About
a week ago, an e-mail arrived.
“Goats.
I never would have guessed. I saw a review of your book mentioning
that you were going to talk about circus tents, whoopie pies
and the origins of coffee. I bought it. Got to the essay on
coffee, and, goats. I don’t think I have ever immediately put
a book down to do a Google search before. But I had to know,
and sure enough, when I did, goats.”
Thank
you for reaching out. But more to the point…
Goats,
birds, whatever, food is strange stuff.
Seriously.
These
days there are test kitchens all over the place working on recipes
and perfecting the already perfected. All sorts of variations
for incredible reasons. But the craziest thing to me isn’t where
we’re going. It’s where it all begins. Which in turn, explains
the goats.
Let’s
think about a lemon meringue pie.
I
mean, come on, it’s crazy that anyone would think of separating
eggs, right? For you and I, today’s world, separating eggs is
kind of a normal thing. But this is going back hundreds of years.
And we have a pie that takes the yolks to make the lemon curd
filling and then says (my words): “Whoa, hey, not so fast. Save
those egg whites, my friend. And grab your cream of tartar, because
we’ve got more work to do.”
That,
right there, is impressive culinary magic and planning.
The
history of meringues is, well, unknown. Honestly, no two sources
really agree on being able to state anything definitive. Most
will mention a small community and a chef by the name of Gasparini.
(Several seem to take a tremendous pleasure in noting that it
likely was not invented in France. Enough that it was an obvious
recurring side note, and I was really wondering why so many articles
were mentioning it wasn’t invented in France. Perhaps another
story, definitely for another time.)
If
you look in enough places, you’ll see meringue creation citations
ranging from 1604 to 1720, England to Poland. Most will not mention
that Gasparini apparently was located in the town of Meiringen,
which makes a claim to a certain waterfall nearby… Reichenbach
Falls, of Sherlock Holmes fame.
(But
I didn’t come here to talk about Sherlock Holmes.)
Think
about some of the recipes you enjoy. Many of them, you probably
take for granted. But most cookbooks are filled with history,
discovery, and happy accidents.
We
have a lot of recipes that have been passed along in our family.
Two of the big ones are for pecan rolls and pork pie. Tradition.
Emotions. And chances are good that from holiday tables to celebratory
gatherings, there are a few things that take place involving food
around your home.
So,
yes, goats. Where meringue was created. Funny and fascinating.
Food can be communal and festive. And also, just a bit strange.