It's All About the Food

 RHYS BOWEN: One interviewer said to me recently," You must enjoy cooking because there is so much emphasis on food in your books."

    Well, actually I'm not thrilled about cooking. I do enjoy eating and even more than that, I enjoy reading about food. One of my favorites growing up was THE WIND IN THE WLLOWS and that picnic Rat and Mole have on the river. I've always wanted to duplicate that.

So yes, I suppose I do write about food quite a bit.This was especially true in THE TUSCAN CHILD when the heroine stays with an Italian woman and learns to cook Tuscan style. (Lots of research needed in Tuscany for that one). And my next Royal Spyness book, that comes out in November is all about a banquet cooked by a French chef. 

So you'd think with a title like THE PARIS ASSIGNMENT there would be some delicious eats included.

Alas no. In Wartime France, as well as in England, people were living on subsistence rations. My heroine is sent into the forest to look for chestnuts. When she returns to Paris she notices the absence of pigeons--all eaten. Things like an onion were prized above all. And a British operative was unmasked because he went into a cafe and asked for a cafe au lait.(and milk was no longer available in cafes)

However, this did not stop me doing my research into food when I was in France. I love taking pictures of the windows in French patisseries. Truly works of art.

And I even take pictures of us enjoying the food.  (this box of fantastic pastries was ten Euros for ten works of art)

This summer we were in Brittany and took plenty of shots of what we were eating. (You never know, I might want to set a book there!)

So do you like reading about food? What's your favorite book with lots of yummy meals in it?

Great food writing moments @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE:  I finished the draft of The Key Lime Crime two weeks ago and sent it in--always a wonderful moment! I know I will have revising to do and I knew ahead of time that there were a few things that needed to be tweaked or added, including a few of the quotes that I use at the beginning of each chapter. I’m not sure why or how I got launched this custom, but as I think about a story for food critic mystery number 11, there’s no turning back. 

In the first book, I used quotes that could be easily brought up by a Google search or a call for help on Facebook. I started with more standard citations that would be familiar to many people, for example Miss Piggy’s famous “don’t eat more than you can lift.” But then the more I read, the more possibilities I found. I tried to tailor each quote to fit the action and the characters in each chapter–foreshadow what’s to come in many cases. And I came across gems like this one from Dwight Garner: “It is possible to imagine him having a small meal of minor critics for breakfast, as if they were kippers…” 

Since then, I’ve been looking for foodie references in everything I read. Some of the novels and articles are about food, so it should be pretty easy to find meaningful quotes on their pages. But I’m noticing that not everybody either wants to or can write about food in more than a surface manner. And some folks who are not food writers at all, knock my socks off  with the way they use food/eating references to develop character and tension. Let’s face it, even if food references were strictly about food, I’d love them. But I love food references even more when they have a deeper meaning.

I thought it might be fun to share some of my favorites…

The stainless steel kettle reminds me of Claire: polished to a gleam on the outside, boiling within. Ann Mah, Kitchen Chinese

But up front, next to the desk where the hosts have mastered the art of checking reservations without making eye contact, is a café/wine bar. A glass case there serves as a temporary prison for aging pastries and tragic snacks. Pete Wells, What if Brexit were a restaurant? The New York Times, December 19, 2018

When I write about a line cook’s bad night, it’s not just about a bad night, it’s about not being good enough, period, about personal shame and failure. Michael Ruhlman

He was holding the cardboard cup in his vest and she thought the tension would make him squeeze it and spill the tea all over the table. Ann Cleeves, Wild Fire

Then she also read Sirine’s coffee grounds and said she could see the signs written in the black coffee traces along the milky porcelain: sharp knife, quick hands, white apron, and the sadness of a chef. “Chefs know—nothing lasts,” she told Sirine. “In the mouth, then gone.” Diana Abu-Jaber, Crescent

The soup course was a clear lemony broth dotted with parsley and scrolls of spring onion. It filled the air with a sunny fragrance, and I thought the cook was a genius to make such a dish on so dark a day. Barbara O’Neal, The Art of Inheriting Secrets

You think someone killed her to keep her quiet? Vera licked her fingers to pick up the crumbs from her plate and the surrounding table. Ann Cleeves, Silent Voices

