i'm onto my third book for the summer, and it is delicious. the empress of ice cream is a light, historical novel written by anthony capella. it tells the story of carlo, a young italian man who mastered the art of ice cream. so far, his creations have wooed king louis xvi and his court at versailles, i'm likening it to marie antoinette. each chapter opens with a hint or recipe from the book of ices and is sprinkled with words like sorbetti and limonadier. i'm only on page 28 but have reached the point where i'm reading with a highlighter on hand. anthony capella is a genius with words and below are a few exerts i've highlighted.
"there was a team of nine who made macaroons, plump meringue-like biscuits filled with brightly coloured pastes of pistachio, liquorice, blackcurrant, or almond. there were confectioners who specialised in subtleties of spun sugar, or who made confits from sugared seeds, or who prepared orgeat, a paste of scalded almonds, orange blossom and coriander"
"chilled cordials flavoured with orgeat, or milk ice sandwiched between layers of meringue that looked like macaroons, or sorbetti that could be held in the hand within a little lattice goblet made of spun sugar, so that they did not drip on your fine court clothes as they melted"
“louis loved pears...gobular, round, pendant, slender; green, yellow, russet, red; rough-skinned or smooth; with fancy names such as bon chretien d’hiver, petit blanquet, sucrée verte, or the king’s absolute favourite, the sweet, highly perfumed rousselet de reims."
No comments:
Post a Comment