On Adrienne Rolfe's estate, there is a community supper after the wheat harvest and again after the grape harvest with competitive overtime cooking done by:
the manor's cook;
her staff;
estate housewives;
any men who want to.
The food is a mix of:
Latin food from Italy and southern France;
some German;
some East European.
At the wheat harvest supper attended by Tom and Roy, starters are a choice of corn on the cob, ranch-cured duck prosciutto and pears, spicy tuna tartare, tomato fondant or chilled coriander broth. After his corn on the cob, Tom has:
Lucillian (?) salads with scallops and lobster tails;
a steak of Angus beef brushed with garlic-steeped olive oil, grilled over oak coals;
cauliflower with mustard and fennel seed;
beaten biscuits;
Adrienne's extremely good wine, fermented slightly differently from on FirstSide.
7 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I'm sure Nicholas van Rijn and Dominic Flandry would greatly enjoy the meals Stirling describes with loving detail in CONQUISTADOR! (Smiles) Altho it's possible Flandry would also enjoy having these banquets somewhat more elegantly laid out and served. But, these meals are more elegant than Oleg Khan's dinner in honor of Flandry that we see in "A Message in Secret."
And the word you were looking for is "Lucullan," not "Lucillan." Another good one is "Apician."
Sean
Sean,
Stirling has "Lucillian" on p. 414.
Paul.
For what some call "food porn" -- which the meal descriptions you give certainly fall into -- you could try the *Sten* series by Allan Cole and Chris Bunch. The Eternal Emperor (millennia old and has survived over 160 assassination attempts, only three of them successful) includes cooking among his hobbies. Recipes are often given in detail.
*Emergence* by David R. Palmer had a sequence where the injured narrator is attended to by a young fellow who's an incredibly good cook. Susceptible readers may gain five pounds just from her description of the "sheerest culinary artistry" he prepares for her in the course of one day.
Kaor, Paul!
Then, regretfully, I have to say I think Stirling made a mistake. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary has "Lucullan," not "Lucillian." But, I agree this is a minor matter, a mere matter of proof reading!
Sean
Yup, I got it wrong!
Dear Mr. Stiling,
And considering how many mistakes I make in the notes I leave in the comboxes here, I'm in no position to be hypercritical! (Smiles)
Sean M. Brooks
Being hypercritical would be hypocritical ;^)
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