Dining With The Dame - Retro Food For Modern Times

Category: Dining With The Dame

17
Aug
2020

Welsh Rarebit- Dining with The Dame 6

categories: Bread, Cheese, Dining With The Dame, Grilled Cheese, Poirot, Vegetarian

Hello crime readers and food lovers! The Murder of Roger Ackroyd which is Christie number 6 has a special memory for me because this was one of the books we had oin the bookshelf when I was growing up. This was probably one of the first Christie books I ever read!. It was also the book that made Christie’s name as a writer for the innovative twist at the end. It has been recognised, many times, as one of the best and/or most influential crime novels ever written. Never mind the accolades though, it also, beautifully and comically features one of my own favourite foods – a Welsh Rarebit!

One of the few good things working from home for the last… Good Lord five months now…. is that I can whip up a Welsh rarebit for lunch whenever I choose. Turns out I choose to do so quite frequently! It’s tasty, filling, perfect with a bowl of soup, a salad, or just on its own! Of course, I ‘ am not alone in loving a bit o’ Welsh Rarebit!

The normally curmudgeonly Martin Lampen claims

Cheese on toast, its Welsh Rarebit to those in the know. It’s the perfect British rainy day lunchtime snack – quick, cheap, easy to prepare….it’s a national icon”

– The Knickerbocker Glory Years

Albert Jack, however, draws attention to the rather origin of its name by calling it

” the most insulting way to serve cheese on toast”

This is because the English thought it would be funny to mock the Welsh by insinuating that they were too poor to have proper meat and so had to have cheese instead!

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd- The Plot

James Sheppard is the local doctor in Kings Abbot. He lives with his sister Caroline who knows all the gossip and scandal in the town and who is currently interested in finding out all about the “foreign” gentleman who has moved in next door.

A wealthy widow in the town has committed suicide by drinking veronal. Her fiance, Roger Ackroyd, is in a state of agitation because the day before Mrs Ferrars (the widow) confessed to him that she murdered her first husband. She also told him that someone knew she had done it and was blackmailing her.

That night, Roger Ackroyd is stabbed to death in his study by persons unknown…

Turns out the foreign gentleman next door is no other than Hercule Poirot who has moved to Kings Abbot to grow marrows in his retirement. (BTW, Kings Abbott is a real place and it looks absolutely GORGEOUS!)

Anyhoo, no one is getting away with stabbing people to death in the neck on Poirot’s watch. What follows are:

Mysterious phonecalls
Strangers lurking in the bushes
Chairs suspiciously out of place
Stolen money
Secret Marriages
And of course, Poirot using his little grey cells to solve the crime and out the murderer!
There is also a bit of slapstick when Dr. Sheppard gets hit over the head with one of Poirot’s marrows. I mean it’s not as good as this classic from the Amazing Race. But in terms of people getting forcefully hit with produce, it’s up there! Also, who knew I was keeping that list?

The Covers

Only three covers this time – the one from my childhood, the one I read which was a graphic novel! And my favourite of them all – I mean is it just me or does Roger look hot in that third one?

The Recipe – Welsh Rarebit

I need to set the scene a bit on this one. Dr. Sheppard invites Poirot round for lunch. However, there were only two chops available for the lunch table. In order to save face, Caroline Sheppard pretends to be a vegetarian and lunches on a Welsh Rarebit.

‘With magnificent mendacity, [she] explained to Poirot that … she adhered strictly to a vegetarian diet. She descanted ecstatically on the delights of nut cutlets (which I am quite sure she has never tasted) and ate a Welsh rarebit with gusto and frequent cutting remarks as to the dangers of ‘flesh’ foods.’

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Agatha Christie

The Recipe for Welsh Rarebit I used comes from Cookery The Australian Way which was my high school home economics cookbook! As you can see from the state of the page, this has been used a LOT! I have tried other recipes for Welsh Rarebit but this is the one I have returned to time and time again for the last…hmmm…lets not count the years since I was in high school!

Other Food Mentioned in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

Stay safe friends and have a great week!

