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chilis, and molasses, all marinated in vinegar. The result was so unpalatable that they put it in the basement and forgot it. When they rediscovered it a couple of years later, it had mellowed so successfully that they started to bottle and sell it, claiming, among other things, that it promoted the growth of beautiful hair. The recipe and the aging process have never been changed.

AU GRAND COUVERT

You can eat alone, which is a little depressing; in private with others; publicly in a restaurant; or au grand couvert as the kings of France from Louis XIV to XVI did, alone but in full view of the court, which stood watching the king eat. Marie Antoinette, married to Louis XVI, was not fond of the ceremony, appearing only once a week and pretending to eat.

MARGARINE

In 1869, a Frenchman, Hippolyte Mège-Mouriés, searching for a cheap substitute for butter, mixed suet, skimmed milk, and a strip of udder together and produced the first margarine, an immediate success, though much improved since in color, texture, and taste. He was given a prize by Napoleon III.

RULES FOR DINING · STILTON

COFFEEHOUSES · EGYPTIAN CUISINE

CUCUMBERS · GLEANING · BEET SOUP

FIRSTS IN FRANCE · TRUFFLES

BREAKING THE FAST · HAM · CURNONSKY

POTATOES · BERLIN DINING · LE PAVILLON

MARIE ANTOINETTE · CRAIG CLAIBORNE

LIEBLING · JONATHAN SWIFT

CATHERINE DE’ MEDICI · BABA AU RHUM

APPLE SALES · CALIFORNIA WINE

ALICE WATERS ENTERTAINS · SOMMELIER

THREE PLACES FOR LUNCH

BALSAMIC VINEGAR · ESCOFFIER

FOIE GRAS · IRMA ROMBAUER

CHESTNUTS

RULES FOR DINING

Brillat-Savarin gave as the four indispensables for a dinner:

• Food that was at least passable

• Good wine

• Agreeable company

• Enough time

Among the elements that he felt were desirable, though not essential:

• A maximum of twelve guests

• The room cool (60‑68 degrees F), amply lit, and the table linen fresh

• The evening lasting until at least eleven, but not beyond midnight

STILTON

The place of Pushkin in Russian literature was once explained in a lecture in England at Cambridge by a noted scholar, Dimitri Mirsky with unforgettable brevity. As Shakespeare was to England, as Dante was to Italy, as Goethe was to Germany, he said, so, to Russia, was Pushkin. Any questions?

Something similar might be said about cheeses, ending with, so, to England, is Stilton.

It was in the early 1700s from a coach house, the Bell Inn, on the Great North Road, running from London up the eastern part of England, that the fame of a local cheese began to spread. Though it was not made there, it took the name of the nearest village, Stilton. Naturally blue-veined, creamy yet firm enough to cut and crumble slightly, it is magnificent with red wine or port and with fruit. It is the only English cheese that is legally defined. It must be made from milk coming from English cows in a specific area in the district of Melton Mowbray, a region where iron deposits lie beneath the meadows and may be a factor in Stilton’s natural blueing. Stiltons are cylindrical in shape, about ten inches high and eight or nine inches in diameter, weighing about fifteen pounds.

Once done in farmhouses, production has become entirely commercial, with variation in quality, usually the result of the length of aging, which is six months at the minimum and may be as long as eighteen months. The cheese is tested by having a plug of it removed to see if it is ready. Stilton is made from pasteurized milk, though like other cheeses, it was probably better before this practice, and has a self-formed, rough, brown crust that may, if desired, be eaten.

If you buy a whole Stilton, the best way to cut it is in horizontal rounds that can be dug into, the top piece then placed back onto the cheese afterward to keep it moist. When bought in smaller quantities, Stilton should not be allowed to dry out.

COFFEEHOUSES

In London, coffeehouses sprang up everywhere with the arrival of the new beverage—coffee—from the Continent in 1652. An advertisement proclaimed: “[It] closes the Orifice of the Stomack, fortifies the heat