Far-Flung Fling

Fortunately for all forward-looking hosts mapping out a food-and-drink party, the so-called shrinking would has steadily grown into a world without end. There was a time when every holiday menu was carefully meshed into old unchanging grooves: the roast gobbler with the chestnut stuffing, the doughty goose with the inevitable apples, the steamed plum pudding with the brandy. Four and twenty black-birds could sing only after they were baked under a conventional piecrust. Today, men who've feasted on chukar partridges, Alaskan bear and Scotch grouse and who've regularly explored gourmet centers, whose shelves are loaded with Indian pappadums, African mangoes and (text continuied on page 128) Portuguese anchovies, know that at this time of the year the world is, indeed, their oyster.

A menu of many lands doesn't have to be stretched, like the Japanese New Year, into a full month. But it's tremendous fun, especially at the holidays, to sketch out a party that allows Turkish raki to be sipped before the Chinese winter melon soup and Thai shrimp dumplings to appear on the same table with Brazilian mousse of avocados. And it certainly makes for unusual end-of-the-year festivities to have both your decor and your food and drink reflect the flavor of foreign lands.

A host with an eye for exotic cuisines will naturally call the play on dishes best suited to his own revels. There's a Bedouin feast in which a whole camel is slowly roasted after having been stuffed with a sheep, which in turn was stuffed with chickens, stuffed with fish, stuffed with eggs. A moral goes along with the roast camel: Bigness isn't necessarily sumptuousness. An 80-pound steamship roast is big enough. But the much smaller roast shell of prime beef, cut into slices for Danish open beef sandwiches, garnished with cold Béarnaise sauce, dilled cucumbers and onions in red wine is sheer holiday bliss. Everything good about the Danes--their straightforwardness, their impressive simplicity of taste, their imagination, their rich hospitality--seems to go into their modest-looking but magnificent sm?rrebr?d.

Gourmets-at-large soon learn that the best of foreign cuisines continuously overlap and borrow from one another and meld into new delightful forms. The Greeks claim not only to have invented the chef's tall white hat but to have discovered white sauce and brown sauce and to have taught the Romans how to cook peacocks, crabs and cranes. It may all be true, but the thing that they didn't invent but of which they are now formidable masters is the lemon. The Greek style of cooking soups and stews called avgolemono, a creamy sauce made with lemon juice and egg yolks, is a rich holiday diversion for American hosts. Thailand offers small shrimp dumplings made of ground raw shrimp, which seem like first cousins of the Chinese shrimp balls. But the Thais have a flamboyant way with spices, and the sauce accompanying the Thai version is flavored with a species of hot peppers that they affectionately call "tiny torpedoes." Along with pickled ginger, the peppers produce an incendiary effect on the palate. In American hands, the same delicate shrimp dumplings are covered with a ginger sauce that proclaims all is calm, all is bright.

One of the coziest of all soups confected by the Chinese is their winter melon soup. Winter melon is a fruit eaten like a vegetable, available both summer and winter. At ostentatious tables in this country, the soup is sometimes served from the whole melon steamed until tender--a long, rather clumsy cooking process. Actually, the best version is the native one, in which the raw melon is cut into small pieces and cooked quickly, so that the melon emerges both crisp and tender. Obviously, one needn't acquire a special visa to China to make winter melon soup. If you're near a Chinese food store, you'll have no difficulty in scooping up a wedge of the large winter melon. If there are no Chinatowns nearby, the firm Spanish melon, when in season, is a good pinch hitter.

While the French claim proprietary rights to the word crepe, thin pancakes are found all over Europe. One of the most succulent versions is the Italian cheese-stuffed crispellini, a specialty of the town of Ravello off the Amalfi Drive. France, of course, has culinary outposts tout le monde. It's not startling, therefore, to find feathery, butter-rich French brioches in Quebec, Haiti and Martinique. Brioches, in the Caribbean, are happily crossbred with orange and rum flavors into a cherubic holiday dessert.

There are some fresh foreign dainties that can't be duplicated--like the Brazilian frogs that grow to the size of holiday geese and whose outsize legs would hardly meet the tastes of frogs'-legs fanciers hereabouts. But there are compensations. The canned Brazilian heart of palm is just about the most perfect salad ingredient we can imagine for indulging one's holiday fancy. The Brazilian avocado mousse in which the heart of palm appears is another dish that can be as fiery with pepper or as affably mild as you like to suit your own commensal taste.