His voice, as one fan wrote in a YouTube comment, sounds like what melted chocolate tastes like. Maureen Dowd, Tom Ford, Fragrant Vegan Vampire. The New York Times, April 20, 2019

But keeping people active at a wake was essential. Being busy, like working, allayed grief. By splitting cakes and heaping on berries and cream, the mourners could start to get their minds off death. Diane Mott Davidson, Catering to Nobody

I love you, Elizabeth said, and I started to cry. In the oven, the chocolate soufflé began to burn. Vanessa Diffenbaugh, The Language of Flowers

Mr. Scott was a pale, thin man. A stick of forced rhubarb said Sally’s mother, who had seen him at a parents meeting. Ann Cleeves, Raven Black

Do you notice food references as you read? any that you remember especially enjoying?

And ps, there's a hint in the above list about tomorrow's guest...I bet you mystery and thriller aficionados can figure it out...

Laurie Sterbens on Root Beer Pulled Pork

LUCY BURDETTE: The Florida chapter of the Mystery Writers of America has a mentor program, in which a published writer is matched with an aspiring writer so that words of realistic encouragement can be exchanged. I’ve enjoyed meeting Laurie Sterbens so much that I thought you’d like to meet her too. She’s a former newspaper food editor with an MFA and she has a very funny voice—read on, you’ll see!

Root Beer Pulled Pork the Hard Way by Laurie Sterbens   

photo by Allen

If you cook at home and are inclined to things like pulled pork, you’ve probably heard of root beer pulled pork. Easiest thing in the world: Throw a bottle of root beer in the slow cooker, plop a pork roast in, cook. So I don’t mean to be misleading with that headline. Slow cooker pulled pork is not difficult.

However, it’s not without its issues. For one thing, root beer. Option one is to buy a six-pack of pricey craft-brewed root beer, then figure out what to do with the other five since we don’t normally drink soda, and never with sugar. Hey, we may eat pork and throw chemicals on it, but we have some rules to live by.

The other option is to buy a 2,000-pack of diet root beer, and then we end up drinking diet root beer until it’s gone, which is even worse than drinking five fancy root beers.

I found my solution when I went to a party where a friend was drinking hard root beer. You see where I’m going with this. Huge epiphany. Root beer, pork, alcohol — there’s no going wrong here, and leftover hard root beer is not a problem because alcohol.

photo by Phil Denton

Actually there is one way to go wrong here. The first time I tried this, I used a pork loin roast. This is a lean cut and, of course, healthier. It made pulled pork with a nice root beer flavor, but it was not as tender as it could have been. Use a pork butt or pork shoulder roast instead.

Serve with whole wheat hamburger buns and sweet potato fries to try to maintain some nutritional dignity.

Root Beer Pulled Pork

1 2-pound pork butt or pork shoulder roast
1 bottle hard root beer
Sea salt and and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Barbecue sauce
Hamburger buns
Shredded cabbage if desired

    Place roast in slow cooker. Pour root beer over roast. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.
    Drain liquid from pan. Pull meat apart with two forks until all shredded. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and stir.
    Serve on hamburger buns, topped with barbecue sauce and, if desired, shredded cabbage.

Here’s Laurie's website.  It's subtitled "Good Food with a Side of Killer Fiction." Take note of her name because I think you’re going to see it on a book cover!

Laurie Wood Sterbens is a former newspaper food editor and graduate of the Seton Hill University Master of Fine Arts in Writing Popular Fiction program. She worked as a reporter, editor, columnist and designer before completing her first novel, Black, White and Dead All Over, a mystery featuring Chrissy Rooke, an overwhelmed food editor at The Daily News and single mom of a first-grader who thinks he's a ninja. Tensions are mounting at the newspaper as employees anticipate layoffs from the cost-slashing new owner and the new managing editor. When the new boss demands that Chrissy abandon her focus on healthier recipes and focus on desserts, Chrissy's attempts to reason with him end in a loud confrontation witnessed by the entire newsroom. 

 

LUCY: You can imagine what happens next...Laurie will be stopping in today to chat about food, newspaper life, murder, and whatever else comes up!