Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 5, 1994 TAG: 9401040170
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By GREG DAWSON ORLANDO SENTINEL
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Give me walnut toast with warm goat cheese, warm duck salad with fennel, roast turkey with giblet gravy, wild rice stuffing, candied yams, cranberry-walnut relish, old-fashioned plum pudding with hard sauce and pumpkin pie for dessert.
In other words, I'll have whatever they're having on "Northern Exposure," not only the best-written and acted show on TV but the best-fed as well.
One of the unsung pleasures of the creamy, I mean dreamy, CBS series set in Cicely, Alaska, is that the people eat, and eat well. Sometimes they even dine, and on special occasions they feast.
Anyone can be politically incorrect. "Northern Exposure" has the wit to be nutritionally incorrect. In a recent episode patrons at The Brick cafe were chowing down on 5,000-calorie meals in order to fatten up for the long Alaskan winter.
All this eating sets "Northern Exposure" apart from other shows. For the most part, primetime is a culinary wasteland where people rarely partake. This is a pet peeve of mine. Some viewers wait for the sex scenes. I wait for the food scenes - but go hungry.
(Maybe it goes back to my childhood thing for The Three Stooges. The pie fights were my favorite scenes. I envied Moe and Curly when they got nailed with a cream pie, and noticed they always checked the flavor before firing back.)
When TV characters do order food they invariably leave the table before it arrives, ignore it when it's placed in front of them, or pick at it listlessly. On most shows food is just a prop.
Take "Murphy Brown." We see Murphy and the gang huddled around a table at Phil's bar, we see them place orders and watch Phil bring plates to the table. But do they give us any vicarious delight by actually eating? Check, please.
The only characters I can think of this side of Cicely who are seen eating on a regular basis are the ones on "Seinfeld," and they mostly snack. Sorry, but Cheetos and Snapple don't do it for me.
"Northern Exposure's" recipe for success includes recipes like those above and many more collected in "The Northern Exposure Cookbook" (Contemporary Books, $9.95, paperback). Lots of people watch what they eat. This book lets you eat what you watch.
Recipes are ingredients, not ornaments, on "Northern Exposure." In the back of the illustrated cookbook is an "Episode Reference Guide" tracing more than 90 recipes to specific episodes and dialogue. Food is part of the fabric of daily life in Cicely.
"There's a breakfast special at Holling's cafe today. Eggs Benedict, steak tartare and reindeer sausage. All for a mere $3.95," says KHBR announcer Chris in the Morning.
On "Northern Exposure," food and the way people talk about it often reveal character. Take this exchange between voluble know-it-all Joel and laconic Marilyn about Marilyn's Seasoned Potatoes.
Joel: "Marilyn, these potatoes are delicious. What's in them, butter? Salt? A little nutmeg maybe?"
Marilyn: "Salt."
We're reminded that Maurice disdains chiffon-meringue pies ("That's not pie. That's a mirage of pie."), that Ed doesn't understand appetizers ("Which is strange, because they're my favorite thing. Maybe I'm not eating them right."), and that Joel and Maggie ordered Italian at the Brick after their first roll in the hay.
Maggie: "I'll have spaghetti."
Joel: "Sounds good. Extra meatballs for me."
Cookbook author Ellis Weiner "interviewed" the characters for additional comments about the recipes portrayed on the show. Many of them belong to irascible hermit chef Adam, from his pumpkin tortellini and pot stickers to his cumin noodles and zabaglione.
Chris: "And the warm duck salad, incredible. There's something in here . . . "
Adam: "Yeah, yeah. Fennel, OK?"
Not to be forgotten are Maurice's Greens with Balsamic Vinaigrette, Shelly's Ambrosia Salad, Ruth-Anne's Meat Loaf, Joel's Roast Grouse, Marilyn's Fresh Turnip Soup, Holling's Special Lime Chiffon Pie, Maggie's Couscous, Chris' Glazed Carrots, Lightfeather Duncan's Mashed Potatoes and on and on.
Remember, other shows have reruns. Only "Northern Exposure" offers leftovers.
by CNB