All feasts, whether domestic or foreign, should be feastlike. And the first way to catch the eye as well as the palate on a holiday buffet is to fill a generous-size hors d'oeuvre dish with the immense booty from overseas. Hot hors d'oeuvres should be kept hot over a chafing-dish flame or on a hot tray; cheeses reach their acme of flavor at room temperature; everything else should be nipping cold. A holiday hors d'oeuvre line-up should include caviar--the fresh Iranian, if possible. Among the multitudinous forms in which pâté de foie gras is offered, we like the mousse of foie gras that is easily sliced with a sharp knife dipped in hot water, and the center of which is bejeweled with a row of black truffles. The midget Italian mushrooms in oil, Scandinavian herring in succulent wine sauces, paper-thin West-phalian ham, quail eggs from Japan, English and Continental cheeses, including the Swiss ready-to-eat fondue--all of these require only astute foraging through so many jars, bottles, cans and packages.

Unreconstructed bibbers in the habit of settling down each night with the same old bottles of whiskey and brandy they've leaned upon all year long should be reminded at the yuletide of the Greek god who started it all--Dionysus. Young Dionysus' mentor was the cheerful and wise Silenus, who, although seldom sober, taught Dionysus how to cultivate grapes and to convert their rich juice into wine. Even more important, he taught Dionysus the enchantment of travel--the glory of spreading the gift of the vine, in its many forms, throughout the known world. In a sense, he was the world's first and certainly its most distinguished traveling liquor agent. There were those who challenged Dionysus, like the Tyrrhenian pirates who seemed to have been naïvely unmindful of the power of the grape. They tied him to their mast, only to find the knots suddenly untied, a huge vine wrapped around the mast, clusters of grapes hanging from the sails and the whole sea around them suddenly changed into claret. The piratical crew jumped into the sea and were immediately turned into lusty dolphins. Restless Dionysus spread his philosophy in Phrygia, where Dionysian rites became a yearly drinking festival. He took the good word to Syria. Later he fought the Amazons. That he didn't subdue them through the device of a simple cocktail party seems to have been a tactical error. With a tiger in his tank--we're told he actually rode on top of the tiger given to him by Zeus--he traveled to India, returned via Egypt and Libya and finally settled down among the immortals at Olympus. To honor Dionysus and the pleasures of what the Greeks charmingly call their "yearly renewal," we offer an international menu as well as drinks made up of the potables of other peoples. All food recipes serve eight.

[recipe_title]Winter Melon Soup[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]2 large black dried mushrooms[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]4 large fresh mushrooms[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 single breast chicken, raw[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]8 water chestnuts, fresh if possible[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]2 quarts chicken stock[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]6-oz. can lotus roots, drained[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]3 cups Chinese winter melon, 1/2-in. cubes[/drinkRecipe]

Salt, pepper, monosodium glutamate

Soak black mushrooms in warm water for 1 hour. Drain and cut into thin slivers. Cut fresh mushrooms into thin slivers. Remove skin and bones from chicken and cut into l/2-in.-thick cubes. Peel water chestnuts, if fresh, and cut into thin slices. Bring stock to a boil. (If stock seems watery, add instant bouillon powder to taste.) Add mushrooms, chicken, water chestnuts and lotus roots. Simmer 10 minutes. Add winter melon and simmer 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt, (continued on page 264) Far-Flung Fling (continued from page 128) pepper and monosodium glutamate. Pour into preheated tureen for serving.

[recipe_title]Thai Shrimp Dumplings[/recipe_title]

[recipe]2 12-oz. packages frozen peeled shrimps, ready to cook[/recipe]

[recipe]2 teaspoons Chinese oyster sauce or soy sauce[/recipe]

[recipe]2 tablespoons cornstarch[/recipe]

[recipe]1 teaspoon monosodium glutamate[/recipe]

[recipe]4 eggs[/recipe]

[recipe]2 tablespoons finely minced fresh chives[/recipe]

[recipe]2 tablespoons all-purpose flour Salad oil[/recipe]

