Since Valentine's Day is Tuesday, I'm wondering what you'd put on a menu for the ultimate seductive feast.
You know, I've been thinking about that and there are two things I'm pretty sure of -- not because I'm actually going to cook them but because I like to cook things in my head! One is the chocolate pots de crème recipe (see below) that I include at the end of my book, because it's very dense and rich, yet not at all suffocating. Chocolate is easy; it's just sexy, from the first bite to the last. It melts in your mouth, it's very sensual in taste and feel, and it's exotic, special.
"The Sex Life of Food: When Body and Soul Meet to Eat"
By Bunny Crumpacker
Thomas Dunne Books
272 pages
Nonfiction
The other dish I'd choose would be shrimp -- though I'm not sure exactly how I'd prepare it -- certainly nothing too garlicky or heavy. They're considered a classic aphrodisiac, and though I don't really believe in that, there is something about taking the shells off shrimp that is so aggressively physical.
It seems like many shellfish are believed to have aphrodisiac qualities.
Sure, oysters especially. And they do contain a chemical that causes arousal. So there is a physical effect, though I don't think that's the most important factor. With shrimp it's more the opening, the peeling -- you almost want to serve them with the shells on so your hands can be busy!
You make a playful point late in the book about how so many of us now go to restaurants to get our meals -- to pay for edible pleasures, if you will -- that we might think of it as a metaphor for prostitution.
Definitely. Especially being taken out to eat when someone else is paying for you. The whole restaurant experience is one of being served, and in our society it's customary to give something back when you receive a gift. So the question becomes, what are you going to give? There are so many possibilities ...
Of course, that's just one way of looking at it. There are other impulses behind being taken to dinner -- a desire to feel you're being cared for and sought after, for instance.
Do you think there is a difference between loving foods and sexy foods?
Oh, what a good question. Yes. Oatmeal isn't sexy but I love it. So there are comforting foods like that -- and then others where sometimes it just feels good to bite, like spareribs or chicken you eat with your hands. Food can be a lot of things, and while sex is a huge part of it, it's not everything.
My editor and I joke about how "The Sex Life of Food" sounds like a story about oatmeal falling in love with strawberries. And it's true, oatmeal isn't sexy unless you dress it up with strawberries and brown sugar. But it's still good. And it fills another need. Passion is one thing and love is another, and when you're lucky you get them both.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Faux Chocolate Pots de Creme
These pots de creme are down to basics: chocolate, milk, sugar, and vanilla. The end result is dense and rich; a little whipped cream on the side is lovely. And perhaps a few berries, rasp and straw? You could use cognac or rum instead of vanilla, yes. The original recipe was from the New York Times and included a raw egg. I'm willing to risk all sorts of things, but not a raw egg. Not even one that has been tempered with hot milk.
-- Bunny Crumpacker
3/4 cup milk
1 cup (6 oz.) semisweet chocolate bits
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla, cognac, or rum
Tiny pinch of salt
Garnish: whipped cream
1. Heat milk to the scalding point.
2. While the milk is heating, place all the other ingredients except the whipped cream in a food processor bowl or blender.
3. Add the hot milk. Holding paper towels or a kitchen towel around the processor bowl so it won't leak, process until chocolate is completely melted, between 10 and 20 seconds, longer if needed.
4. Two choices: Pour the chocolate into tiny cups -- demitasse cups work nicely if you have them; pots de creme cups, with their little covers, are perfect by definition. Or pour the chocolate into a pretty serving bowl and spoon out portions from there. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Serve with whipped cream.
Serves 4 to 6
From the book "The Sex Life of Food: When Body and Soul Meet to Eat" by Bunny Crumpacker. © 2006 by the author and reprinted by permission of St. Martin's Press.
About the writer
Sarah Karnasiewicz is an associate editor at Salon.
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