Food for Thought: Taking Control
Musings on food passages from a Murder Mystery series
Food and a Murder Mystery Series
My library contains volumes of books directly related to food. Cookbooks, modern, vintage, and sometimes obscure; food history tomes penned by likes of Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, Mark Kurlansky, and Ken Albala; food memoirs, documenting the lives of food-centric personalities like Ruth Reichl, Gabriela Hamilton, and Julia Child; books about food writing and photography; cookbooklets published by Knox, Crisco, and General Mills.
But lately I’ve been reading a series that has no direct link to food. As a matter of fact it’s a murder mystery series, and yet Louise Penny beautifully incorporates food to create context and connection.
How Recipes Create Order
Welcome to the third installment of Food for Thought. Where I share thoughts and musings on some of my favorite food references and/or passages from the books I’m reading.
We’re continuing with Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache series.
Today’s excerpt is taken from The Nature of the Beast. This novel is centered around some pretty dark topics. And I felt like this excerpt illustrates how food and more specifically recipes can help to ground us and bring a sense of peace and control in the wake of devastating circumstances.
When upset, Reine-Marie liked to chop, to measure, to stir. To follow a recipe. Everything in order. No guessing, no surprises…
Dinner was served, starting with parsnip and apple soup, with a drizzle of walnut-infused oil on top.
There are a couple of things that I wanted to talk about in this excerpt. The first is Rein-Marie’s need to create some sense of rightness. And the second is the use of apples in recipes throughout the novel.
After having received news of an unnatural and heinous act, Rein-Marie turns to her kitchen and especially to recipes to help her through the emotions she’s experiencing as well as providing some solace for those with whom she will surely share this food. To further clarify Rein-Marie’s state of mind, Penny writes, “she was four courses upset and considering an amuse-bouche.”
If you’ve never prepared a four course meal, it’s an undertaking. There’s the hors-d'oeuvres, an appetizer, a main dish, and a dessert. There’s planning to ensure that the appetizer compliments all of the following courses. Making sure that the hors-d’oeuvres are available to guests upon arrival, but not too heavy or in quantities to spoil the meal. A main dish that will satisfy everyone and a dessert that will create a sense of completeness and not gluttony. But Rein-Marie is so upset that in addition to all of this she’s even considering an amuse-bouche - a dish that often expresses a big idea in a small bite - something that would not only convey her grief and her despair but also her faith in human-kind.
And to do this she turns to recipes. The codification of the culinary creative process. A list of each and every ingredient, their measurements and form. Instructions outlining how the ingredients are to be combined, into what vessel the mixtures are to go, the exact temperatures to employ, and how many minutes are required for every step. There is no guessing - not when you follow the recipe. And if you follow the recipe exactly, there should be no surprises. And no surprises, no aberrant deeds is exactly what Rein-Marie intends. It’s what she intends every day of her life as she follows the codes that guide her life. But today, those moral and ethical codes failed to protect one close to her. So she turns to her recipes to create order.
I have to wonder if this is exactly why we turn to baked goods to soothe pains, express sympathy or provide sweetness in the face of incivility. Baking relies on order. Order in the way the ingredients are prepared, combined, and finished. There is no guessing in baking. It’s often described as a science.
I know that when I’m feeling a little out of control, the kitchen is my sanctuary. It’s where I can ground myself and take control of a little part of my life.
On to the second thing that I wanted to discuss - the use of apples throughout the novel. This excerpt is just one of many apple references Penny includes in the book. From a practical standpoint, it makes sense. The fictional village of Three Pines exists in the St. Lawrence River Valley in Quebec which is known for its prolific production of apples.
From an allegorical standpoint the apple represents many of the themes addressed within the novel. Knowledge, temptation, decay, sin, the fall of humanity as well as health, future happiness, and love.
In the first course, Rein-Marie pairs apples with parsnips to create a bone-warming soup that is at the same time sweet and earthy. She tops it with an oil infused with walnut, the nut that symbolizes both wisdom and discernment. In the hopes, I have to think, of reminding us of our responsibility to judge fairly and choose wisely.
Do you have a favorite recipe that brings you comfort, solace, or order when things have gone a bit askew? Let me know
On Friday, I’ll share my recipe for an apple soup that will wrap you in the comfort of an autumn sweater and it will certainly be a wise choice to put on your table.
This Friday, As We Eat Journal patron subscribers will enjoy a recipe for an apple soup that will be a wise choice to put on your table. For just a few dollars, you can get access to this exclusive content as well as more in-depth articles and help keep our oven lights on!
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I do have a fav! Easy Cheesy Rice and Beanies from Home Cooking (by me) is my go to comfort food.
I hope someone writes a Three Pines cookbook.
Yes! Angelina's Bachelor's. It's a really sweet book about a woman who suffers loss and ends up getting through her grief by cooking for her neighbors. It's a great read and comes with recipes that I have yet to try!