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THE ELEGANT ART OF DINING
Paste Makes Waste
In an Italian grocery store we noticed a great variety of pastes in
boxes arranged along the counter and began counting them. The proprietor
noticed us and, with a characteristic shrug of his shoulders, said:
"That is but a few of them. We have not room to show them all." In
response to our inquiry regarding the number of kinds of paste made by
Italians he said there were more than seventy-five. Ordinarily we think
of one--spaghetti--or possibly two, including macaroni. If our
knowledge goes a little farther we think also of tagliarini, which is
the Italian equivalent of noodles, as it is made with eggs.
In New York we were much impressed with the stress they laid on the
serving of spaghetti, and one restaurant went so far as to advertise
dinners given "under the spaghetti vine." It appears that this is the
only paste they know anything about.
After one eats tagliarini or ravioli one feels like paraphrasing the
darkey and saying, "go way spaghetti, yo done los' yo tase."
Then comes tortelini which, like ravioli, combines paste with meat and
spinach. These may be considered the most prominent of the pastes, the
others being variants in the making and cutting, each serving a special
purpose in cooking, some being for soups, others for sauces and others
for dressing for meats. It is more than probable that the great variety
comes from individual tastes in cutting or rolling.
All Italian restaurants serve the paste as a releve rather than as an
entree, which it usually follows, preceding the roast in the dinner. As
a separate and distinct dish it can well be made to serve as a full
meal, especially when tagliarini is prepared after the following recipe:
Tagliarini Des Beaux Arts
Cook one pound of tagliarini in boiling water twenty-five minutes, then
draw off the water. To the tagliarini add a handful of mushrooms which
have been sliced and fried in butter. Then add three chicken livers
which have been chopped small and fried, one sliced truffle, one red
pepper chopped fine and a little Parmesan cheese. Make a brown sauce of
one-third beef broth thickened with melted butter and flour and
two-thirds tomato sauce, and pour this over the tagliarini. Sprinkle
with the Parmesan cheese and serve very hot from a chafing dish. (By
Oliver, chef of the Restaurant des Beaux Arts, Paris.)
In San Francisco one finds both the imported and the domestic paste, and
frequently one hears the assertion that the imported is the better. This
idea is born of the thought that all things from Europe are better than
the same made in America. In fact the paste that comes from Italy is
neither so good in taste, nor is it so clean in the making. We have
visited a number of paste factories in San Francisco and have found them
all scrupulously clean, with the best of materials in the composition of
the pastes.
One often wonders how the pastes came to be so many and how they
received their names. Names of some of them are accidents, as is
illustrated by macaroni. According to an Italian friend who vouches for
the fact, it received its name from an expression of pleasure. "Macari"
means "fine, excellent," and the superlative is "macaroni." A famous
Italian gourmet constantly desired new dishes to please his taste, and
one day his chef carried to him something that was unusual. The gourmet
tasted it, cried out "macari!" Tasted again, threw out his arms in
delight and cried "macaroni!"
"What is the name of this wonderful dish?"
"You have named it. It is macaroni."
The Elegant Art of Dining
Contents
Foreword
The Good Gray City
The Land of Bohemia
When the Gringo Came
Early Italian Impression
Birth of the French Restaurant
At the Cliff House
Some Italian Restaurants
Impress of Mexico
On the Barbary Coast
The City That Was Passes
Bohemia of the Present
As it is in Germany
In the Heart of Italy
A Breath of the Orient
Artistic Japan
Old and New Palace
At the Hotel St. Francis
Amid the Bright Lights
Around Little Italy
Where Fish Come In
Fish in Their Variety
Where Fish Abound
Some Food Variants
About Dining
Something About Cooking
Told in A Whisper
Out of Nothing
Paste Makes Waist
Tips and Tipping
The Mythical Land
A Good Bohemian Dinner
Restaurant Famous Recipes
Appendix (How to Serve Wines, Recipes)
Art of Dining Index
Mailing Lists
Forums
Webrings
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