Preserved lemons iii

In another of the Council's more
spirited races, District 4, in
north central Austin, Greg Casar
and Laura Pressley beat out six
other candidates to advance to a
run-off. Pressley recently attack-
ed Casar, saying he was unfit to
represent the District because he
did not believe in God.

                I didn't have any money at the time, 
                and I didn't have a home or a kitch-
                en, but a rich Texan college mate of
                mine had both, so I borrowed his.

                I was very nervous to be cooking for
                Jim [Beard] with no professional back-
                up staff to make me look good, and up
                to the morning of the day of the din-
                ner, I still couldn't decide what to
                serve. I wandered around Chinatown in
                San Francisco, looking for my usual
                inspiration from the markets. When I
                saw several deep-sea urchins, each the
                size of a large grapefruit, I knew I
                must have them.

                Once I bought them, I was faced with
                the problem of what to do with them.
                From somewhere in the dark recesses
                of my mind (perhaps from one of my fa-
                vorite books, La Bonne Cuisine du Comte
                de Nice by Jacques Médecin, or Jean-
                Noel Escudier's La Véritable Cuisine
                Provençale et Niçoise) came a memory
                of a sea urchin sauce that could be
                used as a basis for a soufflé. Right,
                I thought, soufflés they will be. By
                the time all this occurred to me, it
                was too late to buy individual souf-
                flé dishes, so the shells would have
                to do.

                With Jim and the other guests wait-
                ing at the table, my heart was in my
                throat as I opened the oven door. But
                when I did, I saw .. the spines were
                intact, a wonderful ocean smell waft-
                ed into the kitchen, and best of all,
                the soufflé mixture had risen above
                the crater-like openings of shells,
                puffy, pink-beige, and beautiful. I
                rushed them to the table.

                Jim tried a spoonful. No word was
                said. He looked up slowly, fully a-
                ware of his massively theatrical ef-
                fect and, rolling his eyes slowly a-
                round the room, said: My God, that
                is the best thing I have ever tasted.


























Edgar Walters and
  Christine Ayala
In Austin, City Council
  Run-Off Elections Big
  on Drama
The Texas Tribune©
December 3, 2014 


Jeremiah Tower
Donald Sultan, paintings
Jeremiah Tower Cooks
  250 Recipes from an
  American Master
op. cit.