TDG: OTOH: How to Cook a Wolfe

[Fat Guy]

The Cat and the Cook critique the cuisine of the world's greatest detective.

(First in a five-part series to appear daily this week)

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[alacarte]

This is a fun article to read -- I'm looking forward to the next installment!

Ever read Barbara Pym? I recently read "Excellent Women" -- every other page, the main character is making tea or deciding what the next meal should be. Unfortunately, the meals are invariably depressing, i.e. a can of beans, or a chop for one, fried in a pan.

[fresco]

Congratulations both of you for capturing the essence of Stout. Can't wait for the ensuing instalments on what's bound to become a classic on eGullet--recipes wrapped up in mysteries. I do have to say, though, that the Nero Wolfe stories hold up a damn sight better than the Nero Wolfe recipes. Is there anything more stale or less satisfying than a cookbook whose time has come and gone?

There is one other Stout food connection that should be noted. His sister Ruth Stout was an early exponent of organic gardening under mulch and wrote extensively on the subject.

Edited July 7, 2003 by fresco (log)

[NeroW]

Excellent!

I'm bouncing in my seat.

[maggiethecat]

Excellent!

I'm bouncing in my seat.

Thank you, your Neroness. (One seventh of a ton is bigtime bouncing!

[NeroW]

Excellent!

I'm bouncing in my seat.

Thank you, your Neroness. (One seventh of a ton is bigtime bouncing!

The neighbors are complaining.

They always complain.

[jackal10]

My copy of Nero Wolfe Cookbook is the 1981 Penguin edition.

Essential Americana, and my first reference for American recipes.

The recipes are really quite good. Anyone know who really wrote it?

Favourites include Corn Fritters with Thyme Honey, and, of course, Shad Roe...

[fifi]

What fun!!! Way to go, guys. Can't wait until the next installment.

I am currently reading my way through the series. I just finished "Too Many Women". The most notable food discussions in this one were around Archie taking various "dames" to Rusterman's (sp?), the restaurant that Wolfe has some connection with. Fritz was mostly cooking breakfast it seems.

Has anyone ever really tried those 40 minute scrambled eggs?

[maggiethecat]

Has anyone ever really tried those 40 minute scrambled eggs?

Yes. Maybe the Wednesday installment?

[Fat Guy]

Part II is here.

[guajolote]

Hey Dave,

Isn't Meyer Meyer a detective in the Ed McBain 87th Precinct books, not the Ross MacDonald ones?

[fresco]

Meyer's full name is never disclosed in the McGee series--so Dave may well have inside information that we are sharing for the first time. Ross McDonald (Kenneth Millar in real life) , while an excellent mystery writer, worked the opposite coast from John D.

Edited July 8, 2003 by fresco (log)

[alacarte]

more! more! more!

so...what the hell is a Flemish olive?

[Dave the Cook]

Unfortunately, I don't have inside information on anything. I have a creaky mid-term memory that gets worse under the stress of a deadline.

As an example, the only way I can keep John and Ross MacDonald straight is to remember that the Travis McGee novels have colors in the titles. Why this works, and why it's easier than any number of more memory techniques is beyond me. Another example: when I typed the name "Meyer Meyer," for a minute I was sure that he was a character not in John, or Ross, or Ed, but in Catch 22. But that was Major Major. Wasn't it?

Thanks for the vote of confidence, fresco -- unless you know something, and I've stumbled onto it accidentally?

[Dave the Cook]

more! more! more!

so...what the hell is a Flemish olive?

Like you, I'm hoping she'll tell me.

And thank you.

[fresco]

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, fresco -- unless you know something, and I've stumbled onto it accidentally"

Dave,

You and Maggie both deserve a vote of confidence and thanks--great work. John D. has taken the mystery of Meyer to the grave, so calling him Meyer Meyer is as valid as Meyer Lemon or whatever.

[jhlurie]

Okay life-long Nero Wolfe fan here. Liking this.

[NeroW]

I wonder about that "school banking scheme" myself.

Keep it coming, y'all. This is going to get me through a semester of Soups and Sauces.

[Priscilla]

Charming! And to think all these years I thought it was very nearly just me.

My identification with the Brownstone and its occupants is total. A harmless delusional literary relationship -- harmless, though adamant in its persistence. Some people have this sort of delusional relationship with Catcher in the Rye; can lead to bad ends, as we have seen.

(I owe my introduction to the Consort, who began inhabiting the Archie Goodwin character immediately upon first read, age 14 or something. He was well macerated indeed by the time I met him.)

[maggiethecat]

(I owe my introduction to the Consort, who began inhabiting the Archie Goodwin character immediately upon first read, age 14 or something.  He was well macerated indeed by the time I met him.)

Sigh. You are the Luckiest of Women.

[Fat Guy]

Part III . . .

[Fritz Brenner]

Good stuff! Thanks much.

[fresco]

Maggie and Dave, you're three for three. Don't know that I buy the notion that Fritz Brenner had notions about Archie. My impression is that he saw Goodwin more as cat than catamite--a rather alarming and sometimes feral creature to be fed and fussed over rather than a tasty morsel that he fancied served over easy.

[Dave the Cook]

Maggie and Dave, you're three for three. Don't know that I buy the notion that Fritz Brenner had notions about Archie. My impression is that he saw Goodwin more as cat than catamite--a  rather alarming and sometimes feral creature to be fed and fussed over rather than a tasty morsel that he fancied served over easy.

Thanks, fresco.

Personally, I think she's jealous. I've got my inning coming on this one.

Feral?

[KNorthrup]

I just asked my mother to ship me at least part of her collection, but expect disappointment. Maybe if I offer Wodehouse in return. Thanks for the rekindling.

Edited to add the irresistably appropriate part of my mother's response :

What's really neat is that I discovered Nero Wolfe, Archie, et al, as tattered paperback books on an old bookcase in the summer cottage in Regina Beach.

Edited July 9, 2003 by KNorthrup (log)