the dossiers » culinary

Adelle Davis

admin — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:38:55 +0000

Food-science expert and nutritionist, “First lady of nutrition” (1904-1974)

Daisie Adelle Davis, American health and nutrition expert, dietician, progenitor of the health conscious (“health food nut”) movement, advocate of unprocessed additive-free foods and high-protein breakfasts [wiki]

Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.

AD Today: the Adelle Davis Foundation, active online discussion group

B-vitamin shopping list

Pepup

Invented the pepup cocktail for vigor and energy: whipped milk and egg yolks

Original recipe

Corbis photo of Adelle Davis drinking milk, circa 1970

The pepup is discussed, along with new modern variations & improvements on it, in English writer Michael Allen’s book, The Truth About Writing: An Essential Handbook for Novelists, Playwrights and Screenwriters (Kingsfield 2003). Allen recommends the pepup as a daytime energy drink for writers. [PDF]

Mentioned briefly in short online essay “What’s a Mother to Do?” by Ardith W. Walker

Books

Let’s Eat Right to Keep Fit

Let’s Get Well

You Can Get Well

Let’s Have Healthy Children (“America’s most famous food expert gives the vital nutritional do’s and don’ts for expectant mothers, babies, and growing children.”)

Let’s Cook It Right

Exploring Inner Space: Personal Experiences Under LSD-25 (as Jane Dunlap) (Mystical experiences mentioned in The Secret Chief Revealed by Myron J. Stolaroff.)

Quotations

“As I see it, every day you do one of two things: build health or produce disease in yourself.”

“Thousands upon thousands of persons have studied disease. Almost no one has studied health.”

Articles and info

“Adelle Davis Revisited” is a site containing information on modern supplements, vitamins and routines related to Adelle Davis’ ideas.

“The Legacy of Adelle Davis,” a critical look by Stephen Barrett

Adelle’s Granola

5c old-fashioned oatmeal
1c cut almonds
1c unrefined sesame seeds
1c sunflower seeds
1c shredded coconut
1c soy flour
1c powdered milk
1c wheat germ
1c honey
1c vegetable oil

combine all dry ingredients
combine honey and vegetable oil in separate dish
combine all ingredients, spread on two cookie sheets
bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour or until slightly brown

(From Life magazine, Oct 1971)

For further reading

George Leonard Herter

admin — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:25:00 +0000

Minnesota entrepreneur, outdoorsman and author. In 1939 Herter (d. 1994) began running his family business dry-goods store in Waseca, MN. Opened an additional store in Mitchell, SD and by the 1950s he began a mail-order supply business, eventually producing the world-famous Herter’s catalog of outdoors equipment and sporting goods supplies — from duck calls and fishing lures, knives and ammo, rifle dies, cleaning supplies and clothing to snowmobiles and fiberglass boats — an eclectic catalogue that soon included Herter’s self-published wildly eccentric (and basically insane) books, from a famous cookbook to books on winemaking, guns, and other survivalist topics. [wiki] [google]

The Herter’s Catalog

The motto of Herter’s, Inc. showed up on every printed page of their annual catalogs: Where wildlife cannot live, humans cannot survive. Back in the day, the company’s products were used and cherished by hunters, fishermen, trappers, boaters and outdoorsmen of all persuasions. If you spend enough time on fishing forums today, you’ll run into the older folks reminiscing on their youthful days perusing through a Herter’s, such as these nostalgic thoughts and memories of the 1974 Herter’s catalog. The catalogs liberally included Herter’s essays and advice, which were heeded by them all — such as his informative and quixotic “How to Buy an Outdoor Knife.” [full text, scroll down]

Pages from the Herter’s Catalog

While no entire catalogs have been digitized and put online, you can catch tantalizing glimpses of some of the catalogs online if you know where to look. Try here for images of some pages: a page from the 1955 Gun Accessory Catalog,
a full-page scan of the Herter’s minibike (the “Herter’s Hudson Bay Hunter, Fisherman, Beach, Tundra, Trapper and Camper Bikes”), a box for the “world-famous tiger tail” (scroll down), and
a color cover.

The various goods and products themselves were of generally high quality, and are sought-after collectibles today. [search]

Herter’s, Inc. was nominated as part of the MN150 exhibit, (150 people, places and things that shape the state of Minnesota): Whether you were 10 or 100, a pilgrimage to Herter’s captured every young sportsman’s imagination through the latter half of the 20th century.”

http://discovery.mnhs.org/MN150/index.php?title=Herter’s%2C_Inc.

