NOVEL THOUGHTS
………
ALGONQUIN BOOKS, 2006
(available in paperback from Algonquin, 2011)
THROUGH THE MEMORIES of ninety-three-year-old nursing home resident Jacob Jankowski, readers are taken deep into the world of a traveling circus during America’s Great Depression, a world populated by cunning, colorful, and often damaged people.
Jacob is an Ivy League dropout who flees Cornell University just before earning his degree in veterinary medicine. In making his escape, one prompted by his parents’ death, Jacob hops a train only to discover the train belongs to a traveling circus. His veterinary skills land him a job caring for animals in the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Through his love for Marlena, star of the equestrian act and wife of the superintendent of animals, an abusive but charming man named August, Jacob is drawn deeper and deeper into the strange and often cruel, merciless, and surreal world of the circus.
(See photo insert.)
Sara Gruen shared this recipe for Oyster Brie Soup and her thoughts on the role of food in Water for Elephants.
Gruen writes:
Food plays an important role in Water for Elephants because much of the story is set during the Depression, a time when many Americans did not have enough to eat. Uncle Al, the owner of the Benzini Bros. Most Spectacular Show on Earth, may have mistreated his workers—and more often than not didn’t pay them—but he never skimped on food, and that was enough to keep them loyal.
Although the food served to the working men was hearty and plentiful, the train had professional chefs on board to cater to the needs of the stars and bosses. The first night Jacob had dinner in August and Marlena’s stateroom, the four-course meal they enjoyed was nothing short of decadent: The first course was oyster bisque, followed by prime rib with boiled potatoes, and asparagus in cream. Then came lobster salad, and to finish off, English plum pudding with brandy sauce.
The following is for the oyster bisque that used to be served at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina. Whenever I find myself there, I still ask for it, hoping they’ve put it back on the menu. Perhaps someday they will, but in the meantime, I talked them into giving me the recipe. It is unbelievably good.
For the soup 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter 1 cup chopped celery 1 cup chopped onion ½ teaspoon ground white pepper ½ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper ½ cup all-purpose flour 1 pound Brie cheese, cut into small wedges, no skin 6 cups cold water 2 cups heavy cream 36 shucked small oysters, with liquor ½ cup champagne ¼ cup dry sherry |
For the oyster garnish (optional) Oil for deep-frying ½ cup all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon ground black pepper 8–10 shucked small oysters 2 eggs, lightly beaten ¾ cup bread crumbs |
To make the soup: In a large soup pot, melt one stick of butter. Add the celery, onions, and white and cayenne peppers. Stir and cook over low heat until vegetables begin to soften.
In a small saucepan, melt the second stick of butter. Make a roux as a base for thickening the soup by combining the melted butter and the flour. Cook at least 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the roux and the cheese to the soup pot. Add the water, cream, oysters, and their liquor. Simmer the soup until the oysters begin to curl. Add the champagne and sherry and heat through.
3. To be extra fancy, garnish each bowl with a single deep-fried breaded oyster. To make the deep-fried oysters: Place 2–3 inches of oil in a deep fryer or large pot and heat to 375°F. Combine flour, salt, and pepper. Dredge oysters in flour mixture, dip in egg, and roll in bread crumbs.
Place oysters gently into hot oil. Cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes (if less oil, turn until golden brown on one side with tongs and fry until both sides are golden brown). Drain briefly on paper towels before garnishing soup.
Yield: 8 to 10 servings
NOVEL THOUGHTS
Ron Tibbetts facilitates a book club for the homeless in Boston. Founded in 2007, the club draws anywhere from three to twelve members at a given meeting.
“There are now as many as twenty book clubs modeled after ours all across the country and in Europe,” says Tibbetts, who recalls that Water for Elephants was the group’s first reading selection, and a wonderful one for a new club. “It opened up the doors to conversations around the vagabond lifestyle, the uniqueness of each of our life experiences, and the almost ‘sacredness’ of how we remember our past, both the difficult and the wonderful parts of the journeys we have made.”
“We were privileged for a time to have a carnival worker, Tim, join us,” adds Tibbetts. “Tim was in Boston because it was where his last job ended, he had run out of money, and was living in homeless shelters. Tim brought to the discussion the real life story of living on the highways and rails of America, working hard in the uncertain world of the carnival.”
More Food for Thought
The eight women of the Ocala, Florida, We Who Read Book Club explored Water for Elephants in greater depth than any other book they have read, says Rosemary Simm. The novel piqued Simm’s curiosity about circus life, and prompted her to make an advance trip to local circus grounds to arrange a visit for her book group. The circus management invited the club to return the next day for an insider’s tour, to observe the lifestyle of the circus workers, visit with the elephants, and enjoy a lunch provided by the cookhouse—a semitruck trailer converted into a kitchen where meals are made for the circus performers.
The group enjoyed a cafeteria-style lunch: green salad, freshly made pumpkin soup, chicken and rice, thick slabs of bread, and chocolate cake with a powdered sugar topping. “Generous portions were served and we waddled away from the picnic tables like sleepy children looking for a place to take a nap,” recalls Simm. “Everything prepared for that main meal was made that day and everyone involved with the circus ate the same thing.”
“We were given a wonderful behind-the-scenes tour of daily circus life,” adds Simm. “Later we discussed how normal life seemed for the circus performers and workers. We learned that the circus is like a traveling family.”
“When it was my turn to host the book club there was no question that I would aim for a circus theme for luncheon,” says Vivian Delsman, one of eight members of the Bestsellers’ Browsers of Sunnyvale and Los Altos, California.
Delsman served “fun” circus snacks: marshmallow candy circus peanuts, Cracker Jacks, and Bugles (resembling the ringmaster’s megaphone). “Our ice cream sundaes were topped with an animal cookie,” she adds. Delsman decorated the dining room with circus streamers and wrote the discussion questions on the back of vintage circus postcards (downloaded from the Internet).
The Bookworms of Baltimore creatively named dishes based on the events and characters in Water for Elephants when they discussed the novel over dinner, recalls Helen Streimer.
For the main course, the group enjoyed an African peanut stew they dubbed elephant stew. Hayburner salad—a green salad—was named for the hay-eating circus animals. Monday Man bread was inspired by Monday Man, who stole clothes from wash lines for the circus staff on wash days. Second-batch lemonade conjured the lemonade Rosie the elephant consumed so that a second batch was required. The group capped off the meal with dessert: cake with cotton candy (pink fluffy) icing.