Savarin Au Rhum – Dining With The Dame 8

Hello crime readers and food lovers!  Today we are boarding a luxury train (No, not the Orient Express…but we will get to that one eventually) for murder, robbery and other hijinks.  Luckily Poirot is on hand to bring justice to all.  And, even better, while we read we can munch on some cake.  Tbook is The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie, first published in 1928 and it features a Savarin Au Rhum.

The Mystery Of The Blue Train – The Plot

Heiress Ruth Kettering is taking the luxury “Train Bleu” from Paris to Nice.  Also on the train is Katherine Grey, a young girl who is on her first trip out of England after inheriting a large amount of money.   When they meet in the dining car  Ruth tells Katherine that she is unhappily married and that she is on the train to go to meet her lover.

The next morning Ruth is found dead, strangled in her sleeper compartment and the gorgeous and very expensive  “Heart of Fire” ruby which had been given to her by her father is missing.  Moreover, not only has she been strangled but her entire face has been bashed in.

Luckily for all, Hercule Poirot is also travelling on the same train and is engaged by Ruth’s father to find the murderer and the missing ruby.

On top of murders and missing jewels we have

• About to be ex-husbands with money issues
• Ruth’s somewhat shady lover
• Ex-lovers with axes to grind,
• An infamous international jewel thief known as The Marquis
• Shonky secretaries
• Male impersonators

Ooh la la…Poirot’s little grey cells have to go into overdrive on this one!

The Covers

Many of the covers feature versions of trains, murdered women etc.  I particularly like the skulls and bones level crossing!  Then there are the covers that take a less obvious route.  These are of course my favourites!

The Recipe – Savarin Au Rhum

For the recipe for Savarin au Rhum, I turned back to one of the vintage cookbooks I looked at a few years back, The A-Z of Cooking.  The Savarin is a French cake which is why I chose it.  Who knows, a Savarin of Rhum may well have featured on The Blue Train’s menu back in the day!.

The Savarin would be a great recipe to serve guests who claim not to like cake (although why are you friends with people like that?) as it is not overly sweet.  The recipe says it is meant for  6-8 people.  We are 2 people but the Savarin did keep nicely in the fridge for close to a week.  Once it got a teeny bit stale, it made a lovely scone substitute if you toasted a slice or two and added some jam and a dollop of cream!  So, even even if you have fewer than the required number of people, it will not go to waste.

The Comte de la Roche had just finished dejeuner, consisting of an omelette fines herbes, an entrecote Bearnaise and a Savarin au Rhum. Wiping his black moustache delicately with his table napkin, the Comte rose from the table.  He passed through the salon of the villa . noting with appreciation the few objet’s d’art which were carelessly scattered about.

Agatha Christie, The Mystery of the Blue Train

Other Food Mentioned in The Mystery of The Blue Train’

This book mentions so much food it was hard to decide what to choose!

• Brown Bread (for supper)
• The above mentioned Omelette fines herbes and entrecote Bearnaise
• Little bits of quail
• Chicken en casserole
• Apple tart and a jug of cream
• Filet of sole a la Jeanette
• Steak with grilled tomatoes
• Porterhouse steak
• Steak and kidney pudding
• Stilton and sparkling Moselle
• A small pot of chocolate
• Mint Humbugs

Have a wonderful week!

Next book in the list, if you want to read along, is The Seven Dials Mystery.