Serve While Blazing

Cooking with Wine and High Spirits
A Lighthearted Approach to the Art of Gourmet Cooking
by Rebecca Caruba
Published 1963
Original price unknown
Found in a used book store in Minneapolis

High Spirits are not ghosts. I'd hoped they were ghosts. But instead, they're just plain ol' boozeahol.

Aside from the recipes, which for the most part look surprisingly delicious, this book is full of great boozy factoids. Did you know that champagne can come in 8-, 12-, 16-, and 20-quart bottles? Yup! They're called Methuselah, Salmanazar, Balthazar, Nebuchadnezzar, respectively. How cool would it be to show up at a swank restaurant and order a Salmanazar of Tattinger. Just say that, Salmanazar of Tattinger - Salmanazar of Tattinger - Salmanazar of Tattinger.

Because you and your friends can easily drink 104 glasses of champagne in an evening.

The recipes in this book rely heavily on wine, port, and sherry (aka wine, wine, and more wine) but there are a few boozy greats. One could make a pretty fine meal of Scotch Lobster, Beer Bread, and Pumpkin Rum Souffle. Most appetizers and desserts are served aflame, which is a super double-bonus.

Chartreuse Pancakes
Batter:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp butter
3/4 cup beer
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp green chartreuse

Mix all batter ingredients in a small bowl, stirring briskly to incorporate. Set aside to mellow for about an hour. When ready to prepare, heat 1 tsp butter in a small frying pan and add approximately 3 tbsp batter to make a light pancake. Fry 1 minute on each side, remove from pan and set aside. Repeat with remaining batter (makes 12 pancakes).

Cream:
2 tbsp melted butter
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp yellow chartreuse
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Mix together the cream ingredients and brush onto each pancake. Roll and place side by side on a heat-proof platter. Immediately before serving, reheat by placing the platter under a broiler for 2 minutes. Flame at the table.

To flame: Place 1/4 cup green chartreuse in a flaming ladle and ignite by tipping it toward the flame of a candle. Pour immediately over the pancakes, which in turn will ignite.
Mix


And the Dirtiest Recipe Name Award goes to... Fudge Rounds!

Afflicted with The Ulcer Temprament

Good Food for Bad Stomachs
500 Delicious and Nutritious Recipes for Sufferers from Ulcers and Other Digestive Disturbances
by Sara M Jordan, MD
Published 1951
Original price unknown
Purchased at a Goodwill in Seattle - $1.99

Quite possibly the best passage ever is this relevation of the peptic ulcer-suffering forward-writer's newfound gastronomical joy and cultural mind expansion:
"One night I had dinner with Dr. Jordan and, in the process of demonstrating how a model patient goes about eating properly, mentioned that I was considering compote of fruit for dessert, a dish that I had pretty much settled on as a standard order, if, in my gustatory listlessness, I bothered with dessert at all. To my astonishment, Dr. Jordan suggested that i have a Meringue Glacee. Now meringue glacee has a French name, which is bad, and it is an ornamental concoction, which is bad. It sounds and looks evil."

Ooooh shudder! I guess the anti-cheese-eating surrender monkeyFrench sentiment has been a pastime of ours since the get-go. Anyway, the forward-writer continues:
"The meringue constituents of it look, in fact, almost as evil as a couple of macaroons, which are made of almonds, which are oily, and hence evil. Dr. Jordan revealed that meringue is made from the whites of eggs and sugar - no harm in the barrel of it. I had meringue glacee that evening, and although I regard it as essentially a sissy proposition and nothing for a full-grown man to lose his head over, I have it now and then when I'm in the ulcer victim's nearest approach to a devil-may-care mood."

OK then. So, a good ulcer patient only eats the boringest of borings, the French are evil, and desserts that look nice are only for girly-men. And with that, all ulcer-sufferers must eat nothing but cream cheese, cream of wheat, and cardboard.

Oh! Wait! They don't! Dr. Jordan will lead the willing through the "dietetic wilderness" and deliver them unto vast Table Of [pureed, non-fried, non-raw, non-spiced, non-acidic] Plenty. Those suffering from ulcers and other gastromic ills can indulge in and enjoy Calves Brains Au Beurre, Poached Eggs in Aspic, Fillet of Flounder with Creamed Shad Roe, and Rich Junket with Strawberry Syrup. And who wouldn't want to eat all that? Good Food for Bad Stomachs also dresses up the happy-tummy classics, with newfangled recipes for drip coffee, cream of wheat souflee, and butter noodles.

Calves' Liver in Sour Cream
1 pound calves' liver
butter
1 onion, sliced
2 sprigs parsley, chopped
1 1/2 cups stock,
1 tbsp butter
1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
3/4 cup sour cream
salt

Wipe liver with damp cloth, tie in presentable shape, then rub with salt. Put in a deep pan with onion, parsley, and stock. Cover closely and bake in moderate oven (350) 1 1/2 hours. Uncover, spread with butter, and continue baking 30 minutes, basting several times. At the end of this time, all but 2 or 3 tablespoons of the cooking liquid should be absorbed. Mix soy sauce and 1/4 teaspoon of salt with the sour cream and pour over the liver. Stir well, scraping up and mixing with the sauce any bits of solidified juices that may adhere to the pan. Put pan over direct heat and let cream bubble up for a minute or two. Place liver on hot serving platter, remove strings, and strain the sauce over all. Serves 4.

There, now doesn't that make you feel better?