An Omelette and a Glass of Wine (Cookery Library)

"Foods of Legend" is a choice example. This essay is astonishingly timely in its discourse on a chef feeling compelled to elevate a humble country dish into haute cuisine. David bases her story on Master Chef August Escoffier's recomposition, over a century ago, of a Provençal favorite: potatoes baked with artichokes onto Carré d'Agneau Mistral, which involved adding truffles and rack of lamb.

Some articles include recipes, but for the most part this is a volume nicely sized to curl up with or to take on a trip.

Product Description

"Mrs. Beeton," the guide for English cooks and household managers for nearly a hundred years, had been viewed by many as an elderly lady in a starched-stiff, black dress who dispensed advice on the "proper" way to cook. In David's book, she presents the real Mrs. Beeton-- a young matron in her twenties, brisk, practical and innovative.

You may not feel inspired to try all the recipes David brings to us, but you will be intrigued by her enthusiastic style and her chatty British approach.


A tour down memory lane.....   May 18, 2001
 21 out of 23 found this review helpful

This is my first Elizabeth David book, and I intend to read many more. I've been a fan of M.F.K. Fisher for many years and read and enjoyed her books thoroughly. David's writing is somewhat similar--though not as personal--at least AN OMELETTE AND A GLASS OF WINE is not terribly personal. Still, David shares many aspects of her work and travel that allowed me to feel connected to her in a personal way.

David was hired to write food/cooking/dining articles for various print media and paid very little initially. Her job involved traveling in France and Italy, visiting various inns and restaurants and markets--which she apparently enjoyed. I started to title my review "born to late" as I would have liked her job. Europe in the 1960s--especially France and Italy must have been wonderful (well my husband says it was and he lived there then). Imagine eating French cooking for a living!! Ah yes, another vicarious reading experience.

David tells of her travels to "job" locations--why I think this book is part travelog. Sometimes she has been preceded by Henry James or Marcel Proust, but most often by some obscure person who passed through in the mid-1800s or earlier and recorded their experiences for posterity. David describes the meals she and others have eaten, as well as food preparation (growing, transporting, cooking). Her book includes photographs of a few famous chefs. In most she cases provides information about recipes and lists ingredients--details that might help the reader replicate a dish. She warns the reader it is impossible to replicate a dish exactly owing to many conditions, not the least of which is the quality of the basic ingredients. She finds it amusing when a recipe is touted as being "old" and includes a modern ingredient like margarine.

Although many of David's recipes are historical and some ingredients can no longer be had, still I am tempted to try and replicate some of them. My knowledge of cooking has been expanded by what I've read. I now know more than I did about cheeses, mushrooms, wines, and other French foods. This little book is enlightening.

I'll store AN OMELETTE AND A GLASS OF WINE with my cookbooks in the kitchen, but it could just as easily be construed as a history/travel book as a cookbook. OMELETTE is filled with anecdotal information about food origins and interesting tidbits. For example, David says the French invented the pizza (it was called pissaladiere) not the Italians. She provides historical evidence Whiskey has been used as a key ingredient in some very upscale dishes. She sets the record straight on Sardines (from the sea near Sardinia) and Syllabub, and the differences between Parmesan and Gruyere--the former Italian and the latter French--but is one really better than the other or are they the same thing? I love this book and I will refer to it over and over.


Like trying to enjoy glorious food with someone choking you.   May 31, 1999
 21 out of 57 found this review helpful

I'm a total foodie and it's painful getting through this book. Instead of simply enjoying the pleasures of food and all the differences, Elizabeth David is defensive at every turn. She speaks of her experiences so delicately, and describes all around the food, so that you just want to plunge through the page, past the fences and loftiness she's encircled the food with. Granted, she was writing in that stifling time period for those stifled Brits who apparently knew nothing beyond pork pies. I know she must have thoroughly enjoyed her food adventures, but in her telling of them, she removes herself from the object of her passion. This book is a very frustrating read. I got so sick and tired of all the defensiveness. I wish she would have just allowed herself to write freely about her pleasures and enjoyment, rather than feel so much pressure from her invisible audience (she was a journalist) that she edited herself (even in the pieces that she re-wrote for this book) before anyone could complain. And although it's interesting to know the food prices in another time period, the constant iteration of cost and expensive versus not expensive places to dine became a nuisance. Of course, you do get glimpses into the world of food that she's been to and some good recipes, but if you think you're going to curl up in bed with her book and envelope yourself in literary foodie heaven, think again. You might just want to re-read your M.F.K. Fisher and Alice B. Toklas.