Ultimate feasts

[FistFullaRoux]

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/food_an...icle2255670.ece

From Nero's "ultimate orgy" to today's (2/10/007) Epicurean Masters of the World banquet in Bangkok, simply reading the list made my cholesterol spike 20 points.

Lovely delicacies like a 4 foot tall marzipan mosque, extra helpings of ortolans, escalloped elephant, and boiled veal in a helmet - two of these incredible meals resulting in prosecution by a king and condemnation from a Pope.

The kicker? A 31 course meal by Claude Mornay that was given an indifferent review by the NYT.

Pardon me while I go fix a salad...

[Domestic Goddess]

Wow! what a read! I am overwhelmed with Mitterand's last meal. The tiny ortolan and Mitterand eating two of them 8 days before he died.

A description of eating an ortolan

You catch the ortolan with a net spread up in the forest canopy. Take it alive. Take it home. Poke out its eyes and put it in a small cage. Force-feed it oats and millet and figs until it has swollen to four times its normal size. Drown it in brandy. Roast it whole, in an oven at high heat, for six to eight minutes. Bring it to the table. Place a cloth—a napkin will do—over your head to hide your cruelty from the sight of God. Put the whole bird into your mouth, with only the beak protruding from your lips. Bite. Put the beak on your plate and begin chewing, gently. You will taste three things: First, the sweetness of the flesh and fat. This is God. Then, the bitterness of the guts will begin to overwhelm you. This is the suffering of Jesus. Finally, as your teeth break the small, delicate bones and they begin to lacerate your gums, you will taste the salt of your own blood, mingling with the richness of the fat and the bitterness of the organs. This is the Holy Spirit, the mystery of the Trinity—three united as one. It is cruel. And beautiful. - Wiki