05
Aug
2020

Steak Frites with Bearnaise Sauce – Dining with The Dame 5

categories: Dining With The Dame, Potato, Steak

“Hello crime readers and food lovers! The Secret of Chimneys is Agatha Christie’s fifth novel and it is a standalone thriller even though in the tv version it is turned into a Miss Marple mystery. Chimneys introduces us to Superintendent Battle who will return in future novels. On the menu for tonight’s dinner is a classic Steak Frites with Bearnaise Sauce. I have chosen the French nomenclature today because it sounds so much more classy than the English alternative of steak and chips! I think the Dame would have approved!

Oh, and just so you don’t get confused like I did over the title, Chimneys refers to a country house, not actual chimneys! The tv version was filmed at Hatfield house which was the childhood home of Queen Elizabeth 1. And totally gorgeous!

The Secret of Chimneys – The Plot

Oh Lord…where to start? This one is complicated!

So, let’s start it in Zimbabwe where we meet our hero Anthony Cade. A friend gives him the memoirs of a Herzoslovakian (yes really) aristocrat to take to publishers in London along with some incriminating letters written by a woman called Virginia Revel. Through a series of escapades, Anthony meets the real Virginia Revel and gets an invitation to Chimneys, but only after having disposed of the dead body in the study…

Rght about now, I usually do a bit of a summary of the novel. Well, I bought a big pile of Agatha Christie novels on eBay and the back cover of The Secret of Chimneys has done it for me. Here is what it says

“Stolen letters, a foreign envoy; a shot at one of England’s historic houses; detectives Britishm French and American; secret passages, a fabulous jewel, a mysterious rose emblem; an organisation called the Comrades of the Red Hand; an international jewel thief…”

I couldn’t have done it better myself!

Sadly, the Secret at Chimneys also contains some racial slurs and stereotypes that are definitely on the nose for the modern reader which diminished my enjoyment of this “light-hearted thriller”.

The Covers

The first three on the top row are the one I read, my favourite and I don’t even know what is happening here!!! As lovely as it is, I also feel the French cover looks like it was designed by someone who had never read the book!

The Recipe – Steak Frites with Bearnaise

“He thought longingly of such things as rump steaks, juicy chops, and large masses of fried potatoes. But he shook his head ruefully, glancing at his wristwatch”

The Mystery of Chimneys, Agatha Christie

Here’s the recipe. I used oven fries but this recipe has all the instructions to cook your “mass of fried potatoes” from scratch if you so desire! I also used dried tarragon in my bearnaise because winter!

Other Food Mentioned in The Secret of Chimneys

Have a great week! Oh and I’m so excited, my next post will be a collab with Jenny from Silver Screen Suppers! Stay tuned and stay safe!

16
Jun
2020

Coffee Ice Cream Sodas – The ManBrown Suit

categories: Coffee, Dining With The Dame, Drinks

Hello crime readers and food lovers! Today on Dining with the Dame I am looking at the food found in the fourth novel by Dame Agatha Christie, The Man in The Brown Suit, published in 1924. Like The Murder on the Links there was not much mention of food – at one point I seriously thought that this post might have to be on “dry toast and ginger-ale” which is mentioned as a meal taken by the very seasick heroine. Happily for me, later in the book she buys not one, but two, coffee ice cream sodas to soothe her jagged nerves following one of her adventures.

The Man in the Brown Suit – The Plot

Our heroine, Anne Beddingfield leads a quiet life but is ever so ready for adventures. After the death of her father she decides she wants to live in London and heads there for a job interview. On the way home, Anne sees a man fall onto the live rail at the station and die. Anne picks up a note dropped by the doctor who pronounced the man dead which reads “17.1 22 Kilmorden Castle”.

The man is identified as LB Carton and in his pocket was a viewing document for The Mill House, owned by Sir Eustace Peddler MD. The very next day a strangled woman is found dead in the same house. The eponymous “man in the brown suit” who was seen entering the property shortly after the dead woman is named a suspect.

Anne realises that Killmorden Castle is the name of a ship, sailing to South Africa. She uses the last of her money to buy a ticket.

Hijinks ensue!

The Man in The Brown Suit contains:

Travel to South Africa
Shifty secretaries
Suspicious clergymen
Stolen diamonds
Romance
Kidnapping
Murder attempts
And of course, the mysterious man in the brown suit

The Man in the Brown Suit is also funnier than any of the previous novels. There are quite a few witty lines, mostly to do with Guy Pagett, the shifty secretary mentioned above.