While the Herter’s showroom is gone, vestiges remain; GLH made arrangements so that Cabela’s would now handle distribution of their products and to this day Cabela’s continues to handle the world famous herters.com Internet domain. You can browse the remaining inventory, which at this wrigin includes outdoor camouflage clothing and world-famous life-size duck decoys.

Herter’s books today

Some books were written and published in conjunction with his wife, Berthe E. Herter. George Herter enjoyed talking about his associations with Ernest Hemingway, and in fact he made thousands of original claims. He claimed to have the true knowledge of the Martini cocktail and its originator, who (claimed Herter) also invented another “world-class” cocktail, the Martini Verboten, whose second ingredient is apple cider vinegar.

While Herter produced large quantities of his books, some titles can be difficult to obtain. Collectors hoard and cherish their copies. Many remain in the possesion of individuals who first purchased them, or passed on to their families, but some are finally beginning to become available. Check eBay [search] and Amazon, where many of the important Herter titles can still be obtained at reasonable prices:

How to make the finest wines at home in old glass or plastic bottles and jugs for as little as 10 [cents] a gallon has little about old bottles and jugs but much entertaining reading on beer, wine, cocktails, recipes and home-brewing.
How To Get Out Of The Rat Race And Live On $10 A Month
Bull Cook and Authentic Historical Recipes and Practices is GLH’s Masterwork and could be the oddest most insane cookbook ever written. First sentence: “I will start with meats, fish, eggs, soups and sauces, sandwiches, vegetables, the art of French frying, desserts, how to dress game, how to properly sharpen a knife, how to make wines and beer, how to make French soap and also what to do in case of hydrogen or cobalt bomb attack, keeping as much in alphabetical order as possible.” Huge! Profusely Illustrated! [more] Note that some editions also contain Herter’s descriptions and information concerning the various and most important Famous Restaurants and Night Clubs of the World!
European and American Professional Sourdough Cooking and Recipes is charmingly illustrated and would make a fine holiday gift for any occasion.
Professional guide’s manual
George the Housewife and How to Diet and Never be Hungry contains Herter’s unique approach to dieting, a method and technique quite possibly not used by any other program ever devised. Does not produce hunger!
PROFESSIONAL FLY TYING, SPINNING AND TACKLE MAKING MANUAL and MANUFACTURERS’ GUIDE
George The Housewife …
Secret Fresh and Salt Water Fishing Tricks of the World’s Fifty Best Professional Fisherman (Plus The Professional Secrets of Fishing Rods and How Fishing Rods are Made). Completely Illustrated. Fantastic thoughtful and uniquely “retro” gift for the sport fisherman or outdoorsy type guy.
How to Live with a Bitch. A practical guide on marriage. Personal advice and tips, based on Real World Experience.
Herter’s Professional Course in the Science of Modern Taxidermy (with Myron E. Barrie).
Condensed Professional Loading of Rifle, Pistol, and Shotgun Cartridges Including Pressures and Velocities and Reloading Data for Gun and Ammunition Manufacturers Professional and Amateur Target Shooters, Game Hunters and Guides (with Jacques Pierre Herter).
Professional and Amateur Archery Tournament and Hunting Instructions and Encyclopedia (with Russell Hofmeister).

Reminisces and articles

“The greatest cook book writer in history” — so begins Mark Gelbart’s 2005 article on The Bull Cook.

Also that year, Stephen Bodio posted a GLH reminiscence that discusses some of the books. Bodio points out a few Herterisms, including this gem, from 1963’s The Truth About Hunting in Today’s Africa: “Most people don’t realize that being eaten by a hyena doesn’t hurt very much.”

Bob Zimmerman wrote an essay on his memories of the Herter’s catalog back in the 1960s.

The article “Classic Cookbooks Create Some Wild Conjecturing” contains a recipe for Steak Aflame.

Don’t miss Out Your Backdoor’s memories of Bull Cook and the Herter’s catalog — he talks about how it contained silk, gems, cured salmon and maple syrup (!) and postulates that Herter’s began to decline once the ban on selling guns through mail-order went in place.

From Guns Magazine, April 2005: “… in my youth their catalog was the wish book for all things outdoors.”

George Campbell’s 2007 reminiscence of a boyhood poring over the Herter’s catalog, “Remembering Herter’s — An Iconoclast’s History” (scroll down) reminds us that George Herter was a master marketer.

