July  02

Anniversary of Ernest Hemingway's Suicide
 

When Ernest Hemingway was award the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954, he couldn't attend the ceremony because of the serious injuries he had recently suffered in an airplane crash.  However, Hemingway commented that he wouldn't have attended the ceremonies anyway even if he was fit, since he didn't own a dress suit or set of underwear.  He had ambivalent feelings about the Nobel Prize.  Several years before he won the award, he said "No son of a bitch that ever won the Nobel Prize ever wrote anything worth reading after that." Hemingway's assessment of the Nobel Prize proved prophetic since his only notable works published after the prize were the seriously flawed Islands in the Stream and A Moveable Feast which was basically a reworking of his Paris notebooks. Both of these books were published posthumously after his suicide in 1961 following an ill-advised premature release from a mental hospital where he' has been treated for severe depression. He committed suicide at his hunting cabin in Ketchum, Idaho by leaning over a double-barreled shotgun and tripping both triggers.
		Ernest Hemingway

Hemingway was a celebrated gourmet and there are several major recipes named after him, mostly by the chefs of the restaurants that were his official hangouts, such as Harry's Bar in Venice and the Ambos Mundos in Havana.  Several of Hemingway's works have also been commemorated in food and drink.  A Paris restaurateur created an extraordinary chocolate, almond, and whipped cream confection called Kilimanjaro to celebrate the publication of The Snows of Kilimanjaro which first appeared in Esquire magazine. Of more interest may be Death in the Afternoon, a cocktail named after Hemingway's metaphysical fascination with bullfighting. This cocktail,  which for some obscure reason is still very popular in New Zealand, remains a literary and literal interpretation of the author's fascination with bullfighting.

Criadillas a la Hemingway, a Spanish delicacy of calf testicles in red wine derived from Hemingway's fascination with testicles in several of his works, or the absence of them in The Sun Also Rises., was often  served to the author in one of his favorite cafes in Pamplona before he attended the bullfights.

Beef testicles (Prairie Oysters, Mountain Tendergroins, Cowboy Caviar, Swinging Beef, Calf Fries, Spanish Kidneys) are popular in many parts of the world and are a favorite with cowboys in the United States and Argentina. When the calves are branded in the spring, their testicles are cut off and thrown in a bucket of water. They are then peeled, washed, rolled in flour and pepper, and fried in a pan. They are considered to be quite a delicacy. Testicle festivals are held every spring and fall in Montana and other western states which are often as rowdy as Mardi Gras and everyone is invited to "have a ball." Many restaurants and bars in Montana, Idaho, and Kansas serve Rocky Mountain oysters all year long.

Part of calf testicles'  popularity is based on their perception as an aphrodisiac, somehow imparting the sexual stamina of a bull. Testicle consumption was popularized in the sixteen century by Bartolomo Scappi, Pope Pius V's chef, who made the pontiff a pie of bull testicles . Here is his recipe:
 

"Cut into slices and sprinkle with salt, pepper, nutmeg and cinnamon. Then in 'a pie crust, place layers of sliced testicles alternated with mince of lambs kidneys, ham, marjoram, cloves and thyme."

Beef testicles' alleged aphrodisiac properties were debunked by David Reuben, MD in his popular best seller, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask) who wrote that bull's testicles contain" a fair dose of male sex hormone" and "eaten absolutely fresh and absolutely raw...might have done some good" for the "under par," but notes that "most of the hormone is destroyed by the gastric juices."

Here is the recipe for Hemingway's favorite testicle dish.
 

Criadillas a la Hemingway
(Calf Testicles in Red Wine)
 

The original Death in the Afternoon cocktail was made with absinthe.  In those countries where absinthe is still outlawed because of it's association with optic nerve atrophy, Pernod is substituted.

Hemingway loved this cocktail and made it often for his friends while fishing. Here is his recipe
 

"Pour 1 jigger of absinthe into a champagne glass. Add iced champagne until it attains the proper opalescent milkiness. Drink three to five of these slowly."

The milky opalescence that appears when champagne is added is called the louche (Fr. "opaque" or "shady).

Absinthe, also known as "wormwood" and "the Green Fairy,”  had been banned in most European nations and the United States since 1915. Although absinthe was vilified for causing blindness,  there is no medical evidence that it is any more dangerous than any other liquor or spirit. Because of this lack of evidence,
a revival of absinthe began in the 1990s, when countries in the European Union began to reauthorize its manufacture and sale. As of February 2008, nearly 200 brands of absinthe were being produced in a dozen countries, most notably France, Switzerland, Spain, and the Czech Republic.