Vide cor muem
When you see the beauty of my heart
You no longer see the beast
Blood-red black in black of night.
Empowered by the moon
But longing to burn in the fire of the sun.
Vide cor meum “See my heart” is from Dante’s sonnet to Beatrice, his unrequited true chivalric love (why are these objects of epic love always called Beatrice?). He only saw her twice but was devoted to her long after her death.
Eating your heart with flaming lips
According
to Benjamin Daniels, Dante, in a dream “sees the vision of Love holding a woman
(Beatrice) who is wrapped in a veil. Love says, "I am your master."
In one of Love's hands there is a heart on fire and he says to Dante,
"Vide cor tuum: See your heart". Then Love wakes Beatrice and feeds
Dante's burning heart to her which she reluctantly eats. Love, then, becomes
very sad and takes Beatrice with him up toward heaven.”
Vide cor meum, the Musical
At the request of Dino DeLaurentiis, Vide cor meum was written
by Irish composer Patrick Cassidy for the film, Hannibal. It was to be the aria
sung at an opera attended by Lecter and Pazzi and was used at the end of our season one and two.
While we are in Florence portion of the Memory Palace, let's enjoy Botticelli’s painting of Fortitude one of the Seven Virtues. He painted this, one of his first important commissions when he was 24. Hannibal
sketches it with Alana’s face.
Fortitude by Botticelli |
Art, art, art. Where's the beef?
I tell you all of this because there is not much to say
about the food in this episode. Why I hardly had to run around at all! Because
it’s all hopeless.
This time I had to fake the white Alba truffles Here they are made out of plastecine and cocoa |
Truffle Surprise
White truffles are no longer in season and I really can’t
believe I spent over $700 on fresh truffles a month ago when we shot a scene where
Alana shows Verger all the luxury comestibles that Hannibal is consuming in
Italy. They were barely seen. (Dark….far
away…out of the frame) Now there’s a truffle close-up and the truffle-hunting
boars have all left the building. So I have to make one out of modeling clay
and cocoa. I have some truffle oil that I rub on it so that Mads will get
something to sniff at in the scene and really, no one is the wiser.
But how about a chilled glass of beer with good old Alana?
In that same scene there’s only wine now, not beer which the Old Alana used to love. But now having been thrown from a window, Involved in fratricide, got a girlfriend and still-birthed a baby, she is the New Alana. Cool, wiser, tougher -- not up for the infatuated three-ways of her youth.
Speaking of beer, the Doubters have been voicing concerns
that beer does not have anything remotely people-ish in the recipe. Well, I don’t
know much but I do know that recipes were meant to be altered.
Sweet bliss of innocence enjoys a tall cool one This image borrowed from Meivocis.tumbler.com |
I always thought that Hannibal had barrel-aged his beer for
Alana in an oak wine barrel that had previously held body parts (eau de Mirium
Lass’ arm?) but if you have any suspicions that he would stop at that, just
check out these few breweries for the possibilities: Walking Dead tribute by craft
beer-maker Dock Street:
This fine craft beer is made with smoked goats' brain to celebrate the Walking Dead. And cranberries of course for a nice red colour.
This fine craft beer is made with smoked goats' brain to celebrate the Walking Dead. And cranberries of course for a nice red colour.
And Right Brain Brewery’s Mangalitsa Pig Porter made from
pig faces. A nice accompaniment to Verger Stew.
Another possibility, albeit remote (oh, the first three
recipes aren’t?) is that Hannibal could have made glycerine from bones,
cartilage and fatty tissues of his victims by boiling them to render the fat
and collagen. Then, to extract the glycerine, he would have boiled the fat with
lye and salt then strained off the glycerine that separates out. (what remains
is soap) He would add the glycerine to his beer to add a velvety texture to the
beer and to stabilize it so it keeps longer. But this is not likely since
glycerine is not something you would add to a quality hand-crafted beer.
Sanguinaccio with Ladyfinger biscuits and fresh berries |
But don't get me wrong, there was a food scene
Soundies sampling sanguinaccio on set - Ao and Sean |
Everyone loved it, not the least because it references "Blood and Chocolate" a horror movie from a decade ago that stars a very young Hugh Dancy as a graphic novel writer who gets involved with a werewolf (Kids these days -- what are you gonna do?).
Of course rest of this season is all about the Red Dragon.
And although he has the teeth to chew his way through anything I could concoct,
I am sad to say he’s more into tattoos than tasty treats. So I give up. Here’s a lovely picture of his
robe – since I know you were inspecting it closely and annoyed that he dropped
it to reveal his muscled inked posterior.
For those of you who would like a closer look. (Hey, eyes, my robe is up here ^)
For those of you who would like a closer look. (Hey, eyes, my robe is up here ^)
Robeless Red Dragon |
By the way, I can see why Richard Armitage has such a loyal
fan base. Not only is he a gifted and dedicated actor, he is a wonderful man.
