Homemade Movies, Homemade Cooking: Dumplings, Aloo Paratha, Huevito con Cátsup, and Other Isolation Foods (Part II)
Afternoon Tea and Spaghetti with Perfect Tomato Sauce
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*The following writings and recipes constitute the second installment of an article (divided into three parts [click here to go the first one]) that was inspired by Homemade, a series of shorts filmed by different directors during isolation that you can find on Netflix. You might want to watch it first, so I don’t spoil a few details for you. I highly recommend it :)
VOYAGE AU BOUT DE LA NUIT
Paolo Sorrentino, Roma.
Tea does not have a form of its own, it takes that of the cup which carries it. It is unstable, malleable, temporary, and, like the running yet still image of a river, it is also a reflection of what surrounds it, and who surrounds it. In the British tradition of tea, for example, there’s an implicit social distinction between “High Tea” and “Afternoon Tea”. The first differs from the second, in that it is not taken as a part of leisure activity in the middle of the afternoon, served on fine porcelain, accompanied by luscious sweets and perfect triangular bite-sized sandwiches, but instead, it is served on a late evening, in a regular mug, accompanied by a hot replenishing meal, after a day of hard work. This distinction is well described in English journalist Isabella Beeton’s Book of Household Management (1861): ‘There is Tea and Tea. A “High Tea” is where meat takes a more prominent part and signifies really, what is a tea-dinner … The afternoon tea signifies little more than tea and bread-and-butter, and a few elegant trifles in the way of cake and fruit.” In that distinction lay a chasm of class, geography, and manners.’[1].
In a few words, High Tea is a ritual more attuned to the lives of the down-to-earth, the simple, the hardworking, those who struggle daily to earn a better life; while Afternoon Tea can be so separated from social reality, so far out into the realm of privilege, as to being served for those who’ve never even bothered to try and make it for themselves. Such is the case in Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino’s short, where —while being forced to quarantine together— a cup of tea becomes the center of a discussion between plastic-doll versions of Queen Elizabeth II and Pope Francisco, as it uncovers the synthetic futility of the long-running institutions each one represents: ‘England’s number one doesn’t know how to make tea? … You don’t know how to do anything’, Pope Francisco criticizes the Queen. ‘You and I are nothing but symbols. Which is why we don’t know how to do anything’, she later agrees after he apologizes for his rudeness while they dance together.
The cup of tea also serves as a container of the humanness these figures can’t allow themselves in order to adequately fulfill their roles as quasi-celestial mediators within their represented “classical communities” (described in Benedict Anderson’s Imagined Communities as those that have been conceived as ‘cosmically central, through the medium of a sacred language linked to a superterrestrial order of power’[2]); for the Queen, it is self-doubt, for the Pope, it is bodily pleasures (‘Such a shame’, remarks the Queen).
While the life of these two characters may seem enviable from the outside, the reality is that their only true purpose is to serve as perfect porcelain containers of the beliefs of other people: they fill the void of human uncertainty, and there is a high price to pay for that. Until one day, a minuscule expression of the force of nature (which, ironically, we humans created the conditions for it to develop) threatens our whole existence, reminding our narcissistic, monotheistic, patriarchal-oriented minds, that we are not the ones who are in charge, and that maybe it is a good time to rethink our “cup of tea” narratives.
*Since the cup of tea that is portrayed in this short belongs to an Afternoon tea scenario, I took the initiative of including some scones as accompaniment.
[1] Goldstein, Darra; Mintz, Sidney; Krondl, Michael. Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets. iBooks. Oxford University Press 2005. P. [2] Benedict Anderson. Imagined Communities. Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. 1983, 1991, 2006. iBooks. P. 37.
PLAIN SCONES, CLOTTED CREAM, PLUMB PRESERVES, EARL GREY
(For two)
CLOTTED CREAM
(Do at least one day in advance)
*The closest thing to clotted cream in Mexico is nata if you don’t have the accessibility to get some or a “productos de rancho” store in your neighborhood, here’s a couple of methods to do yourself…
Ingredients:
500 ml of whipping cream
Preparation:
You can either put the cream on an oven-resistant container (like a pyrex) for 12 hours at the lowest temperature, or on a slow cooker (I used a glass container, but you can put it directly on the cooker) on “low” overnight (10 to 12 hrs) until the cream develops a golden skin. Let cool and refrigerate.