In 2008, Herter was profiles in the New York Times (Dec 7 2008).

More reminisces and memories of the Herter’s store…

For further reference

Navy coffee

admin — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 02:36:18 +0000

Famous with seamen around the world, Navy coffee is rich, dark, just a bit salty … and the best coffee you can get.

Called by many other names including black gang coffee, gunners brew, shaft alley juice, old black joe, it’s the same dark juice around the world, on all the seas.

“Lifeblood of Navy: Good Coffee” by JOC Earl Smith, USN is the best article on Navy coffee out there. See also the poem by Cdr. Rod Mooney, USN (ret), “Navy Coffee.”

Brewing Navy coffee

True Navy coffee is a secret. Or is it? We know that the coffee’s ground just before it’s used, the brewing equipment is kept meticulously clean (yet never scrubbed out) and the coffee grounds aren’t ever reused. The coffee is strong, you drink it all day, and it has a trace of salt so you won’t get dehydrated.

If you want the recipe, you need to read “Brewing Coffee the Navy Way.” It’s an article from SeabeeCook, reprinted from the 1945 edition of the Cook Book of the United States Navy.

Another set of guidelines for making Navy coffee is given by the Urban Possum, who did his time in the Navy and knows what it’s all about. He says to use economy-brand coffee (the idea is we’re talking about government suppliers, but the US Navy has its own roasting plants in Oakland California and Brooklyn New York), citing Chase & Sanborn as an example. I’ve used it, and recommend it, but the best I’ve found is the dark French roast variety of the store brand from the Tops grocery store chain, currently in upstate New York and eastern Pennsylvania. (I’m sure that the Tops coffee is rebranded but have yet to verify this. It would be great to know their supplier and find out where else it can be obtained.)

It’s always drunk black, as TUP notes above, all morning and all day … and then with cream and sugar to start the night watch.

Another blogger’s recipe for black gang coffee is a mix of dark and light coffees with a pinch of salt. He uses Folgers. The dark French roast from Tops (defunct) seemed surprisingly close.

There is a whole literature about Navy coffee. See also the many reference to salted coffee (and especially black gang coffee)

Navy coffee’s metioned in many novels and books, including Bill White’s Intrepid: The Epic Story of America’s Most Legendary Warship. And there are a variety of crest Navy mugs available from Shopzeus, including special crests. The absolute plainest, most “Zen” Navy mug I’ve ever seen is this understated mug from DAS products.

Salted coffee

admin — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 21:13:35 +0000

I’ve been doing a great deal of research on salted coffee and experimentation with the various preparations of the beverage. I’ve found that adding salt to coffee was a common practice among seamen as well as several diverse ethnicities up through most of the last century. Then it seems to have fallen out of mainstream favor — becoming a kind of legend and nearly a forgotten practice — until just recently.

For those who are now discovering this old method, know that it can be used to brighten up any bad cup of coffee and to take out the bitterness. It adds a new “savory” flavor to what is otherwise a sweet beverage, and provides several health benefits. And it has now proven (in early 2009) to be a hot international trend in its different variations, discussed below.

Salted coffee among ethnic groups

The origins of salted coffee go back to the history of various seafaring peoples of Europe and Asia. The addition of salt in coffee was especially popular among the seafaring, “partly nomadic people of Mongolian race” including those in North Europe (the Laplanders of Finland) and parts of the Orient, including China. In Mark Kurlansky’s Salt: A World History, it was said that it was “a habit of the Laplander in the far north.”

It should be noted that in these northern European nations of the North Sea, including the Netherlands and Finland, coffee drinking has always been popular — in fact Finland is still known today as one of the most coffee-drinking nations in the world. It has been reported in literature from the 1940s that it was “the Finnish way” (below) and one secretary claimed that it was a Dutch secret. This practice could be due to the seafaring nature of these nations. Supposedly some peoples from the seafaring lands of the Far East added salt to their coffee, and in recent years (2008) it was reported online that “all the Chinese-run coffee shops” in NYC do this.

Today, while nearly forgotten among English-speaking peoples — a search online for “Finnish coffee” brings not a single reference to the addition of salt — there are many anecdotal reports and old reminisces of housekeepers and mothers from back in the 1950s and at least one mother-in-law who used a percolator always putting a little salt in their coffee, both before and after brewing, to reportedly great results.

