Tag: Poirot


Nov
2024

Mrs McGinty’s Dead – Bloodstained Beans

categories: Beans, Dining With The Dame, Poirot, Vegetables, Vegetarian

Hello, crime readers and food lovers! Today’s Dining with the Dame sees us partaking of some Blood Stained Beans alongside Hercule Poirot and Ariadne Oliver.  The Poirot / Ariadne Oliver novels are among my favourites.  I adore her grumblings about her Finnish detective, Sven Hjerson and the travails of being a mystery writer!   But also, it was this volume of stories that, back in 2020, gave me the idea to start these posts.  Like so many people I was a little bit bored during covid and decided to read an anthology of Agatha Christie novels I had bought from my local library 6 months previously.  Halfway through Cards In The Table, an idea that I later called Dining with The Dame was born!   The recipe for the Blood Stained Beans is my version of Sabrina Ghayour’s Spiced Green Bean and Tomato Stew which comes from her wonderful book Feasts.  

Blood Stained Beans 1

Mrs McGinty’s Dead – The Plot

James Bentley, a rather odd and unlikeable young man, has been found guilty of the murder of his landlady, Mrs. McGinty. Convicted based on the evidence that he was short of money and knew where Mrs. McGinty hid her meager savings of £30, Bentley’s fate seemed sealed.

However, Sergeant Spence, a detective who played a crucial role in Bentley’s conviction, harbors lingering doubts. Unsure of Bentley’s guilt, Spence turns to the renowned Hercule Poirot, hoping that his keen intellect can shed light on the mysterious case.

Poirot, intrigued by the challenge, travels to the quaint village of Broadhinny. Securing a room at the Summerhayes’ guest house, Poirot finds himself immersed in a world of chaos and inefficiency. Indeed, the comical chaos of the guest house provides one of the many humorous moments in “Mrs. McGinty’s Dead.”

“With great distaste, Hercule Poirot looked around the room in which he stood.  It was a room of gracious proportions but there its attraction ended.  Poirot made an eloquent grimace as he drew a suspicious finger along the top of a book case.  As he had suspected – dust! ….The latch did not hold, and with every gust of wind it burst open and whirling gusts of cold wind eddied round the room. 

“I suffer” said Hercule Poirot to himself in acute self pity.  “Yes, I suffer”.  

Agatha Christie – Mrs McGinty’s Dead

What Happened to Mrs McGinty?

During his investigations Poirot discovers that just before her death, Mrs McGinty had clipped a “where are they now” article from the Sunday paper about a number of females who had been involved in infamous crime cases in the past.  Turns out Mrs McGinty, who also operated as a charwoman for several families in Broadhinny had found a photo that resembled one of these women.  And, with that, her fate was sealed.

Blood Stained Beans 3

We have:

  • Several people who could be any of the women in the article
  • Anonymous letters
  • Another murder
  • Poirot pushed off a train platform
  • A mysterious blonde
  • Lipstick on a teacup and expensive scent in the air
  • A sugar hammer with a mysterious past and some tell tale stains on it
  • Lots of people with secrets they do not want revealed

It’s a good thing we have Poirot on hand to save the innocent and make the guilty pay for their misdeeds.  However, even Poirot is severely tested by the personality of James Bentley.

“There were  moments when Hercule Poirot found the personality of James Bentley so irritating that he heartily wished that he could believe Bentley guilty of Mrs McGinty’s  murder.  Unfortunately, the more Bentley annoyed him, the more he came round to Spence’s way of thinking”.

And, of course, we have Ariadne Oliver being utterly delightful!

