A Punctuation of Cherries

Okay, so some of you have expressed wild enthusiasm about the food photo in my last post. So glossy! you say. So Pink and Green! It’s true. Like M. Roland Barthes says, “Glazing…serves as background for unbridled beautification: chiseled mushrooms, punctuation of cherries…arabesques of glacé fruit: the underlying coat (and this is why I call it a sediment, since the food itself becomes no more than an indeterminate bed-rock) is intended to be the page on which can be read a whole rococo cookery” (Mythologies 78).

But what IS this here food you ask?

Menu:
Lamb Kidney avec Rosemary
Parsley Rice Ring
Citrus Maraschino Mold
And Miscellaneous Frothing Mugs.

So yes, that is a sprig of parsley cascading from the kidney. Yes those are maraschino cherries. (Silly goose—did you think they would be fresh? People can catch nasty diseases and things from fresh fruit. Cook it first. Always cook it. Or drown it in gallons of sugar-goo. That works too.*)

Some hints if you try to make this at home:
Oil your rice ring!
Split and trim your kidneys
Use a cup of butter (more would be better)
Mark the gelatin layer into quarters with a toothpick—careful! you must be very careful! One wrong move and hours of work, wasted! Who did you think you were anyway, making such a complicated dish? Shame on you! Didn’t your mother teach you anything? Next time, just serve ice cream.

*p.s. I think I might have been voting age before I ever had a real cherry. Countless Christmastime jello molds and Shirley Temples had convinced me that I didn’t like them. When I found out that cherries weren’t really the color of Hawaiian Punch and actually had a deep flavor of their own I was shocked. Shocked! Why did no one clue me in to this sooner?