"Just Enough Liebling"

[DRColby]

Sunday's NYTimes carries a review of "Just Enough Liebling" ( http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/26/books/review/ ), a reader of his work.

I havn't read this, but I have long been a Liebling fan.

Anyone interested in food - and especially classic food - should not miss "Between Meals: An Appetite for Paris"; today it is interesting to see the the wines and meals that have stood the test of time.

I was introduced tof Liebling in the late 50's, when I tried my hand at sportswritting and covered boxing along with all the other sports. In the 50s television had not yet ruined boxing as a sport. Liebling was one of the few real boxing writers. He was outstanding when portraying the Long family and Louisiana.

Liebling seems to have been a character of H.L. Mencken proportions and nearly as tragic.

dave

[Gifted Gourmet]

Thank you for this article, dave! I read it over and followed a link to an excerpt which was, as my two favorite passions indicate, highly Liebling, highly food-involved .. on Liebling first:

Liebling's idea of a good lunch was as follows: ''raw Bayonne ham and fresh figs, a hot sausage in crust, spindles of filleted pike in a rich rose sauce Nantua, a leg of lamb larded with anchovies, artichokes on a pedestal of foie gras, and four or five kinds of cheese, with a good bottle of Bordeaux and one of Champagne.''

pure Liebling .. excerpt: first chapter

On the occasion of our reunion, we began with a truite au bleu-a live trout simply done to death in hot water, like a Roman emperor in his bath. It was served up doused with enough melted butter to thrombose a regiment of Paul Dudley Whites, and accompanied, as was right, by an Alsatian wine-a Lacrimae Sanctae Odiliae, which once contributed slightly to my education.

[Carrot Top]

Liebling is a rather Runyon-esque character, isn't he. A writer that held a huge personality...and one that was clearly his own and not created by 'media hype'.

There are some writers that have a way of expressing themselves...so that the feeling you get is more of eating the words rather than reading the words. There can be a sense of rollicking adventure....as you munch or gobble or taste your way through rather than watching or imagining or thinking your way through....Liebling does this in spades!

Thanks for the link!