Chicken – Empires, Cannibals, and Magic Fish Bones

June 27, 2019

My Life With Eggs Since The Beginning Of The Year. And A Walrus.

Like a golden eye slowly cooking in a sea of red. Yolk and whites slowly beginning to bubble in a paprika-rich goulash. Think Sauron. Think an Eye of Sauron Yule Log. For five hours. Eventually the egg cooks and rests in a bowl of peppery goodness grounded with a chicken stock. Think of the beginning … Continue reading My Life With Eggs Since The Beginning Of The Year. And A Walrus.

September 10, 2018

Heraclitus On Smoke; Hervé Smoking.

Take a study of natural forces, add a healthy pour of figurative language and delicious fragments from the natural philosophers from the eighth and seventh centuries BCE throughout the Aegean, especially in the Greek letters of Heraclitus. Consider, Fragment 7: εἰ πάντα τὰπάντα καπνὸς γένοιτο, ῥῖνες ἂν διαγνοῖεν. Transliterated into our alphabet, and we read: … Continue reading Heraclitus On Smoke; Hervé Smoking.

September 26, 2017

Reading And Cooking Liver While Several Species Of Small, Furry Animals Gather Together In A Cave And Groove With A Pict.

Liver has pride of place in the human body in ancient texts as a producer of blood and a source of life. The Etruscan bronze liver above with its inscriptions guides the reader of entrails through a large, meaty organ considered the basis of life. The ancient Greek term is hēpatoskōpia, which means to examine the liver. … Continue reading Reading And Cooking Liver While Several Species Of Small, Furry Animals Gather Together In A Cave And Groove With A Pict.

December 15, 2015

If On A Winter’s Night A Cock-A-Leekie

We open with Gustav Klimt’s Garden Path with Chickens (1916). If a blog post is a path to a particular world of sense and sound, then this one includes a chicken. And a cow. And leeks. Let’s walk further down the path. The first words of a favorite novel open thus, “You are about to … Continue reading If On A Winter’s Night A Cock-A-Leekie

September 7, 2014

René Redzepi Roasts A Chicken At Home Or What Happens When I Don’t Turn Celsius Into Fahrenheit.

He’s one of the foremost chefs in the world. His restaurant Noma is regularly voted the best in the world. He’s the father of foraging. And I don’t have near his knowledge, skill or kitchen. I don’t have hare bones, reindeer lichen or a wild grey duck. I can’t vacuum-pack, dehydrate, sculpt fake mussel shells. … Continue reading René Redzepi Roasts A Chicken At Home Or What Happens When I Don’t Turn Celsius Into Fahrenheit.