Thaw shrimps, but do not boil. Examine shrimps carefully and remove any pieces of shell, then put them through meat chopper, using fine blade. Mix shrimps well with oyster sauce, cornstarch, monosodium glutamate, 2 eggs, slightly beaten, and chives. In wide shallow saucepan or Dutch oven, bring 3 in. salted water to a rapid boil. Drop shrimp mixture by teaspoons into boiling water. Dumplings will rise to top. Cover pan with lid and simmer 3 to 4 minutes. Do not overcrowd pan. Cook dumplings in 2 or 3 batches, if necessary. Drain dumplings and chill in refrigerator. Beat 2 remaining eggs well. Add flour and mix until smooth. Heat 1 in. oil in electric skillet preheated to 370°. Dip dumplings in egg-flour mixture. Fry, turning once, until brown on both sides. Remove from frying pan. Pour ginger sauce (below) over dumplings and keep warm on hot tray or in chafing dish.

[recipe_title]Thai Ginger Sauce[/recipe_title]

[recipe]2 cups chicken stock[/recipe]

[recipe]1/4 teaspoon garlic, minced extremely fine[/recipe]

[recipe]1/2 cup sugar[/recipe]

[recipe]1/2 cup cider vinegar[/recipe]

[recipe]1/8 to 1/2 teaspoon finely minced hot chili pepper, to taste[/recipe]

[recipe]1/4 cup red or yellow ginger in syrup, drained, thin slivers[/recipe]

[recipe]1/4 cup fresh green pepper, small dice[/recipe]

[recipe]1/4 teaspoon ground coriander[/recipe]

[recipe]2 tablespoons sake[/recipe]

[recipe]2 tablespoons thinly sliced scallion[/recipe]

[recipe]2 teaspoons soy sauce[/recipe]

[recipe]1/4 teaspoon sesame oil[/recipe]

[recipe]1/4 cup cornstarch[/recipe]

Put all ingredients except cornstarch in saucepan. Bring to a boil. Mix cornstarch with 1/4 cup cold water to a smooth paste. Slowly stir into saucepan. Simmer 2 minutes.

[recipe_title]Lamb with Peas Avgolemono[/recipe_title]

[recipe]3 lbs. lean boneless shoulder of lamb[/recipe]

[recipe]2 tablespoons butter[/recipe]

[recipe]1 tablespoon olive oil[/recipe]

[recipe]1/2 cup onion, minced very fine[/recipe]

[recipe]1/4 cup leeks, white part, minced very fine[/recipe]

[recipe]1/2 teaspoon garlic, minced very fine[/recipe]

[recipe]1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram[/recipe]

[recipe]Salt, pepper[/recipe]

[recipe]1 quart stock[/recipe]

[recipe]4 egg yolks[/recipe]

[recipe]2 tablespoons flour[/recipe]

[recipe]3 tablespoons lemon juice[/recipe]

[recipe]1-1/2 lbs. fresh green peas, boiled, drained[/recipe]

Cut lamb into pieces somewhat smaller than usual stew size, less than 1 in. thick. Melt butter with oil in stew pot. Add lamb and sauté until lamb loses red color. Add onion, leeks, garlic and marjoram. Continue to sauté about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add 1 teaspoon salt. Add stock and simmer, covered, until tender--about 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Season to taste with salt and pepper and remove from heat. Beat egg yolks until light. Add flour and lemon juice, beating well. Slowly add 1/2 cup warm stock from pot. Pour egg mixture into pot. Simmer over low flame--don't boil--about 3 minutes. Remove at once from flame and stir in cooked peas. Peas may be cooked with lamb, but cooking them separately allows for better control. Although avgolemono dishes are usually served as soon as prepared, they may be kept in a chafing dish, if top part of dish is not in contact with hot water in bottom section: otherwise sauce may curdle. Fava beans or lima beans may be substituted for peas, if desired. Serve with rice pilaf.