“How do I know?” asid Mrs Oliver crossly.  “How do I know why I ever thought of the revolting man?  I must have been mad!  Why a Finn when I know nothing about Finland.  Why a vegetarian.  Why all the idiotic mannerisms he’s got?  These things just happen.  You try something – and people seem to like it – and then you go on – and before you know where you are, you’ve got someone like that maddening Sven Hjerson tied to you for life…fond of him?  If I met that bony gangling vegetable eating Finn in real life, I’d do a better murder than any I’ve ever invented”

Agatha Christie – Mrs McGinty’s Dead

Mrs McGinty’s Dead – The Covers

Mrs McGinty's Dead collage (3)

 

The Recipe: Blood Stained Beans

“Oo,” said Mrs Summerhayes, her attention diverted from Poirot to the basin in her lap.  “I’m bleeding over the beans.  Not too good as we have to have them for lunch.  Still, it won’t matter really because they’ll go into boiling water.  Things are always all right if you boil them, aren’t they?”…

“I think, ” said Hercule Poirot quietly, “that I shall not be in for lunch.”

Agatha Christie – Mrs McGinty’s Dead

Print

Blood Stained Beans

Blood Stained Beans 2
Print Recipe

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

No reviews

A recipe for a delicious side, inspired by both Sabrina Ghaylour’s Spiced Green Bean and Tomato Stew and the Agatha Christie novel, Mrs McGinty’s Dead.  

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 punnet cherry tomatoes
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground turmeric
  • ½ tsp smoked paprika    
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 400g chopped Italian tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp chipotles in adobo sauce
  • 1 heaped teaspoon caster sugar
  • Salt and Pepper
  • 400 grams green beans, topped and tailed

To Serve:

  • Greek Yoghurt or Labneh
  • 1 tbsp chipotles in adobo
  • Crispy fried shallots for sprinkling

Instructions

Roast the tomatoes:

  • Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C).
  • Toss cherry tomatoes with 1 tbsp olive oil, salt, and pepper on a baking sheet.
  • Roast for 20-25 minutes, or until slightly charred and softened.

Make The Sauce:

  • Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a pan over a medium heat.
  • Lower the heat and saute the onions until soft (about 10 minutes)
  • Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. 
  • Add the cumin, coriander, turmeric, smoked paprika and chipotle in adobo and cook for 1-2 minutes until fragrant. 
  • Add the sugar, tinned tomatoes and salt and pepper.  
  • Cook for 20 minutes until thickened. 
  • Taste and add more chipotle, salt or pepper as required.  

The Beans:

  • Steam the beans for 3-4 minutes.  

Serving:

  • Place the beans on a serving platter.  
  • Pour over the spicy sauce and top with the cherry tomatoes.  
  • Add dollops of yoghurt and splatters of chipotle sauce.  
  • Sprinkle with crispy shallots
  • Enjoy!

“He walked slowly up the hill towards Long Meadows.  He hoped devoutly that the contents of the bulged tin and the bloodstained beans had been duly eaten for lunch and not been saved for a supper treat for him”

Agatha Christie – Mrs McGinty’s Dead

Blood Stained Beans 4

Links to the Christieverse

  • In one of her hilarious rants about her novels, Ariadne Oliver talks about using a blowpipe as a plot device in one of her novels.  An African blowpipe was featured in Death in The Clouds.  And of course wecan’t help but draw the parallel between Agatha Christie and her infuriating Belgian and Ariadne Oliver and her “bony gangling vegetable eating Finn”.
  • We last saw Superinendent Spence in Taken at The Flood.
  • Ariadne Oliver speaks of Mr Shaitana, the victim in Cards on The Table.

Other Food & Drinks Mentioned in  Mrs McGinty’s Dead

It’s really interesting to see how much more food is mentioned now that we are well and truly in the post war period!

December’s read will be After The Funeral. 

Have a great week!

Signature2

Jul
2024

Taken At The Flood – Vienna Steak

categories: 1940s recipes, Burger, Dining With The Dame, Meat, Minced Beef, Poirot

Hello crime readers and food lovers!  Today’s Dining With The Dame dives into “Taken At The Flood” (also known as “There Is A Tide”).  This is a classic Agatha Christie mystery full of death and dastardly doings but also somewhat a mystery is our chosen dish – Vienna Steak!

