granular.

SHAW

1885. On this day George Bernard Shaw celebrated his twenty-ninth birthday by losing his virginity to a widow fifteen years older. Some time later, at a formal dinner party in London at which, according to custom, the host invited guests to make a toast on particular topics, Shaw was asked for one on sex. He stood, raised his glass, and began, “It gives me great pleasure …,” and took his seat.

FRANCILLON SALAD

1824. Alexandre Dumas fils, illegitimate son of the writer and Marie-Catherine Labay a dressmaker, is born in Paris. Dumas fils, as he was called, was a writer himself, famous for his hugely successful play La Dame aux Camelias, partly autobiographical and taken from his youthful love affair with Marie Duplessis, a young courtesan. Known in English as Camille, a great favorite of actresses, it was the basis of Verdi’s La traviata. Marie Duplessis died of tuberculosis in 1847, though the works she inspired continue to live.

In another of his plays, Francillon, Dumas fils had a character give the recipe for a salad that was guaranteed to please. Hurriedly copied down by members of the audience, it quickly became popular on restaurant menus in Paris as salade francillon. The original recipe included fresh truffle slices which are omitted here.

FRANCILLON SALAD

5‑6 medium-sized red potatoes

Beef bouillon cube

Extra virgin olive oil

Wine vinegar

1 ½ cups Chablis (approximately)

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

Chives to taste

Parsley to taste

Rosemary to taste

3‑4 tablespoons butter

1 celery stalk

1 pound live mussels

Begin preparation about an hour and a half before serving. Cook the potatoes in diluted beef bouillon. Allow to cool, then peel, slice about ¼ inch thick, season with a vinaigrette (3:1) of the olive oil and vinegar. Add ½ cup or less of the Chablis and the salt, pepper, and chopped herbs. Mix gently, and allow to marinate.

Put the butter, celery stalk, 1 cup of the Chablis, and the scrubbed mussels in a large pot.

Cover and steam for about ten minutes or until the mussels open, but no longer. Remove the mussels from their shells—throw away those that did not open—drain thoroughly, and mix gently into the potatoes.

Cover with aluminum foil, chill for thirty or forty minutes in the refrigerator, pour off any excess liquid, add salt if necessary, and serve cold. Serves five or six.

BEER

Beer has been made nearly as long as—and almost wherever—there have been people to drink it. The ingredients are often readily available: grain, water, hops, and yeast. Usually the grain is barley, though in Japan beer is made from rice and in Africa from millet. Worldwide, more than 35 billion gallons of beer are made each year. Though the ingredients are simple, the brewing process is carefully controlled. Barley is roasted, which stops its germination and turns it into malt. The longer the barley is roasted, the darker it becomes, and it is the proportion of lighter and darker barley chosen for the final mix that determines the color of the beer.

The malt is ground and hot water added to turn it into a porridgelike mixture called wort, which is then boiled to purify it. The extreme sweetness of the wort is countered by adding hops. The choice of the hops—the female seeds from one of a large variety of vinelike plants—determines the flavor of the beer.

The mixture then goes to a fermenter, where yeast is waiting to convert the natural sugars into alcohol. In general, the range is between 3.2 percent to 7 percent alcohol, though