The Teleology of Vodka
Rock Island, IL
The martini glass and the garnish, O Best Beloved, were made for nobler spirits than vodka, nor did the lime and the tonic water have need of better company once gin joined their ménage.
And yet to this day both God-fearing and God-smearing men and women order drinks, make drinks, and drink drinks with vodka! Unbelievable!
I would not willingly offend the whole Alexander Nevsky choir or five fifths of its audience, but it needs saying that the true end of vodka is not a glass. Vodka, properly speaking, is not really a drink. So used it is more like an excuse—or a carrying device, much as a cigarette is a carrying device for nicotine. For although vodka may please the brain and the bloodstream, it can never fully satisfy the nose or the tongue—and will quite often offend the one and make offensive the other.
No, friends. Even once we have made allowances for the differences between rot gut and premium vodka, still we must ask a fundamental question: to what end is vodka?
Put aside your stemware and your tumblers, for as St. Paul saith (or “Paul,” as his modern commentators call him), yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.
Let the weather turn cold, the sky slate-gray, and your inner weather gloomy. Put a deep skillet on the stove and a requiem on the hi-fi.
Or, if you’re breaking the Advent fast anyway, throw on some Russian choral music, for there’s vodka in your future. Just don’t be so impertinent as to drink it. Remember: we’re considering its true end.
Over low heat melt some butter—as little as a quarter stick or as much as a half. Watch that beautiful solid fat turn slowly into liquid as the music swells. But don’t watch too long, because you’ve got some chopping to do.
Chop up a yellow onion: small, medium, large—doesn’t matter. Quantity is up to the chef. Let old scolds worry about quantities over their tea. What you’re doing right now is making sure the kitchen smells good. And, Porchers, believe me: there’s nothing like an onion sautéing in butter to prepare you for discovering the teleology of vodka. You want incense, you’ve got it.
Oh, and garlic! Chop up lots of garlic and, after about four minutes or so, dump it in. Mind that you keep the heat low. And should someone you love walk through the kitchen, imprison her soft hand and gaze deep, deep into her peerless eyes. Or give her splendid bottom a friendly little smack. Think of it as a promissory note and dismiss her to her business. You’ve got yours to attend to. We’re doing teleology here.
But look you now! Mark the lack of contrast in the skillet. What you need is good eighth-of-a-cup of Italian seasoning or straight oregano if you prefer.
Ah, yes! If your nose is happy, why then shouldn’t your eyes also have their pleasure? Behold the pale garlic, the translucent onions, the golden butter, and now the green herb for the service of man. What but these was the eye made to look upon?
Yes, there are other things. But these will do for now.
And presently you’ll hear, beneath the music, the low sizzle as the heat rises, and soon enough you’ll taste the harvest of your labors, and of course you’ve been handling the ingredients all along. That’s five fifths of your senses at work here—and you’re thinking of even more touch later on—the erring lace, the tempestuous smock …
The incarnate condition! The fullness of man!
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