Now, at first glance, this dish might have had you thinking schnitzel, a more familiar Austrian offering. But here’s the twist: Vienna Steak is actually more akin to a bunless hamburger. Traditionally, it’s served alongside fried onions and potatoes, a hearty, comforting but economical, combination.  However, I couldn’t resist putting my own spin on this wartime dish. Who can resist a good peppercorn sauce, right? So I jazzed up my version with a rich, flavorful sauce that adds a bit of glamour to the Vienna Steak.

Speaking of twists, a lightbulb moment just struck! Given the title of the book, wouldn’t “Vienna S-Taken At the Flood” be a great pun? (Okay, that one’s a stretch…) But you know how much we love a little food-related wordplay here at Retro Food For Modern Times!  

Vienna Steak

Taken at The Flood – The Plot

There were waves in the air of feeling – a strong electrical current of – what was it?  Hate? Could it really be hate?  Something at any rate – destructive.  

Lynn thought suddently, “But that’s what the matter everywhere.  Ive noticed it ever since I got home.  it’s the aftermath the war has left.  Ill will.  Ill feeling.  It’s everywhere.  On railways and buses and in shops and amongst workers and clerks and even agricultural labourers.  And I suppose worse in mines and factories.  Ill will.  But hereit’s more than that.  Here it’s particular.  It’s meant!

Agatha Christie – Taken at The Flood

It’s autumn 1944, and an air raid rattles the Coronation Club in London. Here, amidst the chaos, we meet Major Porter, the club bore. He regales Hercule Poirot with the tragic news of Gordon Cloade’s death. A German bomb has recently obliterated Cloade’s London house, taking his life in the process.

However, a twist emerges. Cloade died intestate, meaning he hadn’t updated his will after his recent marriage. This leaves his entire estate to his second wife, Rosaleen. But Rosaleen’s past holds a potential complication. Before marrying Cloade, she was the wife of a man named Robert Underhay. Underhay’s fate remains shrouded in mystery – appearently he died years ago in Africa, but concrete proof is absent.

Major Porter has just revealed that Underhay had spoken about faking his death and assuming a new identity as Enoch Arden when, he realises, much to his embarrassment that  Jeremy Cloade, Gordon’s brother has overheard his conversation.  

Vienna Steak2

The narrative then leaps forward in time. Spring 1946 sees Mrs. Lionel Cloade, another member of the Cloade family, seeking out Poirot. Convinced by a recent ouija board session, she pleads with him to locate Robert Underhay. Finding Underhay alive would invalidate Rosaleen’s marriage to Gordon, thereby jeopardizing her inheritance of the Cloade fortune. Poirot, however, remains unimpressed by this reliance on the spirit world and politely dismisses Mrs. Cloade.

But fate, it seems, has other plans. Just a few days later, news arrives that  a man named Enoch Arden has been found dead…

I included the above quote on ill will on purpose as Taken with the Flood is full of crimes and misddemeamours.  My copy is only 192 pages yet in that we have (In no particular order)

  • Murder
  • Attempted Murder
  • Death by misadventure
  • Death by Bomb blast
  • Accidental Death
  • Death by Suicide
  • Death by overdose
  • Eavesdropping
  • Bribery
  • Embezzlement
  • Perjury
  • Impersonation of persons living or dead
  • Drug addiction
  • Casual racism
  • General cattiness
  • A very red flag raising romance

And to lighten the tone a little bit of cross dressing! 

Good thing we have Poirot on hand to unravel all the threads and get to the bottom of what is going on with the Cloade family!

Taken at The Flood – The Covers

 

TATFCollage (1)

As usual there are some amazing covers here and quite the variety  This is quite a complex story and as many aspects of it are in these covers.  The ouija board, the items found in  Enoch’s hotel room, Enoch’s body on the floor with the murderer seen absconding out the window, a very egg shaped head on Poirot, the blitz. 