SCONES
(Makes six small pieces of 4 big ones)
Ingredients:
250 g all-purpose flour
1 heap teaspoon of baking powder
1 tbsp of sugar
1 big pinch of salt
75 g of butter cut into small cubes (be sure to keep it in the refrigerator until the last moment, the colder the better)
150 ml of milk
Egg wash or milk to coat
Preparation:
*You can use a food processor or work with hands, there are only two important things you have to consider: the ingredients have to be added in the same order, so stop between each step if you are going to use the processor, also, refrain from overworking the dough, the butter doesn’t have to be mixed completely, the final consistency has to be crumbly, meaning that you have to be able to still see the bits of butter.
Mix all of the dry ingredients. Add the cubes of butter and press them into the flour with your fingers until it turns into crumbles.
Add the milk and press dough together to incorporate it. Form a disc with your hands of about two centimeters thick and wrap with a plastic paper. Leave it to rest in the freezer for 10 to 20 min.
Heat the oven at around 180*C.
Flour the surface of a table. Take out the dough and flatten the disk a little with a rolling pin.
To shape the scones you can use cookie cutters or cut the circle into triangles as I did (I personally prefer to do it that way because nothing gets wasted).
Put the pieces on a tray with parchment paper and coat them with egg wash, milk, or whatever you are using.
Bake between 15 to 20 minutes or until they turn golden.
PLUM PRESERVE
(or any seasonal stone fruit)
Ingredients:
Plums
Sugar
*You can also add spices like cinnamon and star anise.
Preparation:
On a pan, put the fruit you’re going to use and sugar to taste (the more sugar you use, the longer the fruit will be preserved, regular marmalades, for example, generally use a 1/1 ratio).
Heat until the sugar dissolves and it becomes a thick syrup.
Keep on a jar on the fridge.
ENGLISH TEA
(Serves two)
Ingredients:
Two bags of earl gray tea
500 ml of boiled water
Preparation:
Take out your nicest dishware (preferably china), set a nice table, decorate with flowers, and serve around 4 o’clock.
CASINO
Sebastian Schipper, Berlin.
A good spaghetti with tomato sauce is something that most people can handle. It is not an intimidating dish, and one can get really good at it with little practice; you just have to cook the pasta according to the directions on the package and then serve with your favorite pimped-up brand of passata. It’s an easy and practical meal because it’s pre-cooked, but it’s also not seasoned, which means there’s space for you to imprint your personality, to be creative. It’s safe, it’s approachable, it’s repeatable, and every once in a while you can even surprise yourself as a cook —and ultimately as a person—, since it is through these apparently unimportant routines that we sometimes find the opportunity to come to terms with who we are. Like German director, Sebastian Schipper does in this film entirely shot and starred by himself, while isolating at his home in Berlin.
As days go by of him diligently repeating the same mundane activities, small changes start to become noticeable, as he is able to regard himself from different angles. What could’ve become a temporary prison, actually becomes a vacation into his mind: he appreciates himself while peacefully sleeping (being careful not to make any noise), he becomes more self-sufficient by turning into his own coiffeur (not minding if his not initially good at it), he smiles at himself with no apparent reason and seems to become lighter each day (even in the color palette of his outfit), he challenges —and at the same— amuses himself by playing cards and chess, he appreciates his talents as a musician and retakes old hobbies, he realizes how decent a cook he is and he congratulates himself with a thumbs-up for accomplishing a great bowl of pasta.
This Sebastian Schipper short reminds me of a cartoon (by Brooke Bourgeois) that was posted on the New Yorker a couple of months ago, about a group of devils who are playing Yenga, while a woman explains how she’s doing during quarantine on the phone: Yeah, I’m just alone with my demons, but it turns out they’re actually good company”.
SPAGHETTI WITH PERFECT TOMATO SAUCE
(For one person)
Ingredients:
1 portion of uncooked spaghetti
A jar of your favorite passata
Water to cover
Parmesan (or pecorino) cheese
Olive oil
Any or all of these condiments: garlic, diced onion, pepper, chili flakes, and basil (fresh or dried).
Salt to taste
A knob of butter *optional
Preparation:
Fill a pot with water, salt it. Add the pasta when comes to a boil and let cook for around 8-12 minutes (unless differently directed in the package, since there is some “instant” pasta that cooks faster) or until it becomes al dente.
Strain when ready, but save a cup of the water to add later if needed.
On the same pot, cook the passata with some olive oil (if you are using garlic or onion sautée them first).
Add the rest of the condiments, and some water if needed to your liking.
Check seasonings, and finish with the knob of butter if using it.
Top with cheese. Congratulate yourself if it’s good. If not, be nice, and patient, you can always try again.