[recipe_title]Crispellini[/recipe_title]

[recipe]8 eggs[/recipe]

[recipe]1-1/2 cups milk[/recipe]

[recipe]2/3 cup cold water[/recipe]

[recipe]1-1/2 teaspoons salt[/recipe]

[recipe]1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour[/recipe]

[recipe]Salad oil[/recipe]

[recipe]2 lbs. ricotta cheese[/recipe]

[recipe]8 ozs. mozzarella cheese, shredded[/recipe]

[recipe]6 ozs. bel paese cheese, shredded[/recipe]

[recipe]4 ozs. prosciutto, sliced paper-thin, cut into small dice[/recipe]

[recipe]Ground white pepper[/recipe]

[recipe]Grated parmesan cheese[/recipe]

Put eggs, milk, water, 1/2 teaspoon salt and flour into blender. Blend 10 seconds at high speed, scrape sides of blender, then blend 10 seconds more. This may be done in two batches, if necessary. Heat heavy skillet, 7 in. in diameter, over moderate flame. Pour enough salad oil into skillet to cover bottom; then pour off any excess. While holding pan off flame, pour in about 3 tablespoons batter. Tilt pan to cover bottom completely, then return to flame. Adjust flame, if necessary, to prevent browning too fast. When each pancake is lightly browned, turn with spatula and lightly brown other side. Remove pancakes from pan and stack on large dish. Continuing cooking until all batter is used. In mixing bowl, combine ricotta, mozzarella and bel paese cheeses, prosciutto, remaining teaspoon salt and several dashes pepper, mixing well. On each pancake, spread about 1/4 cup cheese mixture. Roll up jelly-roll fashion. Cut into 1/2-in. slices. Place slices, cut side up, in greased shallow heatproof casserole or baking pan. Store in refrigerator until serving time. Preheat oven at 450°. Place casserole in oven about 10 to 12 minutes. Sprinkle crispellini generously with parmesan cheese; sprinkle lightly with salad oil. Place under broiler flame until cheese is medium brown.

[recipe_title]Roast Beef Sm?rrebr?d[/recipe_title]

Order 5 lbs. well-trimmed boneless shell of beef (sirloin, not top sirloin). Remove meat from refrigerator at least an hour before roasting. Roast for 1-1/2 hours in oven preheated at 400°. Cool to room temperature. Avoid refrigerating, if possible. Cut into thin slices. Cut slices in half crosswise, to fit on bread. Place beef on well-buttered rye, pumpernickel or white bread as open sandwiches. Provide a bowl each of sliced tomatoes and cucumber salad with dill dressing, as well as the cold Béarnaise sauce and onions in red wine (below). Guests choose or combine garnishes for sm?rrebr?d as they please.

[recipe_title]Cold Béarnaise Sauce[/recipe_title]

[recipe]1/2 lb. melted butter[/recipe]

[recipe]1 hard egg yolk[/recipe]

[recipe]3 uncooked egg yolks[/recipe]

[recipe]2 teaspoons tarragon vinegar[/recipe]

[recipe]1 tablespoon finely minced parsley[/recipe]

[recipe]1 teaspoon meat extract[/recipe]

[recipe]Salt, pepper, cayenne[/recipe]

Force hard egg yolk through fine wire sieve into well of blender. Add raw egg yolks and spin blender a few seconds. Melted butter should be kept hot while blending. With blender at low speed, very slowly add melted butter in a thin trickle. Butter may be poured through opening in blender top. When all butter has been added, pour sauce into container. Stir in vinegar, parsley, meat extract and salt and pepper to taste. Add a dash of cayenne. Chill in refrigerator several hours before serving. (If kept in refrigerator too long, sauce will return to its solid state; it should then be warmed to room temperature until it can be easily spooned onto meat.)

[recipe_title]Onions in Red Wine[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]1 large Spanish onion[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 tablespoon butter[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 tablespoon salad oil[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]3/4 cup dry red wine[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 packet instant bouillon powder[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 teaspoon brown gravy color[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]2 teaspoons instantized flour[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]Salt, freshly ground pepper[/drinkRecipe]

Peel and cut onion in half through stem end, then cut crosswise into thinnest possible slices. Sauté in butter and oil just until onion is yellow, not brown. Add wine, bouillon powder, gravy color and Worcestershire. Simmer 5 minutes. Dissolve flour in 2 tablespoons cold water and slowly add to pan, stirring well. Simmer 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Chill in refrigerator until serving time.

