The Last Supper

[Dover]

Ran across these articles, and though a bit macabre, they're also kind of interesting. What would you choose as a last meal? Moral of the story - enjoy every meal as though it were your last...
Life is just a smorgasbord so taste, taste, taste.




According to Leonardo...

The Last Supper Menu: Revealed!

Riddles in Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper were the basis for the plot of the best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code, but why hasn't anyone cracked the code of what food was served at the legendary dinner party?

New research by John Varriano suggests that the meal being consumed was neither bread nor pascal lamb, as once thought. Instead, he writes in a new article in Gastronomica that the 1997 cleaning and restoration of the fresco revealed plates of grilled eel garnished with orange slices. Above is a detail of the section of the painting in question (with my best effort to identify and highlight the dish). I have to admit the evidence is a little murky to my untrained eye, but I'll take Varriano's word for it. He zooms in for a much closer look in the article.

cont'd

http://www.thefoodsection.com/appetizers/2008/09/the-last-supper.html


Varianno's article, At Supper With Leonardo.http://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/pdfplus/10.1525/gfc.2008.8.1.75


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


The famous last meals of MJ, Julia Child, JFK, and 8 others.

Ancient Greeks allowed condemned men to enjoy multi-course feasts, providing them with sustenance -- and liquid courage -- for their trip to the afterlife. The ritual of the last meal persisted in some form or another throughout medieval Europe, eventually infiltrating western culture -- today, most U.S. penitentiaries grant death row inmates a final dish of their choosing. I took a look at some famous (and infamous) historical figures’ last meals -- some consumed with knowledge of their coming demise, others unexpected...

(This got me thinking: If I had one final dish to choose, what would it be? After considering the options (Mom's lasagna? Nobu's black cod? The Colonel's buttermilk biscuits?) I finally landed on a good roast chicken pictured, deliciously, above. Looking for a great dinner idea for tonight? See BHG.com's irresistible & easy pizzas, all-time favorite chicken recipes, and elegant steak dinners.)

Cleopatra
Despondent over the death of her husband Anthony, Cleopatra requested a final meal of figs -- with a side of deadly asp. Yes, she elected to perish by snakebite, choosing this particular method so it wouldn't mar her features in death. Centuries, and one Elizabeth Taylor epic later, this decision paid off.

Robert E. Lee
In 1870, after the Civil War's end, Confederate Army General Robert E. Lee suffered a stroke. He subsisted on brandy and beef soup for weeks, which was believed to be his final meal. His last words? "Strike the tent", which meant, in faithful Southerner terms, it's time to move on to a better place.

Titanic passengers
The first class passengers on this doomed vessel went out in high culinary style. The menu for the final dinner service on the Titanic reads as follows: Consomme Olga, poached salmon with mousseline sauce, lamb with mint sauce, roast duckling with apple sauce, sirloin of beef with chateau potatoes, stuffed summer squash, creamed carrots, green peas, foie gras, Waldorf pudding, chocolate and vanilla eclairs, peaches in chartreuse jelly and ice cream.

cont'd

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/the-famous-last-meals-of-mj-julia-child-jfk-and-8-others-752791


Some recipes from the Titanic:
http://www.labellecuisine.com/Cookbooks/Last%20Dinner%20on%20the%20Titanic%20pg%202.htm

[Denninmi]

1. Interesting.

I had to look up the term "farcis" from the Titanic dinner menu, as I wasn't familiar with it.

I already knew "vegetable marrow" - that is a British term for overgrown/mature summer squash (generically) or more specifically certain varieties of summer squash with large fruit, which are prepared more like we would traditionally use winter squash, generally baked with a filling of some kind. I've eaten them this way a couple of times, they are sort of bland and boring, IMO, kind of like a flavorless acorn squash -- the filling is what provides the interest to the dish.

http://www.food.com/library/vegetable-marrow-840

"farcis" is apparently a Provencal method of stuffing vegetables with a savory filling consisting of typical Provencal/Italian flavors -- Parmesan cheese, breadcrumbs or rice, onion, garlic, basil, olive oil, salt pork.
http://www.beyond.fr/food/legumesfarcis.html

[Dover]

2. I missed that one. So 'vegetable marrow farcie' is essentially stuffed summer squash.

Thanks for looking that up.

I've never been on a cruise ship but am guessing that contemporary menus offer the equivalent of the Titanic's first class meals to ALL those aboard. Or do they still have distinct class divisions based on ticket price?

[The empressof all]

3. There's a great show on Ovation called Eating Art

They recently explored The Last Supper in paintings all around Italy. It's one of those shows that's a little treasure and makes me giddy when the tivo catches a new one.

Here's a taste:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeKxWC0WhvE&feature=related

[Dover]

4. Thanks for that link! Ovation must be a cable/satellite channel.

I barely watch t.v. (mainly PBS) so never purchased cable. But this looks like an intriguing show.
I enjoyed watching the youtube blurb and seeing the painting in situ. I love it that Leonardo took artistic license with his meal choice. And I like the whole idea of examining different versions and artistic interpretations of the Last Supper.

