My first attempt at blogging involved writing about the food contained in,  or inspired by, the books I was reading.  It was not successful because, after the first book, the next three books I read did not contain any food to blog about!   But I have never lost the desire to blog about food in fiction.  This year one of my goals was to (re)read the novels of Agatha Christie.   And, as I began to read, I started to think that maybe it was time to give combining food and fiction another try.  Which is why today you are reading the first in a series called Dining with the Dame.  We’re getting things started with rum-spiked cocoa as featured in…

The Mysterious Affair At Styles

We’ll start at the very beginning.  It’s a very good place to start, after all.  The Mysterious Affair At Styles was  Agatha Christie’s first novel to be published way back in October 1920.

“Styles” is also the first Hercule Poirot mystery. Poirot is a war refugee, living in the village of  Styles St Mary with 7 of his chums.  And whilst this series will focus mainly on the novels, there is an absolutely delightful moment in the Poirot tv series where Poirot’s crew of Belgian refugees are walking through the British countryside singing “It’s a long way to Tipperary” before becoming acquainted with the pleasures of the English public house.  That moment occurs at around the 13-minute mark if you want to see it for yourself!

The eponymous mysterious affair is the death of Emily Inglethorpe, owner of the country manor Styles.  Mrs. Inglethorpe did not pass away quietly in her sleep but was poisoned!  Enter Hercule to exonerate the wrongly accused and, of course, find the real murderer.

The Covers

I made a tier of some of the covers for this novel.  There were many, many more.  I have so many opinions that this would become the longest post ever if I started to voice them – but take a look.  What is your favourite?

What would you move up? Or down?

The Recipe – Rum Spiked Cocoa

Poirot is talking to Annie, one of the maids at Styles.

“Now I  want to ask about something else.  There is a saucepan in Mrs. Inglethorpe’s room with some cocoa in it.  Did she have that every night?”

“Yes sir, it was put in her room every evening, and she warmed it up in the night – whenever she fancied it.”

“What was it? Plain cocoa?

“Yes sir, made with milk, a teaspoon of sugar, and two teaspoonfuls of rum in it.”

This is soooo good.  The little hit of rum adds a lovely little kick to a drink that is 100% as comfort!  And we all can use a little bit of comfort in our lives!

Rum Spiked Cocoa

Print Recipe

A delicious warm drink…with a little kick!

• Author: Taryn Fryer

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 cup milk
• 3 heaped teaspoons drinking cocoa
• 2 tsp rum (I used a spiced rum)
• 1 tsp sugar

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

1. Heat the milk in a small saucepan over a medium heat. A pan with a pouring spout is ideal.
2. As it heats, add the sugar and the cocoa.
3. Use a small whisk to get rid of any cocoa lumps.
4. Just before the mixture reaches boiling point, take off the heat, add the rum
5. Serve immediately.

Notes

• Marshmallows would be great with this. I did not include as they were not mentioned in the “recipe” in the book. To really boost the rum flavour in the cocoa, you could even made some rum marshmallows!
• http://www.thefloshow.com/home-made-quick-rum-marshmallows/

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1

Other Food mentions in Styles

Seed Cake (TV Show)

Lemonade (TV Show)

It’s Complicated

This book was written 100 years ago and contains passages that are (or should be) abhorrent to the modern reader.  I do not share these views nor wish to repeat them. But nor do I want to ignore that they exist.  They are there and they are horrible.

I  do not think that the views expressed were necessarily that of Christie but were certainly opinions that were held at the time, and let’s be totally honest by the very worst members of our society today.

I personally think we can still enjoy reading Christie while vehemently disagreeing with the views of some of her characters but please let me know what you think.

Next Up

For anyone who wants to read along and  /  or cook along my plan for April is to feature  The Secret Adversary.   Now that we are all pretty much living in social isolation, maybe a joint project is something we need to keep us connected!  Let’s just hope there is some mention of food in it – I don’t have a good track record when it comes to this!

Stay safe friends. And by that, I mean avoiding money-hungry relatives dosing your cocoa with narcotics and adding strychnine in your coffee.   And of course, looking after yourself in these crazy times.