Remembrance of Things Edible
Every book about food needs a Proust number – that is, the number of pages it manages before referring to his Madeleines. Letters to a Young Chef, which I just finished, gets an 18. Maida Heatter holds off until page 206 in her Book of Great Desserts, where she provides a recipe for the cookie.
My brother claims this particular Proustian reference proliferates because it occurs very early in Remembrance of Things Past. I've never read the book, but a flip through my brother's copy reveals that the madeleines (“petites madeleines” in this translation) appear on page 48, 30 pages later than Boulud's mention of them, and 10 more than that pages past my bookmark. I hope there are more food memories later on, so that my future cookbook can include a rarer allusion.