[recipe_title]Brazilian Avocado Mousse[/recipe_title]

[recipe]1 envelope plain gelatin[/recipe]

[recipe]1 hard-boiled egg[/recipe]

[recipe]2 cups mashed ripe avocado (3 medium-size avocados)[/recipe]

[recipe]3 tablespoons lime juice[/recipe]

[recipe]2 teaspoons grated onion[/recipe]

[recipe]1/2 teaspoon salt[/recipe]

[recipe]1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce[/recipe]

[recipe]2 drops green food color[/recipe]

[recipe]l/2 cup heavy cream, whipped[/recipe]

[recipe]14-oz. can heart of palm, chilled[/recipe]

[recipe]2 sliced medium-size bananas[/recipe]

[recipe]1 cup diced peeled apple[/recipe]

[recipe]1/2 cup mayonnaise[/recipe]

[recipe]l/2 teaspoon lemon juice[/recipe]

Soak gelatin in 1/4 cup cold water to soften. Dissolve over hot water. Force hard-boiled egg through large wire strainer. In mixing bowl, combine avocado, lime juice, onion, salt, Tabasco, food color, egg and gelatin, stirring very well. Chill in refrigerator about 1/2 hour, but do not allow to jell. Fold whipped cream into avocado mixure. Turn into 6-cup ring mold. Chill in refrigerator until set. Unmold onto serving platter. Drain heart of palm. Cut into 1-in. pieces. Combine with bananas, apple, mayonnaise and lemon juice. Toss well. Pile fruit mixture into center of avocado ring.

[recipe_title]Caribbean Brioches Grand Marnier[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]8 small brioches, three days old[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]2 cups fresh orange juice[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]2/3 cup sugar[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]2 ozs. Grand Marnier[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]30-oz. can pineapple chunks[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 tablespoon heavy dark rum[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1-1/4 cups heavy cream, whipped[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]4 slices cocktail orange in syrup[/drinkRecipe]

Use fresh rather than the commercially frozen brioches. Cut the wide cap off the top of each brioche. With small sharp knife, cut away inside of each brioche, leaving shell about 1/2 in. thick. Bring orange juice and 2/3 cup sugar to a boil; simmer 1 minute. Add Grand Marnier. When syrup cools slightly, place brioche tops and shells in syrup. Marinate in refrigerator at least 3 hours, turning occasionally, so that tops and shells are well soaked but not disintegrating. Drain pineapple well. Dry with paper toweling. Add confectioners' sugar and rum to whipped cream, mixing well. Drain cocktail orange slices well and chop extremely fine. Add orange and pineapple to whipped cream. Remove brioches from syrup and fill centers with pineapple mixture. Place brioche caps on top and cover with additional syrup.

[recipe_title]Pink Sake[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]l-1/2 ozs. sake[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1-1/2 ozs. gin[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 teaspoon grenadine[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 teaspoon lime juice[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 very thin slice lime[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 maraschino cherry[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 or 2 long pine needles or green cocktail spear[/drinkRecipe]

Stir sake, gin, grenadine and lime juice well with ice. Strain into prechilled 9-oz. tulip wineglass. Add rocks to fill glass. Stir. Float lime slice on top. Fasten maraschino cherry on pine needle and rest on rim of glass.

[recipe_title]Raki Milk Punch[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]1 oz. raki[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 oz. brandy[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 oz. triple sec[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]5 ozs. milk[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]Ground cinnamon[/drinkRecipe]

Shake raki, brandy, triple sec and milk well with ice. Strain into prechilled 12-oz. tall glass. Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon. (Ouzo or Pernod may be used in place of raki.)

[recipe_title]Frozen Aquavit[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]1-1/2 ozs. aquavit[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 oz. lime juice[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 egg white[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 cup crushed ice[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 teaspoon sugar[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 teaspoon kirschwasser[/drinkRecipe]

To divide egg white in half, beat slightly, but not to a foam. Put all ingredients in blender. Blend at low speed 15 seconds. Pour into prechilled deep saucer champagne glass. This is perfect for bringing the crowd round to the sm?rrebr?d table.

[recipe_title]Yellow Plum[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]1-1/2 ozs. quetsch, mirabelle or slivovitz[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 oz. lemon juice[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 oz. orange juice[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 teaspoon maraschino liqueur[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 teaspoon sugar[/drinkRecipe]

Combine all ingredients and shake well with ice. Strain into prechilled cocktail glass.

To this international language of good food and drink that speaks for itself, we add salud, prosit, skäl, à votre sanlé and l'chaim and wish you a world of pleasure.