“Guy Pagett is my secretary, a zealous, painstaking, hardworking fellow, admirable in every respect. I know no one who annoys me more” says Sir Eustace. He also describes Pagett as having “the face of a fourteenth-century poisoner”.

The Covers

A lot of the covers for The Man in The Brown Suit either depict the scene on the train platform or else the ship, The Killmorden Castle.

I have chosen my two favourites here.

The one on the left has a Frank Abignale, Catch Me if You Can vibe which very much enjoyed. The one on the right takes the prize for bonkers with a depiction of a long blonde wig and a bloodied razor.

The Recipe – Coffee Ice Cream Sodas

“I walked into Cartwright’s and ordered two coffee ice-cream sodas – to steady my nerves. A man, I suppose would have had a stiff peg but girls derive a lot of comfort from ice cream sodas”

The Man in the Brown Suit, Agatha Christie

Coffee Ice Cream Soda – Dining with The Dame 4

Print Recipe

So good you might want two! And for the daring, it also has a “stiff peg” in it’

Author: Taryn Nicole
Yield: 1 1x

Ingredients

Scale

¼ cup hot coffee
1 tbsp sugar
1–2 tablespoons coffee liqueur or rum (optional)
Club Soda to fill your glass
2–3 scoops coffee ice cream
Finely grated chocolate (optional)
Maraschino cherry (optional)

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Stir the sugar into the hot coffee.
Chill until ready to serve.
When ready to serve, add the coffee liqueur / rum.
Pour into your serving glass.
Add the ice cream.
Top with club soda.
Garnish with grated chocolate and a maraschino cherry.

Notes

Alternate or additional garnishes might include chocolate sauce or whipped cream.

Other Food Mentioned in The Man in The Brown Suit

Dry toast and Ginger ale
Chicken Broth
Curry

A Personal Note

I identified with Anne Beddingfield quite a bit, particularly at the start of the book where she is girl from the ‘burbs, longing for both adventure and romance. Cue me at 14…15…16…17….

The plot about the stolen diamonds also made me remember a story I wrote when I was…maybe 10? I had just learned that the nickname for diamonds is “ice” and immediately wrote a story about a band of diamond thieves who hid their stolen wares in a large pitcher when the police came calling.

They would have got away with their nefarious ways except for an eagle-eyed girl detective (Trixie Belden? Nancy Drew? No, ME!) who noticed that on this very hot day, the “ice” in the pitcher was not melting as it should be.

Thieves caught, diamonds restored to their rightful owner. All well with the world!

I hope all is well with your world! Have a great week.

19
May
2020

Omelette Berrichonne – Murder on The Links

categories: Dining With The Dame, Eggs, Omelette

Welcome to the third chapter of Dining with the Dame. If you haven’t read chapters one and two, this is a series about the food found in the novels of Agatha Christie. Murder on the Links is the third Christie novel, published in 1923. This one, let me tell you had me worried. There are plenty of mentions of dejeuners (it is set mostly in France) but no actual food until towards the very end when finally, Poirot and Hastings sit down to “an excellent omelette”. Thank goodness! My back up, given the proximity of a golf course, was going to be a Golf Pie. I would totally eat it but I think it may be a little too basic B for Poirot! Luckily I was able to choose an Omelette Berrichonne as a more classy alternative!

Murder on the Links – The Plot

After meeting a charming girl on a train from Paris to Calais, Hastings returns to London eager to tell Poirot about the love of his life but Poirot is having none of it. He is bored and irritated by his current cases. He then reads a letter from Paul Renauld imploring him to come to France as soon as poss. They arrive at Merlinville to find Renauld has been murdered on the golf course next to his home by masked men who took him from his home leaving his wife tied up in the house.

There is:

a sexy neighbour and her mother, possibly the mistress of the dead man
a disinherited son
shonky South American business dealings
rivalry between Poirot and the French Inspector Giraud
a crime from the past
another dead body found in the shed and
Hastings’ romance with Dulcie Duveen who will go on to become his wife

There is no shortage of action in this one! I whizzed through it in a couple of days. I am really enjoying these reads!