Salt Coffee, the new craze in Taiwan

But salt coffee is coming back, and this new phase of mass popularity for the preparation started in Taiwan. As recently reported in the news, Taiwan has “gone crazy” for salt coffee, with articles in late 2008 and early 2009 appearing in the international press, including Australia’s The Age as well as Time magazine (“Some Salt with Your Coffee? Taiwan’s Hot Drink,” Jan 15 2009.)

The 85 Degree Bakery Cafe — who beat Starbucks in 2005 to become that nation’s largest coffee chain — launched a new product called Salt Coffee on December 11, 2008; spokeswoman for the company Cathy Chung had reported in the news that sales for the new Salt Coffee product was 20 to 30 percent higher than their standard “American Coffee” product. Unlike other forms of salted coffee discussed here, the 85 Degrees Bakery Cafe product contains sea salt — and instead of mixing it into the grounds or the brew, the salt is sprinkled on the cold whipped cream that is dolloped on top of the hot and steaming regular cup or the chilled ice-coffee version.

The drink gives you many flavors in one drink, and as reported in a Reuters news story, the popular, new formulation has been predicted to go mainstream.

These predictions are already panning out: it’s now officially come to the US, as the first reports of sea-salt coffee as a healthful American trend have been reported in Florida. On March 6, 2009, Good Morning Jacksonville hosts Patty Crosby and Phil Amato did a live taste test of sea-salt coffee on the air. [video]

Recipes for this below; I’ll recommend a good Hawaiian organic sea salt and give recommendations for others, too.

Get the latest news on this trend…

Recipes for salted coffee

The recipes are simple; most instructions are to just add a pinch of the salt to the grounds before perking or brewing. Some add a small amount to the individual cup of coffee after it’s brewed; they also include cinnamon or cardamon and mix it in before brewing to cut the bitterness. A little bit of salt is supposed to be effective for that.

Chow.com has a few brewing hints.

An old recipe among sailors (below) is to use 1 part salt to 6 parts coffee grounds.

To prepare the new “sea salt coffee,” as served in Taiwan, just brew a good, rich cup of dark coffee using fresh grounds, optionally give it a dollop of creamed frothy milk or whipping cream, and shake out some sea salt either on top of the cream or milk (if you’ve used it) or straight into the coffee. What type of sea salt you decide to use will be a personal preference but (as with coffee) many people prefer a good Hawaiian sea salt. Try stirring in a mixture of sea salt and turbinado sugar! This is a good coffee beverage to have before working out, because the salt will prevent dehydration.

You don’t have to stick with the organic Hawaiian sea salt — there are many types and pedigrees of sea salt, and it’s best to experiment and try a few. Brittany Sea Salt manufactures French sea salt in a handy shaker-top bottle that’s good for the workplace coffee station. (They also have large canisters of their signature “Fleur De Sel De Camargue” French Sea Salt at a very reasonable price.) It’s an interesting idea to try sea salts from around the world as well as to match the region of the sea salt with the type of beans: Italian roasts or Greek coffee with mediterranean sea salt, French roast with Brittany’s product, Kona blend with Hawaiian organic, and so on.

Salted coffee among sailors and seamen

The origins of salted coffee go back to the sea. Adding salt to the water used to brew coffee has been called a common practice among sailors, commercial fishermen, workers on offshore oil rigs and among any groups where potable water “has been stored for a long time,” the reason being that the added salt will cut the bitterness but removes some of the “stale” taste of the stored water.

“In 1926 Major Cheesman, for eight years British Consul in northwest Ethiopia, was served salted coffee”: from Ethiopia in Broader Perspective by Katsuyoshi Fukui (1997).

This is called Black Gang Coffee and has its origin among the men who worked in the engine rooms of ships. The thick, dark coffee they would brew would keep them up and going for the long, extended hours of their shifts, and the addition of salt was done “for the electrolytes” and because salt is a natural water softener. One “black gang coffee” recipe is to use one part salt to six parts dark coffee grounds, mix, and then brew

Salted coffee for your health

The sailors and seamen were probably on to something. It does improve flavor and the idea of adding salt to soften the water is good, but in a 1906 issue of Interstate Druggist, an American trade magazine, it was reported that a Dr. William C. Alpers of New York [search] added “a small quantity” of salt to the grounds used in brewing the coffee he served at the soda fountain of his drug store. Dr. Alpers claimed that the addition of salt gave the brew “a finer flavor” and at a meeting of the Manhattan Pharmaceutical Association he claimed to obtain the formulation from this practice from an old-time coffee manufacturer that had since gone out of business. [full text of his remarks] The pinch of salt added to his percolated coffee “improved sales considerably.” What Dr. Alpers also did was soak the coffee grounds in water for several hours before he added the salt or percolated it, “treating it as he would any crude drug from which he proposed to extract the active principle.” Too much salt, he said, would spoil the product.

