Since the day the first person took pen to paper, authors have enjoyed writing about food. Odysseus spent as much time eating as he did fighting; the characters in the Cantebury Tales devoted as much time to the dinner table as they did to fornicating; and Gargantua would have been little more than an oversized oaf had it not been for his magnificent dining habits.

At no time in history, however, have writers gained more pleasure from writing about food than at the end of the 19th century. Charles Lamb dedicated a marvelous essay to the praises of roast pork ("Pig: let me speak his praise"). Melville held forth on the delights and disadvantages of dining on whale: ("...the fact is, however, that when you come to sit down before a meat-pie nearly 33 meters long, it tends to take away your appetite"). Tolstoy was especially exuberant about the quality of young wines (a young officer in War and Peace exclaims: "our business in the army is to do our duty, to fight, to die if necessary, not to think and to drink as much of this marvelous wine as possible").

When Benjamin Disraeli's coach stoped for dinner on the road to London he wrote, "And what a dinner it was. What a profusion of substantial delicacies! What mighty and irresistible rounds of beef! What vast and marble-veined ribs! What huge veal-pies! What colossal hams! Such extraordinary prize cheeses. And how invigorating is the perfume of those various and variegated pickles. ...Tis truly a wondrous sight."

Mark Twain, conjuring up visions of his beloved America wrote about "buckwheat cakes with maple syrup, hot bread, fried chicken, Boston baked beans, and corn fritters. And above all, a mighty sirloin steak two inches thick, hot and sputtering from the pan, dusted with fragrant pepper, and enriched with little melting bits of butter". Whether they came from America, England, France or Russia, late 19th century authors were writing primarily about basic country-style cookery. Gogol wrote that he had "no use for great gentlemen who live in the big cities and who spend their time in deliberating what fine foods they will eat tonight and what sort of sophisticated dinner they will have the day after".

In Dead Souls, the character of Chichikov represented Gogol's ideal diner. "...a gentleman of the middling sort who, when he travels is wise enough to ask for ham at one post-station and suckling pig at another, and a portion of sturgeon or some smoked sausage and onion at a third. Later, when he finds an inn for the evening, as if he had eaten nothing at all for three days, he will request a stuffed chicken and, because a single chicken is never enough for one man, he will request as well a plate of cabbage, perhaps with a few sausages."

The following recipes, adapted from a 19th century Russian cookbook, would have pleased Chichikov. Prepared together, they will serve 4 - 6 non-Russians.

Chicken Stuffed With Beef and Nuts

2 large chicken
rind of 1 lemon, grated
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
350 gr. chopped beef
6 Tbsp. half-cooked rice
2 Tbsp. parsley, chopped
85 gr. chopped almonds
1/2 cup oil
2 tsp. sweet paprika
1 1/2 tsp. each salt and pepper

Clean the chicken well, discarding the excess fat. Sprinkle lightly, inside and out, with salt and set aside for 1 hour. Rinse the chicken under cold water and dry well inside and out.

Combine the lemon rind, onion and garlic with the chopped beef. Add the rice, parsley, almonds and 1/2 tsp. each of salt and pepper. Mix well by hand. In a skillet heat 1/4 cup of the oil and in this fry the mixture until the onions are translucent. With this mixture stuff the cavity of the chicken and sew closed.

Place the stuffed bird in a baking dish and sprinkle generously with paprika and to taste with salt and pepper. With a brush, coat the chicken lightly with part of the remaining oil. Place the chicken in a hot oven, basting occasionally with the remaining oil and the pan drippings. The chicken will be reddish brown when ready (about 40 minutes). Serve hot.


Sausage Patties with Cabbage

850 gr. lean, boneless pork
150 gr. pork fat
about 2 tsp. thyme
2 tsp. finely ground black pepper
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. basil
bacon fat for cooking
1 cup Bechamel sauce (see following recipe)
1 cup milk
4 cups cabbage, shredded finely

Grind the pork and the fat together. In a mixing bowl combine the pork, salt, pepper, thyme and basil and blend together well. Shape the mixture into individual patties about 7 1/2 cm in diameter and 1 cm thick.

In a heavy skillet melt the bacon fat and in this fry the patties over a medium flame. Turn occasionally so that both sides cook evenly. Cook until the sausages are well browned on the outside and done inside. Drain off the excess fat as it accumulates and then drain the sausages on absorbent toweling. Set aside to keep warm.

Prepare the Bechamel sauce.

In a large saucepan bring the milk to a boil and into this gradually drop the cabbage. Boil for 2 minutes and then drain. Discard the milk. Drop the cabbage into the hot Bechamel sauce and simmer for 2 - 3 minutes longer. Serve immediately.


Bechamel Sauce

2 Tbsp. butter
1 1/2 Tbsp. flour
1 cup milk
1 small onion
2 whole cloves
1/2 small bay leaf
salt and black pepper to taste

Over a low flame melt the butter. Add the flour and blend this into the butter over a very low flame, stirring for about 3 minutes. Slowly stir in the milk.

Stud the onion with the cloves and add this and the bay leaf to the mixture. Cook and stir the sauce with a wire whisk until thickened and smooth. Place in a medium oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and strain the sauce. Correct the seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.

© Daniel Rogov