Books, Arts & Manners: Don’t Forget the Dog

AS THIS column regularly insists, what is wrong with most would-be cooks’ cooking is that they are socialists. I know you don’t think you are a socialist. And I’m sure you aren’t one at the office or when you vote. I’m not quite so sure about when you’re in your bedroom. A lot of chaps who are right-on conservatives in the office are a bit wobbly when it comes to sexual morals. But it is certainly the case that many more who are impeccably right in all the rest of their lives suddenly become Stalins when they get in front of the stove.

Take Geoffrey. He’s trying to learn to do a little more cooking. I caught him the other day making his first Spanish omelet. Fine. A Spanish omelet is a first-rate dish. More people should cook them. There Geoffrey was, egg in one hand poised over a bowl in which were several other broken eggs. On the left of the bowl was the recipe he was following. It was the wrong recipe. It listed what is needed (for four people) as 1 pound of potatoes sliced thin, 2 cups of olive oil, 6 eggs lightly beaten, salt, and pepper. Now, I know this is the recipe given in nearly every book, but it’s wrong for people who want to learn to make a Spanish omelet. And whom else could the recipe be for? If you know how to make one already you don’t need the recipe. The correct recipe is 3 pounds of waxy potatoes sliced thin, 6 cups of olive oil, 36 free-range eggs lightly beaten, a high-sided cast-iron frying pan and a lid that covers it, salt and pepper, and a dog.

DA

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Digby Anderson

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AS THIS column regularly insists, what is wrong with most would-be cooks’ cooking is that they are socialists. I know you don’t think you are a socialist. And I’m sure you aren’t one at the office or when you vote. I’m not quite so sure about when you’re in your bedroom. A lot of chaps who are right-on conservatives in the office are a bit wobbly when it comes to sexual morals. But it is certainly the case that many more who are impeccably right in all the rest of their lives suddenly become Stalins when they get in front of the stove.

Take Geoffrey. He’s trying to learn to do a little more cooking. I caught him the other day making his first Spanish omelet. Fine. A Spanish omelet is a first-rate dish. More people should cook them. There Geoffrey was, egg in one hand poised over a bowl in which were several other broken eggs. On the left of the bowl was the recipe he was following. It was the wrong recipe. It listed what is needed (for four people) as 1 pound of potatoes sliced thin, 2 cups of olive oil, 6 eggs lightly beaten, salt, and pepper. Now, I know this is the recipe given in nearly every book, but it’s wrong for people who want to learn to make a Spanish omelet. And whom else could the recipe be for? If you know how to make one already you don’t need the recipe. The correct recipe is 3 pounds of waxy potatoes sliced thin, 6 cups of olive oil, 36 free-range eggs lightly beaten, a high-sided cast-iron frying pan and a lid that covers it, salt and pepper, and a dog.