Tort -- Or Torte?
Diane Mott Davidson's thirteenth novel, Dark Tort, continues in her series with caterer Goldy and her food/murder related adventures accompanied by her friends, son and law enforcement husband. And the setting remains Colorado's Aspen Meadows -- a beautiful, if murderous mountain village. As usual, there are occasional references to Episcopalians -- and recipes (though this time the recipes are collected at the end of the novel rather than scattered throughout). And, as usual, the mystery is a fun one. I have read (and written about here on Cooking with Ideas -- see below for links) her work before, and learned a while ago that she is a Wellesley graduate. Today, despite the recent Iowa Caucus Democrat results, it's worth mentioning that Wikipedia reports during her college years she lived across the hall from presidential contender, Hillary Clinton. The same Wikipedia article notes that the author lives in a small town in Colorado which closely resembles Aspen Meadows (though one hopes with fewer murders).
A tort, of course, is a legal wrong, not a type of cake or pastry. For background on the notion of tort in law click here for basic Wikipedia or here for the 'Lectric Law Library or here (if you are smart and the name Stanford does something for your legal bones). On tortes, though, try elsewhere -- here for Wikipedia on torte rather than tort. Yep, Wikipedia covers everything -- sort of. Where else? What else? Linzer Torte, it turns out is the oldest cake recipe in the world (or so the web says here and the site also has a recipe!). And, the most famous torte is the Sacher Torte (again, according to the web, here). But for just a list of recipes, try here or enter the word "torte" at www.epicurious.com where 105 recipes will come up involving the word. (Of course, you could go to Dano's on Seneca Lake and try my favorite Mohn torte. . .) Of course, there is a recipe for Dark Torte on pages 424-427 of the novel!
SPOILER ALERT -- IGNORE THIS PARAGRAPH IF YOU INTEND TO READ THE BOOK! Having said all this, the mystery turns more on tort than torte, and more on Journey Cake than on torte. What's Journey Cake? It is a form of cake associated with travelers moving West to the frontier -- and is sometimes known as Johnny Cake and loads of other synonyms. Or so says Dark Tort if I remember correctly. (For an alternative history and details, click here.) Yes, there is a recipe in Dark Tort. Indeed, the novel turns on its ingredients -- and on some links between food-related art and murder. Having no idea if the artist portrayed in the novel (named Charlie Baker) mirrors someone in real life or, for that matter, is a real artist, I decided to investigate. In the novel, Baker paints things he cooks -- and lists the ingredients below in gold calligraphy. Thinking about this led me to the web. Wikipedia (yep) lists 12 Charlie Bakers. One, Charles Henry Baker Jr. is "an author best known for his culinary and cocktail writing." There's a 13th actually named Charlie who is a NASCAR driver; click here. And loads of others. But no artist that paints food a la Dark Tort. The search also led me to food-related art sites. Some favorites? A blog called Artist Food Network whcih features a daily recipe and a daily painting. For more on food and the visual arts try here. No, you will not find Charlie Baker -- but you'll find much else!
If you feel like cooking from Dark Tort, it may in fact be blue cheesecake that does it. But, in the meantime and if all else fails -- read Dark Tort and have a blast!
For a Cooking with Ideas note on Wellesley that includes Diane Mott Davidson, click here. For an earlier review on Cooking with Ideas, click here.
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