Entertainment, TV, Celebrity, Culture

Follow @2Paragraphs
  • Daily Edition
    • Sen. Marco RubioMarco Rubio Falls In Line, ‘Prays’ Donald Trump Won’t Be Prosecuted
    • Joe_BidenBiden Taunts MAGA, Marjorie Taylor Greene For Ignoring “Extensive Evidence” on ESG
    • Donald Trump in 2016Donald Trump’s Escape From Mar-a-Lago Via Underground Tunnel Titillates Twitter
  • Business
    • Randi ZuckerbergRandi Zuckerberg Sarcastically Mocks Crypto Boys Club
    • Daymond JohnDaymond John Drops Elon Musk Icebreaker on Twitter, ‘Money v. Meeting’
    • Warren_BuffettWarren Buffett Reverses on Computer Chips After Biden-GOP Cooperation
  • Culture
    • Carrie UnderwoodCarrie Underwood’s On-Stage Leg Twin Reveals Fitness Secret, ‘Nasty In Many Ways’
    • Sarah Michelle Gellar in Do Revenge KIM SIMMS/NETFLIXSarah Michelle Gellar Parties in Tiny Mini Dress, ‘Going Out with a Bang’
    • Heather GrahamHeather Graham Bares Legs in Tiny Romper, ‘Head to Toe Perfection’
  • Sports
    • Gov Greg AbbottTexas Gov. Greg Abbott Picks Alabama Over Houston, Fails Politics 101
    • Michael_Jordan_and_Barack_ObamaBarack Obama Knocks Out #1 Seed Purdue In NCAA Round 2, ‘A Crime’
    • Oscar de la HoyaOscar De La Hoya’s Girlfriend Sizzles in See-Thru Mini Dress, ‘OMG’
  • Food
    • Jennifer GarnerJennifer Garner Reveals Her Favorite ‘Dry January’ Treat at Home
    • Dark ChocolateAre Dark Chocolate Fears Overblown? Cadmium, California, and “Ouch, Ouch” Disease
    • Wendy's restaurantWendy’s New Riddle Stumps Social Media — “Chili in Philly?”
  • Interviews
    • Cranberries_in_a_bucketDo Cranberries Really Help UTI? A Doctor Answers With New Evidence
    • Lauren Lovett The Speech Ring InventorVideo: The Speech Ring Inventor on Overcoming Fear of Public Speaking
    • Surge first out gay superhero in the moviesFirst Out Gay Movie Superhero Surge Speaks on Humor, Responsibility
  • Cool Stuff
    • Ice-T on LAW & ORDER: SVU (Virginia Sherwood/NBC)Ice-T’s Wife Flaunts Brand New Range Rover With Front Seat Refrigerator
    • Bergdorf Goodman 5th Avenue store in NYCChristian Louboutin Reveals 3.5″ Spring Mules With ‘Vibrant Red’ Nail Polish
    • Cardi_BCardi B Says She Hit Jackpot With $30,000 Chanel Slot Machine Bag
  • Contact
  • Privacy

1955: The Aga Khan Eats

by Jeremiah Tower in Food & Wine | April 22, 2014

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • More
  • Linkedin
  • Reddit
  • Email