And because it is Dining With the Dame we also have a wacky cover from Sweden showing a house sinking into a bog and some grassland in the shape of a girl’s face.  The Swedish translation is “High Water” which may explain the cover!  Either way, I love it!

The Recipe: Vienna Steak

“And every year things get worse and worse  No Service! Food uneatable! Vienna Steak indeed!  A steak’s either Rump or Fillet – not chopped up horse!” 

Agatha Christie – Taken at the Flood

Print

Vienna Steak with Mashed Potatoes, Fried Onions and Peppercorn Sauce

Vienna Steak2
Print Recipe

A tasty throwback to a pub meal from 1940’s Britain as described in Taken at The Flood.

Ingredients

Scale

For The Vienna Steak:

  • 500g minced Beef
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 slice of white bread, crusts removed and torn into small pieces
  • 1 tbsp of milk
  • 1 tsp Herbes of Provence
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • Oil for frying the onions and the “steaks”
  • Salt and Pepper

For The Fried Onions:

  • 2 large onions, thinly sliced
  • 2 cups buttermilk
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper, ground
  • 1/4 – 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

For the Mashed Potatoes:

  • 500g potatoes, peeled and chopped into quarters
  • 50ml milk
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • Salt and Pepper to taste

For The Peppercorn Sauce:

  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 shallot finely chopped
  • 50ml brandy
  • 150ml Beef stock
  • 100ml cream
  • 2 tbsp green peppercorns from a tin or jar, slightly crush these with the back of your knife

Instructions

For The Fried Onions

  • Place the onions in a shallow bowl and cover with the buttermilk.  
  • Cover and place in the fridge for about an hour.
  • Place the flour, salt, pepper and cayenne in a ziplock bag and stir to combine.  
  • After the hour, heat the oil to 180C in a deep saucepan.  
  • Take a handful of onions from the bowl and shake off the excess buttermilk. Add them to the ziplock bag and shake.  Remove the onions from the bag and shake to remove any excess flour.  
  • Place in the oil and fry until they are a deep golden brown (2-3  minutes).
  • Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain the onions on paper towel.
  • Repeat with the rest of the onions until they are all used up.
  • Serve sprinkled on top of the Vienna Steaks.

For The Vienna Steaks:

  • Heat the oil and saute the onions until golden brown.  Set aside to cool.
  • When cool, add to the rest of the ingredients and mix well.  
  • Shape into four burger patties.
  • Place in the fridge for around an hour.
  • Heat the oil in a frying pan over high heat.  Add the patties.  Sear for a minute on each side then lower the heat  to medium and and allow to cook through, turning once during cooking.  Cook to your preferred state of doneness
  • Remove from pan and keep warm while you make the peppercorn sauce.  

For The Mashed Potatoes:

  • Place the potatoes into a saucepan and cover with water.  Add salt.
  • Cook for approx 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. 
  • Drain the potatoes.  Leave to dry for a minute or two the pop back into the pan.  Mash well ensuring there are no lumps of potato left.  
  • Add the butter and milk and mash again.
  • Season to taste with salt and pepper.

For The Peppercorn Sauce:

  • Melt the butter  over medium heat in a small pan.
  • Add the chopped shallot.  Cook for around 5 minutes until softened, stirring every few minutes.
  • Add the peppercorns and stir for 1 minute.  
  • Increase the heat to medium high.  Add the brandy and cook until this is amost entirely reduced.
  • Add the stock and simmer until reduced to about half (3-5 ) minutes
  • Reduce the heat to medium low, Add the cream and heat to your desired consistency.  Do not allow to boil.  

To serve, place a big spoonful of mashed potatoes on a plate.  Place a Vienna Steak on top of the mash.  Pour the sauce around the mash.  Sprinkle the onions on top of the “Steaks”. 

