As a kid, I was a tomboy. I wore scuffed dungarees and
Converse sneakers, and was happier watching dirtbike races than playing with
dolls. I spent little time in the kitchen. Passing though, usually, on the way
to my next adventure. But there was a special collection of books on the shelf
that caught my eye even then. Especially one in the series: How to Cook a Wolf. How intriguing! Just
like the Dungeons and Dragons stories my brother and I created, it inspired imaginative
worlds. Only when I was older did I realize it was about living frugally in
times of war.
Over the years, I’ve read portions of M.F.K. Fisher’s books.
It’s a fascinating body of work. As I re-read the series, it was clearly a
perfect fit for the “How Do They Feast?” series I originally started to talk
about how food is portrayed in historical fiction. The series has grown to take
on a lot more, and I’m looking forward to exploring M.F.K. Fisher’s books as a
subseries to “How Do They Feat?” Thanks to Mom for letting me take them off the
shelf and “adopt” them for a time.
The Art of Eating
is a compilation of her earlier work. Far from the glamorous celebrity chef
culture, the introduction of The Art of
Eating almost apologizes for its own existence. Our puritanical roots are
suspected in the lack of indulgence in the literature of gastronomy on the part
of Americans. European greats such as Brillat-Savarin
are mentioned as the experts on writing about food. Many lived under
Brillat-Savarin’s shadow for a long time. M.F.K. Fisher, like Julia Child,
pioneered a new path for American foodies.
Alas, there were those who thought it wasn’t possible that
Fisher’s books were really her own. It was believed a man wrote them for her.
The essays were too well-crafted—so much history and culture—clearly a polymath
of the Ivy League, they speculated. Well, the glass…errr…skillet was at least
broken in that realm, and we celebrate many women who achieve great success as
chefs and writers alike. It does make me wonder, though, what M.F.K. Fisher
would have thought if she could see the abundance of cooking shows today. She
strikes me as a lady who would appreciate the travels and observations of
Anthony Bourdain, rather than the bluster and superficiality of Guy Fieri.
I begin the series where she began, with Serve It Forth. Published in 1937, the
book delves into interesting historical bits, such as the
curious-but-kind-of-gross garum of
Roman times, a sauce made of fermented fish guts that was a delicacy. (Which
has now leapt off the pages of history, and has evidently become a thing—I may
muster the courage to give it a try soon!) From the eating habits of medieval
royalty to French fads during colonial times and during the French Revolution,
Fisher provides an amazing array of detail. If you’re an author looking to add
some authenticity to the cuisine of your worlds, her books are a delightful
resource.
Frederick the Great made coffee with champagne instead of
water, and flavored it with mustard. (Take
that, trendy bulletproof coffee!) When
American colonists began consuming turkey, many a French social-seeker ruined
their finances serving turkey with truffles—an exorbitant expense which
practically depleted the truffle business. Even in modern times, historical
associations have given certain types of food a social status. Turnips and
cabbage have a particularly bad reputation for being “the food of the poor,”
but leeks and artichokes also make the list. M.F.K. Fisher relates some
striking quotes in an effort to dispel snobbery here, such as saying “Mrs. So-and-So
is the type of person who serves artichokes!”
as a means to slam someone’s social standing. It’s kind of funny, until you
realize how real it is.
What I found particularly striking were Fisher’s concerns
about the American diet. Even in the early 20th century, she noted about how
much people ate, and observed a trend in weight gain among older adults. She
worried about the future of this trend, which has sadly become a devastating
reality, with half of Americans dealing with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes,
according to a newly
published study by the Journal of the American Medical Association. In her
essay of the tendency to overeat, she says, “To eat is a necessity, but to eat
intelligently is an art.”
M.F.K. Fisher introduces Serve
it Forth by listing cookbooks as one of the three items that proves man’s
ingenuity in transforming necessity into art. Indeed, her way of cataloging how
we’ve viewed cuisine over the centuries shows this is the case. From the most
extravagant to the most frugal, her work offers meticulous insight into our
relationship with food.
A “meat and potatoes” style of cooking is mentioned with
some frequency, so in honor of the mid-20th century way, I’m sharing a recipe
that may have made it into the ‘50s-style kitchen. It combines happy hour and
dinner, with steak tips marinated in a giant Old Fashioned. Toward the end of
the book, Fisher tells us an endocrinologist told her that after a hearty meal
of rare beef and wine, the earlobes turn red, and that’s the time to ask for
favors or tell bad news. I’ll leave it to you to decide how to play on that. :)
Old Fashioned Marinated Sirloin Tips with Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes
Sirloin Tips Marinated
in an Old Fashioned
½ cup bourbon
½ cup orange juice
½ cup cherry juice
2 lbs. sirloin tips
1 onion
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Cut steak into 2-inch chunks. Marinate in bourbon, orange
juice, and cherry juice for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
Begin by pouring enough olive oil to lightly cover the
bottom of a large skillet. Add sirloin tips, reserving the marinade on the side,
and cook in batches if necessary, until sear—keep it very rare at this stage!
Remove beef and set aside. Add chopped onion and cook until browned. Return
beef to the skillet and add the sauce. Cook down until sauce thickens and makes
a nice glaze on the sirloin tips (you can add some flour or cornstarch to the
sauce to speed up the thickening process.)
Buttermilk Mashed
Potatoes
2 lbs. potatoes (about 6 medium)
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup buttermilk
Salt and pepper to taste
Chives, chopped (optional)
Add potatoes to large pot. Fill with water and season with
salt. Boil for approximately 15-20 minutes, or until very tender. Drain. Mash
in pot with butter, buttermilk, and season with salt, pepper, and chives as
desired.