I had lunch one day in early March 1955 with Jean Cocteau. We had traveled south from Paris to Vienne to dine in the simple luxury of Fernand Point’s legendary La Pryamide, top of the list at that time of Michelin’s “worth the journey.” We wanted to see if Madame Point had recovered from the recent death of her husband and if the food had suffered or not. Seated at my favorite corner table in the dining room we saw across from us the Aga Khan III with a companion not his Begum. Did I know, the rather frail and skinny Cocteau said to me as he ogled the imposingly enormous and exotic Khan, that ten years earlier he had been weighed in diamonds for the Jubilee of that name? That 243 pounds of them, stored in bullet proof plastic boxes on the other end of the scale on which the Ismaili leader was sitting, were worth even then over a million pounds? Very decent money in those days, he said, and still is. Well, I replied, I hope he has some left. He is going to need it if he goes on eating at Chez Point the way he is today. The Khan will die first if he goes on eating chicken immersed in fattened livers, Cocteau told me with disgust. He held a strong opinion that chicken should be sauced with crayfish butter and not foie gras. Don’t blame the eater or the chef, I told him, since the concept came from Antonin Careme himself. That original recipe called for a capon stuffed with whole foie gras lobes, poached, and then sauced with black truffles. Whenever dining Chez Point, the Aga Khan made a point of insisting that the liver stay on the outside of the bird, that only whole truffles fill its insides, all so that the sauce could be champagne, cream, and a puree of that foie gras. So much for his liver. And that was his lunch chicken. In the evening he would have chicken livers and tarragon, as well as foie gras, stuffing the roasted bird that was basted constantly with cream while cooking. Just before serving, the chicken was covered with a Bearnaise sauce (shallots, butter, egg yolks). He would eat the whole thing.

This 48th Imam of the Nizari Ismaili community was wearing his usual rose tinted thick-lensed glasses, a Saville Row striped dark grey suit, and a silver tie that looked as if it cost more than the caviar he had started with. Today the Khan’s only bow, however slight, to a health regime was to order the Palombes en Beatidude instead of his usual capon or whole chicken Bearnaise. “Blissful Doves” stuffed with truffles, foie gras, and pistachios and plated with little puff pastry nests filled with fresh currant jelly. As we watched the Khan polish off a brace of plump palombes, my companion and I had ordered woodcock. Someone at another table watching all this wild-bird murder was voicing opinions about not shooting birds, but I noticed that everyone else’s mouths were too full of woodcock to say anything. Meanwhile the Khan’s waiter was spooning a bit of fattened goose liver onto his woodcock, which followed the doves. “Woodcock is king,” the Khan said to Madame Point, hovering nearby, “and foie gras its queenly consort.” He and his Dior-clad, Cartier-laden and lithesome companion were working their way through magnums of Haut-Brion 1950, Cheval Blanc 49, Lafite 48, and Pontet-Canet 20. It took the two of us to get through one of Roederer 1945, but Magnums were catching around that place — Point used to drink three a day. While he was being shaved in the garden just before lunch, he and the barber would finish off the first magnum together. “I like to start off my day with a glass of champagne,” he would say, “and I like to wind it up with champagne, too. To be frank.” // Jeremiah Tower

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • More
  • Linkedin
  • Reddit
  • Email

Healthy Homemade Protein Bars

Mix and Voila!

Load More

  • Recent
  • Trending
  • Popular
  • Jennifer GarnerJennifer Garner Reveals Her Favorite ‘Dry January’ Treat at Home
  • Dark ChocolateAre Dark Chocolate Fears Overblown? Cadmium, California, and “Ouch, Ouch” Disease
  • Wendy's restaurantWendy’s New Riddle Stumps Social Media — “Chili in Philly?”
  • HotPockets-ShortsHot Pockets Cooks Up Clothing with Warming Pocket To Keep 50+ Flavors Hot This Holiday
  • McDonalds McCafe TV commercialMcDonald’s Sweetens Menu, Revives Cheese Danish Pastry for McCafé Coffee Lovers
2paragraphs on APPLE NEWS | 2paragraphs Amazon Shop | SEE MORE 2paragraphs ARTICLES
  • About 2paragraphs
  • Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Dedication
  • Map
  • Fresh
  • Law
  • How-To
  • Personal
  • Books

© 2012-2023, 2paragraphs Productions, LLC

  • Buffer
  • Diggit
  • Email
  • More
  • Facebook
  • Flattr
  • Google+
  • Linkedin
  • Pinterest
  • Print
  • Reddit
  • Stumble
  • tumblr
  • Twitter
  • VK
  • WhatsApp
  • Yummly
  • Xing