With the advent of Taiwan’s new salt coffee beverage, food writers are discussing the healthful benefits of adding salt to coffee.

Salted coffee in literature

It’s referenced as Finnish coffee in Nancy Hale’s The Prodigal Women (1942), in which a hot coffee being perked by a Finnish woman in a small oceanside New England town is described as salty-tasting “in the Finnish way.”

It’s mentioned early on in The Big Show: My Six Months with the American Expeditionary Forces by Elsie Janis (1919), a WWI memoir, and apparently salt in coffee is mentioned at least a few times in mid-20th century literature, and even later: it’s been said that in an early Tom Clancy novel (Patriot Games?), an “ex-admiral at the CIA” instructed someone to add a pinch of salt to the brew, and that it was the old Navy method. And in a more recent mystery novel by Robert B. Parker, Hush Money, one of the “Spenser Mysteries,” the protagonist/chef puts a pinch of salt in his coffee grounds before brewing.

Black gang coffee is mentioned in at least three novels, all dealing with naval and military subjects. The oldest reference I’ve found is in Richard McKenna’s 1962 classic, The Sand Pebbles, a tale of a U.S. Navy gunboat on the eve of the Chinese revolution. (Amazon is currently offering it on sale with another postwar military classic, The Caine Mutiny.) Later, it’s mentioned in two of Tom Clancy’s “Jack Ryan” novels, Debt of Honor and The Bear and the Dragon. In an old WWII Navy book by Capt Abercrombie and Fletcher Pratt, they claim that the coffee’s tested by floating an iron wedge in it. (If it’s salted properly, the wedge floats, not sinks.)

The addition of salt in coffee is not always presented favorably. In Truman Capote’s classic true-crime “nonfiction novel” In Cold Blood, it’s a breakfast mistake — and the sugar went into the eggs (the exact line is used in a forgotten nineteenth century story from the “Monthly Packet”). [excerpt] It’s also a mistake in an old children’s book, “Tim’s Salted Coffee” (1974) [buy] And in Debbie Levy’s Richard Wright: A Biography, it was claimed that employees at one coffee shop hated black people and added salt to their coffee, giving them an “unpalatable” beverage.

For further reference

There’s a little story out there about one man’s reason for salting his coffee, and you can also read the funny story of Barbara O’Connor’s experience with salted coffee.

Justin Wilson

admin — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:33:51 +0000

Star of “Cajun’ Cookin’”; Cajun cook, raconteur and humorist. Deceased.

“I guar-on-tee!”

In addition to his cooking and famous television show, Wilson wrote a children’s book of Cajun fables (a “Cajun Mother Goose”) and recorded many albums of Cajun humor as well as music.

Purchased the Moderne mansion built by William G. Rankin in the 1930’s, preserved and restored it (see “Thoroughly Moderne: An Architectural Gem with a Spicy History,” Inside Northside, Jan 2009).

For further reference

“Pleeese bah mah ressi-peees!”

Removing wine labels

admin — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 21:12:52 +0000

Depends on the type of glue. Methods:

1. Peeling
2. Steaming
3. Soaking
4. Chiling then allow bottle to reach room temperature.

Google search

Good, cheap wine

admin — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 21:50:35 +0000

Not all expensive wine is good. Not all cheap wine is bad. Here’s an attempt to chronicle the best of the latter.

“Wine for Tightwads,” an article by Mike Steinberger in Slate, goes through some of them including Taurino Salice Salentino, “the world’s greatest pizza wine.” I agree with his assertion that Two-Buck Chuck is terrible.

You can get good cheap wines from many local, small wineries, but there’s plenty of decent import deals too. There’s two recent books you’ll want to reference: Robert Druitt’s Report on the Cheap Wines from France, Italy, Austria, Greece and Hungary and
Robin Goldstein’s The Wine Trials: 100 Everyday Wines Under $15 that Beat $50 to $150 Wines in Brown-Bag Blind Tastings. The latter is a must-have for everyday wine drinkers. And both of these books cost less than the bottles of wine in question!