Vienna Steak4 - Taken at The Flood

 

He stood for a moment in the hall looking from the glass -enclosed empty office to the door labelled in firm old-fashioned style COFFEE ROOM.  By experience of country hotels Poirot knew well that the only time coffee was served there was somewhat grudgingly for breakfast and that even thena good deal of watery hot milk was its principal component/  Small cups of a treacly and muddy liquid called black coffee were served not in the COFFEE ROOM but in the lounge.  The Windsor Soup, Vienna Steak and Potatoes and Steamed Pudding which comprised dinner would be obtainable in the COFFEE ROOM at seven sharp.  

Agatha Christie – Taken at the Flood

Vienna Steak3 - Taken at The Flood

 

Links To The Christieverse

Superintendent Spence says to Poirot “And then your anonymous A B C lunatic killed….(no spoilers here”).  This might refer to the killer in the earlier Poirot mystery The A.B.C Murders.

Other Food & Drinks Mentioned in  Taken At The Flood

Our August read will be Crooked House.  

Have a great week!

Signature2

 


Apr
2024

The Lernean Hydra: Afternoon Tea Scones

categories: Afternoon Tea, Dining With The Dame, Poirot, Scones

Hello crime readers and food lovers! Today’s installment of Dining With The Dame is inspired by a story collection called The Labours of Hercules, and features our favourite detective, Hercule Poirot.  As Poirot nears retirement, he takes on twelve new cases –  each case mirroring one of the twelve labours of Hercules from Greek mythology! It’s a fun concept, though perhaps a tad forced at times.  The Lernean Hydra is the second of these stories.  Moving on to the culinary delights, our recipe for Afternoon Tea Scones comes from a long-time blog favourite, Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery.

Afternoon Tea Scones

The Lernean Hydra- The Plot

Poirot nodded his head thoughtfully.  He said:  “Yes, rumour is indeed the nine-headed Hydra of Lernea which cannot be exterminated because as fast as one head is cropped off two grow in its place

Agatha Christie – The Lernean Hydra from The Labours of Hercules

Dr. Charles Oldfield seeks Hercule Poirot’s help to dispel rumors that he poisoned his wife in order to marry his medical dispenser, Jean Moncrieff.  The rumours are destroying his reputation and his medical practice.  

We have:

  • The Doctor inheriting a rather large fortune from his difficult and hypochondriac wife.  Is that a motive for murder? 
  • Both the doctor and Jean Moncrieff had access to drugs, including arsenic.  Mrs Crawford died of a gastric ulcer, the symptoms of which are similar to that of arsenical poisoning
  • Cells from Mrs Crawford’s exhumed body containing more than a lethal dose of arsenic

Did the Doctor do it?  Did Jean?  Will the course of their true love not run smooth because one of them is a murderer?  Good thing we have Poirot on the case to bring the guilty to justice and stop the vicious hydra of gossip.  

The Labours of Hercules – The Covers

 

Labours collage

There are some wonderful covers here including a Russian version.  I love the two pulp fiction covers but for me the absolute highlighr is the French cover, bottom left.  This depiction is a little Poirot, a little Groucho Marx and a little Dumbo the elephant!  

The Recipe: Afternoon Tea Scones

Afternoon Tea Scones recipe

Nibbling delicately at a scone and balancing a cup of tea on his knee, Hercule Poirot allowed himself to be come confidential with his hostess.  Miss Leatheran had been kind enough to ask him to tea andhad thereupon made it her business to find out exactly what this exotic little foreigner was doing in their midst

Agatha Christie – The Lernean Hydra

Afternoon Tea Scones2

Links To The Christieverse

A Miss Leatheran lives in the village and it is she who gives Poirot the scones.  Although this is not a common surname, there is no mention that she is any relative of Amy Leatheran from Murder in Mesopotamia.  

Other Food & Drinks Mentioned in  The Lernean Hydra

  • Tea x 2

Our May read is Witness for the Prosecution.

