When Ernest Hemingway was awarded
the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954, he couldn't attend the ceremony
because of the serious injuries he had recently suffered in two successive plane crashes. He had a grave concussion, temporarily lost
vision in his left eye and the hearing
in his left ear, suffered paralysis of the spine, a crushed vertebra,
ruptured liver, spleen and kidney, and first degree burns on his face,
arms, and leg. Some American newspapers mistakenly published his
obituary, thinking he had been killed. He later committed suicide at his
hunting cabin in Ketchum, Idaho by leaning over a double-barreled shotgun
and tripping both triggers.
Hemingway was also 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. Criadillas
a la
Hemingway, a Spanish delicacy of calf testicles in red wine. is
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 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 sixteenth
century by Bartolomo Scappi, Pope Pius V's chef, who made the pontiff a pie
of bull testicles. 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 which might be the
perfect meal to serve on his birthday which watching Woody Allen's brilliant
fantasy Midnight in Paris
(2011) in which the always horny Hemingway is portrayed by Corey Stoll. In
the film when Hemingway and Gil
(Owen Wilson) first meet, Hemingway asks what Gil thinks of Mark Twain. Gil
pauses and replies, “I think you could make the case that Huck Finn is the
root of all modern American literature.” If this sounds familiar, it’s
because Hemingway wrote those lines in The Green Hills of Africa.
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