An Edible Time Machine

If you’ve read much of this blog you’ll quickly realize that while I’m not quite prepared to call it my raison d’etre, I do have a definite passion for the history, characters, creative output and costumes of the 20’s and 30’s.

I’ve recently discovered a book well worth reading even if you don’t take a fancy to Alice B. Toklas, Dorothy Parker and the famous Flapper Fitzgerald family. Written by Suzanne Rodriguez-Hunter, Found Meals of the Lost Generation is an absolutely delightful combination of interesting tidbits about some of my favorite characters from the period and recipes for some of the meals they were known to enjoy.

Rodriguez-Hunter availed herself of more than 100 biographies, memoirs, letters, and novels, and her research yields abundant references to food and meals of the Moderns from the now-historic banquet thrown by Picasso and Gertrude Stein for Henri Rousseau in 1908, to the exalted Cucumber Sandwiches a la Oscar Wilde served at the weekly salon of Natalie Barney; Kiki’s Boeuf en Daube from her native Burgundy; and the Truite Grenobloise dinner A. J. Liebling shared with his father in 1927 at Maillabuau’s, then one of Paris’ best restaurants.

With the notable exception of Alice B. Toklas, the Lost Generation was not particularly known for its culinary contributions. Many recipe sources are not credited at all, but occasionally she does toss in a surprise with Toulouse-Lautrec’s personal recipe for Riz a la Valencienne, Edith Wharton’s Corned-Beef Hash, Virgil Thompson’s Gnocchi, and Charlie Chaplin’s Welsh Rarebit. While they may not qualify as bona fide members of the Lost Generation, they certainly share the same time period.

I made Chaplin’s Welsh Rarebit last night and it was a treat…with or without the bowler hat and bendy cane.

Encompassing the years 1908-1930, Rodriguez-Hunter adroitly covers key expat players: Picasso, Stein, Dos Passos, Joyce, Beach, McAlmon, the Fitzgeralds, Hemingway, Kiki, Man Ray, Natalie Barney, the Murphy’s, Langston Hughes, Josephine Baker, Bricktop, Kay Boyle, et al. Even without any recipes, this little gem of a book stands on its own as an efficient survey of the lives of many of the names we have come to know collectively as the Lost Generation.

I leave you with a cocktail to try while you enjoy this tasty little book. It’s called the Jimmie Special. Named after James Charters, an ex-Liverpudlian boxer and the most popular bartender in Montparnasse.

Of this drink it’s creator says this, “On women this drink had the effect of causing them to undress in public, and it often kept me busy wrapping overcoats around nude ladies! But even knowing this did not prevent some of the feminine contingent from asking for the Jimmie Special. I wish I had 100 francs for every nude or semi-nude lady I’ve wrapped up during the best Montparnasse days!”

Do with this what you will…..

THE JIMMIE SPECIAL

For two people, combine in a cocktail shaker: 1 jigger cognac, 1/2 jigger Pernod, 1/2 jigger Amer-Picon, 1/2 jigger Mandarin, and 1/2 jigger sweet cherry brandy (kirsch). Shake thoroughly. Drink straight or mix with soda to taste.