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Elizabeth David is one of my favorite food writers. Oh there are many more that I cherish also, such as M.F.K Fisher, Simone Beck, Laura Shapiro and of late, Ruth Reichl and Anthony Bourdain. My list is actually pretty extensive and sometime soon, maybe it would be fun if we all did a post on our favorite food writers. I am always looking for a new good book on food and wine.
If you like the writings of the “old gals” may I suggest “An Omelette and A Glass of Wine” by Elizabeth David. This book was originally published in 1952 and is an enchanting collection of pieces and essays written over the span of 35 years for a variety of publications that she submitted her work. Even though Elizabeth’s home was England, her favorite countries were France and Italy and many of the essays in this book take place there. Take for instance the essay “An Omelette and a Glass of Wine”. Elizabeth takes us to a celebrated restaurant called the Hotel de la Tete d’Or on the Mont-St-Michel just off the coast of Normandy. Here the menu never changed and, of course, one of the items was an omelette. Madame Poulard, proprietress of the hotel, was known for her exquisite lightness and beauty of her omelette which brought lots of tourists flocking to her table. Further on into the essay, Elizabeth explains what a good omelette consists of and then talks about wine with an omelette. Elizabeth states “Although there are those who maintain that wine and egg dishes don’t go together I must say I do regard a glass or two of wine as not, obviously, essential but at least an enormous enhancement of the enjoyment of a well-cooked omelette. In any case if it were true that wine and eggs are bad partners, then a good many dishes, and in particular, such sauces as mayonnaise, Hollandaise and Béarnaise would have to be banished from meals designed round a good bottle, and that would surely be absurd. But we are not in any case considering the great occasion menu but the almost primitive and elemental meal evoked by the words “Let’s just have an omelette and a glass of wine”! In the rest of this essay Elizabeth takes us with her in her travels in the south of France and talks about her simple meals of omelttes. Her descriptions of her surroundings makes you feel like you are right there with her, “On market days when I was living in a rickety old house in a crumbling Provencal hill-top village…” Now close your eyes and you can actually picture her rickety old house in that hill-top village! I really enjoyed her last sentence in this writing on omelettes and wine, “But one of the main points about the enjoyment of food and wine seems to me to lie in having what you want when you want it and in the particular combination you fancy.” How right you are Elizabeth!
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So may I suggest, if you are looking for a good read on a cold wintry evening, pour yourself a nice glass of Shiraz or Merlot to get the chill out and kick back and join Elizabeth David in her colorful explorations of food, cooking, wine and very interesting characters.
I know, now you are wondering where my omelette recipe and recommendation of a wine to pair with it happens to be. Well, the two gentlemen that I dine with every evening would not hear of having eggs for dinner and, serving a glass of wine with my omelette for breakfast, well that will have to wait till I am on vacation! Or hey, maybe not…
Cheers!
If you like the writings of the “old gals” may I suggest “An Omelette and A Glass of Wine” by Elizabeth David. This book was originally published in 1952 and is an enchanting collection of pieces and essays written over the span of 35 years for a variety of publications that she submitted her work. Even though Elizabeth’s home was England, her favorite countries were France and Italy and many of the essays in this book take place there. Take for instance the essay “An Omelette and a Glass of Wine”. Elizabeth takes us to a celebrated restaurant called the Hotel de la Tete d’Or on the Mont-St-Michel just off the coast of Normandy. Here the menu never changed and, of course, one of the items was an omelette. Madame Poulard, proprietress of the hotel, was known for her exquisite lightness and beauty of her omelette which brought lots of tourists flocking to her table. Further on into the essay, Elizabeth explains what a good omelette consists of and then talks about wine with an omelette. Elizabeth states “Although there are those who maintain that wine and egg dishes don’t go together I must say I do regard a glass or two of wine as not, obviously, essential but at least an enormous enhancement of the enjoyment of a well-cooked omelette. In any case if it were true that wine and eggs are bad partners, then a good many dishes, and in particular, such sauces as mayonnaise, Hollandaise and Béarnaise would have to be banished from meals designed round a good bottle, and that would surely be absurd. But we are not in any case considering the great occasion menu but the almost primitive and elemental meal evoked by the words “Let’s just have an omelette and a glass of wine”! In the rest of this essay Elizabeth takes us with her in her travels in the south of France and talks about her simple meals of omelttes. Her descriptions of her surroundings makes you feel like you are right there with her, “On market days when I was living in a rickety old house in a crumbling Provencal hill-top village…” Now close your eyes and you can actually picture her rickety old house in that hill-top village! I really enjoyed her last sentence in this writing on omelettes and wine, “But one of the main points about the enjoyment of food and wine seems to me to lie in having what you want when you want it and in the particular combination you fancy.” How right you are Elizabeth!
So may I suggest, if you are looking for a good read on a cold wintry evening, pour yourself a nice glass of Shiraz or Merlot to get the chill out and kick back and join Elizabeth David in her colorful explorations of food, cooking, wine and very interesting characters.
I know, now you are wondering where my omelette recipe and recommendation of a wine to pair with it happens to be. Well, the two gentlemen that I dine with every evening would not hear of having eggs for dinner and, serving a glass of wine with my omelette for breakfast, well that will have to wait till I am on vacation! Or hey, maybe not…
Cheers!