All the crew adored him - especially Hair Department's - talented Karola Dirnberger and Make-up's sweet Katie Brennan. (Hello: daily
tattoo application/removal)
NEXT WEEK: Dinner at the Dolarhydes’. Keep your fork – there’s pie.
stole this carved watermelon dragon right off This is Colossal |
Hannidinners: Too many to post but a few select ones from Australia
Thank you Aussieannibals! I will plug in your names as soon as I get them from eOneANZ.
Thank you, Janice, for another entertaining post! I hope Hannibal gets to cook more dinners in his memory palace. I would be so sad if there are no more sumptuous food scenes left on the show!
ReplyDeleteThere are a few more dinner scenes and one in particular at end of the very last episode. I hope it doesn't get cut in the final edit because it is the shot of which I am most proud in all 3 seasons. And as the final scene, I would have the last word! That is until someone #SavesHannibal...
ReplyDeleteThanks!
You did have the last word ... and what a last word it was! Bravo! Can't wait for you to tell us how that scene was done - and hopefully your interpretation of it! It was beautiful and sinister and mysterious and hopeful/terrifying all at once!!
DeleteJanice, maybe you know why Hannibal have such a luxurious apartment in detention, and he was even allowed to cook desserts? This is a real luxury detention cell in the hospital or is it just the imagination of Hannibal?
ReplyDeleteAlana, now head of BHSCI, knows Hannibal uses certain perks like books, a paneled cell, fine wine, truffles to keep him in line. She threatens to take them away (including his toilet seat cover) if he misbehaves. So that luxurious library really is his cell.
DeleteAnother awesome post <3
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the explanations and for making me hungry!
Thanks! I really hate not being able to share more behind the scenes stuff but I have to keep my publisher happy and save it for the cookbook!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteJanice, I'm doing sanguinaccio dolce for an unrelated (French-zombie themed) dinner. How do you keep the pig's blood fresh until you need it? Do you de-coagulate it and then store it in the freezer?
ReplyDelete(It's so much fun to get to ask these kinds of questions.)
Sorry this answer is a bit late but I hope it will be helpful the next time you cook with blood. (In time for Halloween?)
ReplyDeleteYes, you can freeze it. It should be fairly liquid when you buy it -- only a few globs floating which you can get out by whisking briskly or by running thru a strainer a couple times. Blood sellers sometimes put a tiny bit of vinegar in the blood as that keeps it from coagulating. You can do the same, But you probably already figured that out.
Hope the sanguinaccio turned out great!
Thank you for sharing your beautiful work and tips with us Janice!
ReplyDeleteHave you ever heard of Auto-Brewery Syndrome? Hannibal might have been doing some interesting torture to get that beer: http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/09/17/223345977/auto-brewery-syndrome-apparently-you-can-make-beer-in-your-gut
Don't you just love "The Salt'? They do such great stuff. It's factiods like this that make me wish we were still doing Hannibal. The Writers' Room would have a field day with Auto-Brewery Syndrome!
ReplyDeleteI hope i still get an awnser sinds it realy late that post my question.
ReplyDeleteBut how can you make sanguinaccio without pigs blood?
Hi! Exsanguinated recipe for Sanguinaccio: In a heavy saucepan, combine 1 cup sugar, 2 cups milk, 1/2 cup 35% cream, 2 eggs (beaten), 2 Tbsp cornstarch. Beat together with wire whisk, Stir over low heat until thickened (like a thick cream soup) with a rubber spatula so you can scrape the bottom and sides of the saucepan. Add 4 oz semi-sweet chocolate, broken up in bits. Stir until chocolate melts. Add up to 2 oz more of chocolate if you want a richer taste. Whisk again to get rid of any lumps. Stir in vanilla and 1 Tbsp butter. Pudding will thicken more as it cools. Pour into prepared orange peel halfs and serve with ladyfingers.
ReplyDeleteHope that works for you! The eggs do the same work as the blood to thicken the pudding.
Great blog. I'm hoping to find an occasion when i can make Sanguinaccio Dolce for someone who will appreciate it. I do have one quibble about the beer Hannibal gave Alana. Since he only cut off Miriam's arm right before it was found, he wouldn't have had any bits from her to add to the barrel. SO unless he was bleeding her, which seems inelegant, she can't have been the source for the beer. Does anyone have any other ideas?
ReplyDeleteMy theory was that Hannibal kept Miriam submerged in beer that he was aging in an old oak bourbon cask. Of course he would have drugged her and put one of those white hairnets on her head and rinsed her off first - but not so much that he removed the yeast and bacteria naturally occurring on her skin which would add to the fermentation process. At least, that's how I figured it.
DeleteAlthough the government did not support what the national party wanted, their opposition had to take second place to higher priority amendments to the budget. The question of residence permits by means of investment in real estate was a trivial issue when seen in context of the government agenda, and there seemed to be no compromise to be found, however almost everyone in the government of Latvia had similar ideas regarding the possibility of introducing additional requirements for residence permits in the form of needed investment in support of Latvian families, included into immigration law. https://www.immigration-residency.eu/residence-permit-latvia/immigration-law/
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