I had some aspic at City Grocery last night. I had to invent a new word ("fantaspic") to describe how good it was. Then I had to look it up in THE OXFORD COMPANION TO FOOD, where I read about aspic's "great proponent" Careme, who was a complicated man. "The Tsar gave him a diamond ring," says THE OXFORD COMPANION TO FOOD. Of course, THE OXFORD COMPANION TO FOOD would be surprised that I have never eaten an opossum, which, parboiled, is "a favourite southern dish," according to THE OXFORD COMPANION TO FOOD. Had some black garlic at City Grocery last night, too. But no possum! Because it's not on the menu. Black garlic has been popping up in New York Times restaurant reviews recently. I don't know what it is, except delicious. I guess it's a kind of garlic. Don't worry, I have an email out to John Currence, and as soon as he lays down some black garlic lore for me, I will clue you in. The possum entry in THE OXFORD COMPANION TO FOOD notes that the animal is "famed for what an Irishman would call its lifelike manner of feigning death." This book was written in 1999, not 1799.
