Life Is Meals_ A Food Lover's Book of Days - James Salter [75]
Jim made a vinaigrette dressing for the green salad. He praised the quiche. There were fresh peaches for dessert. In a nod to Italy, chilled Soave on the hot August day. It was in my new apartment on the top floor of an old house, looking out on the dense green of elms. We sat at a square, heavy-legged cherry table, the first piece of furniture I’d bought for myself. Was it a perfect lunch or a perfect dinner? Whichever, it was only the first.
K.S.
DOG LIFE
“Oh, my God! Get him out of here!”
A great, if infrequent, crisis occurs in the country when the dog comes in from a healthy outing—for some reason it always seems to happen just before dinner—and the house is filled with the unmistakable odor of skunk.
The old wives’ remedy was tomato juice. Of course, someone had to go to the store to get it while the dog, unashamed, even somewhat bewildered, was made to stay outside.
A more effective method, credited to an engineer named Paul Krebaum, is to mix, in a large, open container—the “open” is important:
1 quart 3 percent hydrogen peroxide
1 cup baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
1 teaspoon mild liquid soap
Work this strong oxidizing mixture into the coat, avoiding the eyes, and allow it to remain for some minutes until the odor is noticeably diminished. Rinse thoroughly and apply again if needed or after a day or two if the odor persists.
The dog can relax after this exhausting episode in an unused guest bedroom, at least until dinner is over.
TOMATOES
Thomas Jefferson kept gardening records and even, when he was president, a record of when various vegetables appeared in Washington markets. Tomatoes are among these, along with note of one long season, July 16 to November 17. It is not certain how Jefferson ate tomatoes, since it was an early theory that they should be well cooked.
Over the years, the popularity of the tomato has worked against it. To make them available year-round, tomatoes that are relatively tasteless and tough-skinned to withstand mechanical picking have been developed, the botanical advancement being entirely in favor of the seller. Many tomatoes are harvested while still green and reddened with ethylene gas.
The best tomatoes are those that are locally grown and vine-ripened. They are seasonal, like peaches and corn. In season, one should look for tomatoes that are firm but not hard, with uniform good color and aroma. They should stand for a day or two at room temperature, stem side up, to make them perfect. Though while growing they love it, do not let them stand in sunlight.
Do not refrigerate tomatoes; it ruins their taste.
Canned tomatoes are a completely acceptable cooking alternative. Marcella Hazan and other authorities recommend the Italian-packed, whole plum San Marzano variety that are grown in the Naples area, hand-picked when they are fully ripe. Other types are suitable as well. If slightly acidic in taste, they can be improved by adding a small quantity of salt. Tomatoes themselves are low in sodium and calories, rich in vitamins C, A, and B, and, like all fruit, have no cholesterol. They are also mildly laxative.
CLOS MONTMARTRE
There’s a vineyard that still exists in the middle of Paris, in Montmartre, the last survivor of the many, mostly abbey-owned, that were in the city when it had walls, few bridges, and a great iron cauldron near the river in which counterfeiters were boiled alive in oil.
The vineyard is at the corner of rue des Saules and rue Saint-Vincent, a few streets from Sacré-Coeur. It is small, producing only five hundred bottles of wine a year that are sold in the mairie of the 18th arrondissement and also at auction. It’s called Clos Montmartre, not expensive and not great, but from the heart of the heart of France.
PEACHES
The peach has been celebrated for more