There’s a number of review sites that are dedicated to the good, cheap wine. Their names are obvious, if unimaginative: cheap wine reviews, good cheap wine guide and good wine cheap.

Pizza wines

See note above. Some chiantis, merlots, and Italian reds make great “pizza wines.”

2006 Marchesi di Barolo Barbera Monferrato Maraia has been named Official Pizza Wine of 2008 by hartford.com.

Trend article: “Pizza, wine combine quite nicely” (Dec 2008)

“A Pizza Wine Fiasco?,” an article from Ireland’s Connections Magazine (Aug 2007), is an attempt to analyze what makes the perfect pizza wine.

“Pizza Wine,” a blog entry from the “good wine under $20“ blog.

Online wine sources

I recently heard about mywinesdirect.com which has a coupon code of “radio” and supposedly offers bulk discounts. There’s also getmywines.com.

Excellent winehunting searchpatterns: one two

For further reference

Uses for lavendar

admin — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:11:07 +0000

Unusual uses for the herb lavendar.

Culinary Lavendar

“Cooking with Lavendar” includes a history of lavendar and a dozen interesting recipes (crostini with white truffle & olive paste, lavendar sorbet)

Happy Valley Lavendar & Herb Farm recipes (lavendar lemonade)

Crafts

Homemade lavendar soap balls

Buwei Yang Chao

admin — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:44:21 +0000

(1889-1981)

Chinese medical doctor and author of English-language books including the classic Chinese cookbook, How To Cook And Eat In Chinese.

[google] [wikipedia]

Books

Autobiography of a Chinese Woman by Buwei Yang Chao, Put into English by Her Husband Yuenren Chao

One of the earliest hits on the net for BYC was this book, as referenced in the syllabus for a history class at the College of William and Mary, “Women in Modern China” (History 490C05, Fall 1995, prof. Ernst Schwintzer) [arc]
How to Order and Eat in Chinese to Get the Best Meal in a Chinese Restaurant
How To Cook And Eat In Chinese

A classic. Invention (as a result of her writing style) of the term stir-fry (1945). The Tigers & Strawberries blog has a nice memoir of the book.

For further reference

Eating Ortolans

admin — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 19:59:15 +0000

a french delicacy … the partridge (ortolan bunting) which is cooked by allowing the meat to begin to rot, then fried whole, and is eaten (beak, bones, claws and all) after a white napkin is placed over the diner’s head

usenet search, 29 hits circa 2009

google web search

All paradise opens! Let me die eating ortolans to the sound of soft music.

Culinary history

The ortolan is French country cuisine. Mentioned by 18th century French chef M. Massialot. Considered for centuries as the “abolute pinnacle” of French gastonomic experience.

A towel is used to fully absorb the aroma and flavors — originated by a Catholic priest and friend of epicurean Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. [recipe] [video]

My grandfather used to enjoy eating ortolans in Biarritz, sometimes in the company of Rudyard Kipling.

“My grandfather used to enjoy eating ortolans in Biarritz, sometimes in the company of Rudyard Kipling”: that’s the beginning of “Small is beautiful,” an article by Simon Courtauld published in The Spectator on Wednesday, Jan 10 2007. Courtauld explains why the woodcock is choice, and must be cooked with the head on — the brains are among the best eating.

Ortolan-eating in literature

One of Benjamin Disraeli’s most oft-quoted sentences: “All paradise opens! Let me die eating ortolans to the sound of soft music.” (from The Young Duke) [99-cent kindle ed.]

Sentiment echoed by Robert Louis Stevenson: “To live reading such reviews and die eating ortolans — sich is my aspiration” (letter to W.E. Henley, mid-December 1883), from Selected Letters of Robert Loius Stevenson

Louis XVIII’s way of cooking them discussed in Romances by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet (1894) (v. 23) [PDF]

Mentioned in journal of William S. Burroughs (The Cat Inside?)

Prohibition

Now banned in “civilized” France?

(2007 upholding of law passed in 1999)

“France’s songbird delicacy is outlawed,” The Telegraph, Sep 10 2007

“Dainty morsel of songbird off the menu,” The Age, September 10, 2007

“The ortolan stirs up trouble behind a white napkin,” The Independent (London), Jan 11, 1997

“At a Secret Chefs’ Dinner in France, A Tiny Songbird Lands on the Plate,” New York Times, Dec 31, 1997

Francois Mitterand had them prepared for him (illegally) as his last deathbed meal

Wikipedia entry