People eat food, and the great detectives are no exception. In the work of detective queen Agatha Christie, although the great detectives are busy solving cases and finding out the murderer, they will occasionally be slightly distracted by eating and drinking. On a whim, the author sorted out the food that appeared in the Poirot series and the Miss Marple series, and enjoyed a British food journey between the words.
The beginning of a good day begins with a good breakfast, and this series of articles also begins with breakfast.
The breakfast mentioned in the book includes eggs, bacon ("Roger's Doubt"), bacon, coffee ("Murder on ABC"), etc., and if you add bacon and sausages, it is a hearty breakfast ("Black Coffee").
Poirot's friend and assistant, Captain Hastings, was typically British, so his preferred breakfast was traditionally British—bacon, eggs, and jam (The Cliff Hills Case). Let's first see what's good on the Breakfast Table for the British.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >, bacon</h1>
Bacon is an indispensable food for English breakfast, the original meaning is smoked rib meat (that is, square meat) or smoked salted back meat, English is bacon, the initials are replaced by capital letters is Bacon, the famous British philosopher Bacon.
In fact, the practice of bacon is very similar to that of smoked bacon in China, in short, the pork is washed, cut into strips, marinated with salt and spices, and then smoked to increase the aroma. Before eating, cut the bacon into slices and fry it slightly. The aroma of grease spreads, whether it is with omelette, toast, or bread, it is very appetizing.
There are also many kinds of bacon classifications, there are British, American, Italian, Canadian and so on. Grandma is British, and her bacon should be British bacon. English bacon is made of pork back, less fat, more lean meat, very tender to eat, with a rich smoky pork aroma.
American bacon uses a pork belly, which is what we often call pork belly. This part of the pork fat, full of aroma, fried bacon oil is a treasure, mostly used for stir-frying or omelette, you can imagine the mellow taste.
Italian bacon is called pancetta and is cooked drying without smoking. After the pork is marinated, it is slowly dried. After the moisture is dried, the pork is rolled into rolls, bundled into columns, and eaten into thin slices, usually paired with white wine.
Canadian bacon is made of cornmeal and brine to make the batter, wrapped in the surface of the pork, and the bacon gravy is abundant and has a unique taste.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > two, hot chocolate</h1>
The Belgian detective Poirot's breakfast is continental European, bread rolls or cake rolls + hot chocolate. Veteran fans know that Poirot's favorite is hot chocolate, strictly speaking, hot chocolate belongs to desserts, but because in the story, Poirot's breakfast will always appear hot chocolate, so I put hot chocolate in the breakfast article.
Many people can't distinguish between hot chocolate and hot cocoa, after consulting the information, we can know that hot cocoa does not contain, and hot chocolate contains cocoa butter, a high-calorie substance. Given that this food provides a lot of energy to Poirot's small gray cells, we can think that hot chocolate is hot chocolate, not hot cocoa.
Although Captain Hastings believed that the Baltic hot chocolate was sticky and fragrant, He would not taste a bite of a hundred pounds for a hundred pounds. However, the practice of hot Chook is really simple, readers may wish to try - after the milk is heated, put in the chocolate crumbs and stir continuously, after the chocolate is completely melted, turn off the heat and pour in the white sugar and mix well.
In addition to drinking directly, you can also add whipped cream to hot chocolate, I don't know what kind of mellow taste. In The Third Girl, Poirot drinks afternoon tea at Mrs. Oliver's house, where he drinks a large cup of hot chocolate topped with foamy whipped cream. According to Grandma's grandson, Grandma loved curd cream, and she put cream next to her typewriter and ate it while writing. I believe that the curd cream has brought a lot of inspiration to Grandma. However, the fat content of the curd cream is 55%-60%, and I really dare not try it.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > three, eggs</h1>
In 2017, the latest version of Murder on the Orient Express, directed and starring Kenneth Branagh, was released. The film begins with Poirot's almost critical selection of eggs.
Eggs are also indispensable in British breakfast, common ways to eat are poached eggs, boiled eggs, scrambled eggs. As for which is "fried eggs", which is "scrambled eggs", or "poached eggs" (poached eggs) and boiled eggs, you may have to go to the UK to practice it yourself.
In The Bertram Inn, Miss Marple had a wonderful breakfast: tea, poached eggs, freshly baked bread rolls. Pretty ordinary, right? Grandma has a detailed description of poached eggs -
"There are two beautiful poached eggs on the toast, not the kind of thing that is small, round, and bullet-like in a tin cup."
Miss Marple confidently and carefully cut open the poached egg with a knife. Sure enough, she was not disappointed, and the yellow and thick egg yolk spilled out. What a perfect poached egg! "
Poached eggs are also a favorite of many readers. In terms of method, there are two kinds of boiled and fried, fried and divided into single frying and double frying, and some exquisite will also stack the poached eggs in pairs when frying, resembling a poached egg, so the name poached egg.
Single fried poached egg only one side, relatively tender and soft, is what Miss Marple eats this, the yolk is not fully cooked, the taste is very tender. Double-fried poached eggs, the edges will be burned, the taste is very crisp, and it is also popular with many people.
I found that when Omelette, the egg white is easy to scatter, there are two solutions, one is to buy a mold, there are all kinds of cute omelette molds on the Internet, and there are also frying pans that are cute shapes. The second method is to beat the egg in a bowl first, the oil is hot and then put in, and the egg white quickly solidifies and is not easy to disperse.
The person himself donation
The boiled egg, although brought with a boil, is not the boiled egg we eat. In my opinion, the British boiled egg can only be an egg bathing in boiling water, and the egg yolk cannot coagulate and cannot be shelled. How to eat this?
The British invented the artifact egg cracker, which allows eggs to be eaten while standing. It's exquisite!
In Make It True, Sir George eats a large English breakfast, including scrambled eggs. On the British breakfast table, the method of scrambled eggs is not the same as ours, after the eggs are beaten, they are fried together with butter and milk, and finally form a fluffy British scrambled egg, paying attention to the fluffiness of the taste.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > four, other breakfasts</h1>
On Poirot's table, there are also brioche rolls, brioche rolls, and croissants. Poirot praised the cream cake roll with chocolate. The Danish pastry shop, which sells brioche rolls, was the fourth he visited, and Poirot thought it was better than the French pastry shop next door. (It can be seen that when Poirot did not solve the case, he was also a foodie searching for food)
In Bertram's Inn, the English breakfast is even more hearty, with not only eggs and bacon, but also smoked salted ribs, loins and bacon, cold grouse, York ham and so on. Looking at the text, you can imagine the tempting picture of food.
In The Mystery of the Blue Express, Count Roger's breakfast is exquisite: a fresh vegetable omelet, a piece of fine beef poured with mayonnaise, and a Sagoren muffin. Muffins are also common pastries, which I will give you more details in "Pastry Desserts". Jam is also an indispensable ingredient for eating toast, and I will also introduce it in "Pasta Dessert Chapter".
(Stay tuned for the next article, "The Great Detective's Eating and Drinking: Grandma's British Cuisine (Pasta Desserts)")