I'm also very interested in ancient recipes that are either discovered through documentation or archaeological food testing. I think one of the beer companies recently discovered and attempted to replicate an ancient brew. (Was it Dogfish?). Yes! Just looked it up. Here's the article:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/07/0718_050718_ancientbeer.html

Here are some ancient recipes I've saved:

Eggplant Manta
Adapted from "A Soup for the Qan," (Mongolian), Paul D. Buell & Eugene N. Anderson

Serves 4

For sauce:
1 cup yogurt, preferably whole fat
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
handful chopped basil
For manta:
2 medium eggplants
1/4 cup sheep's fat or rinsed salt pork, finely diced
1 onion, finely diced
3/4 pound lamb, ground or finely chopped
11/2 teaspoon dried orange peel
salt and pepper to taste
For the sauce, combine garlic and basil with yogurt. This should be made at least 2 hours, or up to a day, ahead.
Slice eggplants in half lengthwise and scoop out flesh, leaving a 1/4-inch shell. Dice the flesh finely.
Brown fat in skillet over moderately high heat. Add onion and cook until soft and golden. Add lamb and cook until it loses its pink color. Stir in eggplant and orange peel and cook another 2 or 3 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.
Heap stuffing into each eggplant half. (Up to this point, recipe can be made several hours ahead. Refrigerate until ready to serve.) Set eggplants into large steamer unit over simmering water, and steam 6 to 8 minutes until the eggplant shells are cooked through but not soggy.
Serve with basil-garlic sauce cold or at room temperature on top or on the side.


Quail on Barley Flatbreads
Adapted from "The Oldest Cuisine in the World," Jean Bottero
Serves 6

For quail:
6 quail
2 tablespoons plus 1 tablespoon rendered chicken or lamb fat, or olive oil
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 leek, cleaned and thickly sliced
1 shallot, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
For flatbreads:
2 cups barley flour
1/4 cup rendered chicken or lamb fat, or Crisco
1 teaspoon salt
For garnish:
1 bunch watercress
1 clove garlic, halved
Vinegar to taste
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
With a boning knife, carefully remove the quail's legs from the bodies of the birds and set aside. Place the quail in a stockpot along with 2 tablespoons of fat, the vinegar, leek, shallot and garlic. Add water to cover. Bring to a bare boil, then reduce heat and gently simmer, partially covered, until tender but not falling off the bone, about 15 minutes. Removed to a dish and cover to keep warm.
Place quail legs on a roasting pan and coat with remaining tablespoon of fat. Place in oven and roast until browned, turning once - about 15 minutes.
For the flat breads: mix together the 1/4 cup fat, barley flour and salt, then gradually stir in enough of the broth to make a pliable dough. Form the dough into 6 balls and cover them with plastic wrap to keep them from drying out as you work. Meanwhile, oil and heat a 12-inch skillet.
Sprinkle a clean surface with barley flour and roll out into a 6-inch circle. Transfer this circle to the hot skillet and cook, turning once, until the dough is cooked through, about a minute per side. There will be blackened scorch marks on the bread. Repeat with other 5 rounds, re-oiling the pan if necessary to prevent sticking.
To serve, place a poached quail atop each flatbread. Rub breast with half clove of garlic and sprinkle with vinegar. Arrange roasted legs alongside the body. Garnish plate with watercress.



Pumpkin Soup
Courtesy of the Legacy Program at the University of Texas at San Antonio's Center for Archaeological Research
Serves 6

1 small pumpkin
2 tablespoons palm or other neutral oil, like peanut or safflower
3 tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
4 cups turkey broth
salt to taste
thinly sliced wild onions or scallions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place pumpkin in a baking dish and roast until easily pierced with a knife, about 1 hour. Allow pumpkin to cool, slice off top, and scoop out seeds. Remove pumpkin fibers from seeds, toss seeds with oil, and salt to taste. Spread out on a baking sheet and return to oven 15 to 20 minutes until crisp and golden. Reserve for garnish.
Scrape the pumpkin flesh from shell and mash, or puree if a smoother mixture is desired. Place the pumpkin in a large saucepan and season with salt, honey, and allspice. Gradually stir in enough broth to make soup with thin or thick consistency, as desired. Simmer over medium heat about 5 minutes, until hot. If desired, serve soup in small pumpkin or squash shells. Garnish with onions and pumpkin seeds.

[Warpy]

5. Were I within a few short hours of kicking off

from execution or natural disaster, I'd probably choose to eat all the foods that cause me serious consequences: citrus, dairy and wheat. My last meal would be heavy in all three, topped off by fresh orange sections in liqueur.

Of course, my demise would have to be imminent for that liqueur. The migraine usually crashes in 20 minutes after alcohol passes my lips.