The Physiology of Taste; Or, Transcendental GastronomyBrillat-Savarin
Philosophy
The Physiology of Taste; Or, Transcendental Gastronomy
Brillat-Savarin
Gastronomy
Having business with the cure of----, she went thither about five
P. M., and was surprised to find him at dinner.
She believed that every body dined at six P. M., and was not aware
that ecclesiastics dined earlier, from the fact that they were
used to take light collations.
Madame R---- wished to retire, but the cure would not permit her
to do so, either because the matter under discussion would not
interrupt conversation, or that a pretty woman never disturbs any
entertainment.
The table was very well arranged; old wine sparkled in a chrystal
flagon, and the porcelain was faultless. The plates were kept hot
by boiling water, and an old housekeeper was in attendance.
The meal was half way between luxury and abstinence. A soup of
ecrevisses was removed and a salmon trout, an omelette, and a
salad were placed on the table.
"My dinner tells you," said the priest "what you do not know, that
to day is a fast day." My friend assented with a blush.
They began with the trout, the shoulders of which were soon eaten.
The sauce was made by a competent person and the pastor's brow was
irradiated with joy.
Then the omelette, which was round and done to a point, was
attached.
As soon as the spoon touched it, the odor and perfume it contained
escaped, and my friend owns that it made her mouth water.
The curel had a sympathetic movement for he was used to watch my
passions. In reply to a question he saw Madame R---- was about to
ask, he said, "It is an omelette au thon. My cook understands them
simply, and few people ever taste them without complimenting her."
"I am not amazed," said his lady guest, "for I never ate anything
so delightful."
Then came the salad. (I recommend it to those who have confidence
in me. It refreshes without exciting. I think it makes people
younger.)
Dinner did not interrupt conversation. They talked of the affair
which had occasioned the visit, of the war, of business, of other
things which made a bad dinner passably good.
The dessert came. It consisted of septmoncel cheese, of apples and
preserves.
At last the house-keeper brought forward a little round table,
such as once was called a gueridon, on which was a cup of strong
mocha, the perfume of which filled the room.
Having sipped it, the cure said grace, and arose, adding "I never
take spirits, though I offer them to my guests. I reserve them as
a succor for extreme old age."
While all this was progressing, time had passed, and as it was six
o'clock, Madame R---- was anxious to get into her carriage, for
she had several friends to dine with her. She came late, and told
her guests, of whom I was one, what she had seen.
The conversation passed from subject to subject, but I, as a
philosopher, thought the secret of the preparation of such a dish
must be valuable. I ordered my cook to obtain the recipe in its
most minute details. I publish it the more willingly now, because
I never saw it in any book.
OMELETTE AU THON.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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