SC - Mustard History continued
Anne-Marie Rousseau
rousseau at scn.org
Tue Jul 1 00:02:16 PDT 1997
Hey all from Anne-Marie.
To add to the never ending discussion on the use of spices to cover "off"
flavors, I'd like to point everyone to Barbara Santiches article in Petis
Propos Culinaires #51. In it, she points out that it is unlikely that
medieval people used all those spices to cover unfrigerated meat gone
awry, as this spice use tapered off considerably long beofre the advent
of iceboxes.
I think they used all those spices for the same reasons that Middle
eastern cuisine uses cumin and cinnamon, that Indian food uses all thier
curries and garam masala, that we use ketsup (you know why they call it
Heinz 57? And how many secret herbs and spices in KFC?). Because they
preferred it that way.
Oh, and about mustard, Barbara Santich in that same article discusses the
use of mustard as a compliment to salted meat. According to Santich, this
salted meat (as opposed to fresh) was the fare of the lower classes, and
so the sauce for this meat would be the ubiquitous mustard. I don't know
as I buy this totally, but it makes some sense.
- --AM
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Anne-Marie Rousseau
rousseau at scn.org
Seattle, Washington
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