The Covers

This has become one of my favourite parts of this series. I love seeing how the covers have changed over time. Here is a selection of them and there is not a dud in the bunch. Well, maybe the one in the bottom left corner but all the rest are crackers!

I love the top row second from the left and second from the right which features a Magritte style man with a goofball head. And of course the second from the right on the bottom row with its pulp fiction cover!

Do you have a favourite?

The Recipe

“Finally…we set out for the town. It was past our usual hour of dining, and we were both famished. The first restaurant we came to assuaged the pangs of hunger with an excellent omelette, and an equally excellent entrecote to follow”

Murder on the Links, Agatha Christie

The book did not give much away in terms of what kind of omelette the excellent omelette was so I had to improvise. I turned to the expert, Elizabeth David. And also followed her example by pairing my omelette with a glass of wine!

I used David’s recipe for an Omelette Berrichonne because I had a leek in the fridge and mint in the garden!

Here are some suggestions on how to make the perfect omelette. And here are Elizabeth David’s additions for the Omelette Berrichonne.

I was a little bit unsure about the mint here but it worked really well! Delicious!

Other Food Mentioned in Murder on The Links

Entrecote

The next read is The Man in the Brown Suit. I am already about half way through as it is another page turner…or whatever the ebook version of a page turner is!

Hope you are having a wonderful week.

Stay safe friends!

21
Apr
2020

Peach Melba – Dining with The Dame 2

categories: Desserts, Dining With The Dame, Peaches

Welcome to the second chapter of Dining with the Dame which is all about cooking the food found in the novels of Agatha Christie. Today we are delving into Agatha’s second novel The Secret Adversary which features the classic Peach Melba. I was planning to make Peach Melba for a “Name Plates” post down the track but The Secret Adversary pipped it at the post!

The Secret Adversary

The Secret Adversary is Dame Christie’s second published novel (1922). It introduces “The Young Adventurers” Tommy and Tuppence to the reading world. I have a real soft spot for Tommy and Tuppence. They are both a little displaced, not to mention broke after the WW1 where they worked as soldier and nurse respectively. Seeking excitement and cold hard cash they place an advertisement in the paper offering their services “No unreasonable offer refused”.

This leads to a tale of hijinks involving fake names, American millionaires, missing cousins and state secrets, and of course a criminal mastermind evil genius! It all ends happily and with the sound of wedding bells in the distance for Tommy and Tuppence!

If you do not fancy reading the book there is a made for tv adaptation from 1983 which, at the time of writing is available on Daily Motion.

There is also a more modern version set in the 1950’s starring David Walliams as Tommy and Jessica Raine as Tuppence. I have only been able to see the trailers for this on You Tube as I could not find it to buy / rent anywhere. It looks good but I think moving it to the 1950’s will change some of the dynamic of the book. One of the most moving images in the book was that returned soldiers unable to find work after the war would go from door to door selling poems!

The Covers

I find it odd that not many of the old style covers feature Tommy and Tuppence. My favourite here is the pulp fictionesque cover on the top right. I also like the red, black and white one bottom left and the middle bottom one that references the sinking of the Lusitania.

My least favourites are middle left where the secret adversary seems to be an overgrown fly. Who let Jeff Goldblum in? I also think that the mask in the bottom right one looks a little bit like Vincent Price.

The Recipe

“On second thoughts I prefer The Picadilly. It’s nearer”

…

“Is this a new brand of humour? Or is your brain really unhinged?” inquired Tommy.

“Your last supposition is the correct one. I have come into money and the shock has been too much for me. For that particular form of mental trouble an eminent physician recommends unlimited hors-d’œuvre, Lobster a l’américane, Chicken Newberg, and Pêche Melba”

Peach Melba combines peaches, fresh raspberries and raspberry coulis with vanilla icecream. So simple! So delicious!

Peach season was pretty much over when I made this so I used tinned peaches. Fresh poached peaches would be amazing!!!! I also added in some almonds for a bit of crunch but essentially I used Nigella Lawson’s Peach Melba recipe.

Other Food Mentioned in The Secret Adversary

Have you read The Secret Adversary? What did you think of it? Which is your favourite cover? I am really enjoying these old style mystery stories whilst in iso. Book 3 is back to Poirot for a murder mystery set in France. Ooh la la!

Have a great week. Stay home, stay safe!