Have a great week!

Signature2

 

  • Comments Off on The Lernean Hydra: Afternoon Tea Scones

Mar
2024

Caramel Custard – The Hollow

categories: Custard, Desserts, Dining With The Dame, Poirot

Hello crime readers and food lovers!  Today’s Dining With The Dame novel, The Hollow, contains many references to food so I did not have to resort to any terrible puns.  The novel was published in 1946 which makes me wonder if, despite rationing continuing well into the 1950s, there was a sense of post-war abundance that fuelled so many food references!  I chose Caramel Custard as my menu item for The Hollow as not only it is referred to in the novel but it is also one of my favourite desserts! 

Like me (and Poirot) many of you will be more familiar with the French name for this dish, Crème Caramel.  My recipe for this classic French dish came from the amazing cookbook by thriller author Len Deighton, The Action Cookbook.

Caramel Custard

The dedication for the The Hollow reads:

For LARRY and DANAE

With apologies for using ther swimming pool as the scene of a murder

And for my mind, the best scene in the Poirot episode features that pool.  It reminds me of a Slim Aarons pool shot…with a little murder thrown in!

the-hollow

SLim Aarons

 

The Hollow – The Plot

Of course, say what you like, a murder is an awkward thing—it upsets the servants and puts the general routine out

Agatha Christie – The Hollow

Who killed Doctor John Christow?  His wife Gerda stands by his dying body holding a revolver. But his last word was “Henrietta”, the name of his mistress.  He has also just recently spurned his former fiance, actress Veronica Cray.  

Could one of these three women be reponsible for his death?  Or could someone else have done it?

Creme Caramel 2

Poirot cannot rid the feeling that the murder scene is staged

For what he was looking at was a highly artifiical murder scene.  By the side of the pool was the body, artistically arranged with an outflung arm and even some red paint dripping gently over the edge of the concrete into the pool.  It was a spectacular body, that of a handsome fair haired man.  Standing over the body, revolver in hand, was a woman…

And there were three other actors.  On the far side of the pool  was a tall young woman…she had a basket in her hands full of dahlia heads. A little further off was a man, a tall inconspicuous man in a shooting coat, carrying a gun.  And immadiately on his left with a basket of eggs in her hand was his hostess, Lady Angkatell.  

It was clear to Poirot that several different paths converged here at the swimming pool and that these people has each arrived by a different path. 

It was all very mathematical and artificial

Agatha Christie – The Hollow

Luckily Poirot is around to cut through the artifice to find out whodunnit!

The Hollow – The Covers

The Hollow Collage (1)

I believe we have our first Japanese cover in the mix today! And possibly the first Polish cover too! Most of these stick to the elements of the swimming pool, the gun, the house. A few also nod to Henrietta being a sculpturer.  But bless the French for their brightly coloured pool float flamingo!

The Recipe: Caramel Custard

The Len Deighton Acion Cookbook was first published in 1965  It was a compilation of “cookstrips” also drawn by Deighton and originally published in The Observer.  It is a truly wonderful cookbook!

Creme Caramel Recipe

 

After the ducks there was a caramel custard which, Lady Angkatell said showed just the right feeling on the part of Mrs. Medway.  Cooking, she said, really gave great scope to delicacy of feeling.  

“We are only, as she knows, moderately fond of caramel custard.  There would be something very gross, just after the death of a friend, in eating one’s favourite pudding.  But caramel custard is so easy – slippery if you know what I mean”

Agatha Christie – The Hollow

Creme Caramel 3

Links To The Christieverse

Lucy Angkatell says that Poirot was in Baghdad “solving something” when her husband was the High Commissioner there but I could find no reference to speciifc cases.  

Other Food & Drinks Mentioned in  The Hollow

Our March read is The Labours of Hercules

Have a great week!

Signature2

 

  • Comments Off on Caramel Custard – The Hollow