An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace

by Tamar Adler

One of the calmest and most pleasant dinners I remember attending was at the house of a very accomplished cook who’d plated our entire dinners: braised short ribs, haricots verts, and potato purée, and left them sitting on the dining room table for an hour while we drank wine and ate prosciutto in the living room. Because everything, down to the trouble of transferring dinner from pot to plate, had been done in advance, our hostess was utterly serene. She sat smoothly with us while we slowly lubricated our tongues and warmed our appetites. One of the guests spilled an entire glass of red wine on our hostess’s fox throw blanket, at which our hostess laughed, before moving the blanket to another room. It doesn’t need to be on the table chilling, but serve something best cooked in advance. It will