Re(2): Re(2): SC - mustard history

[Sue Wensel]

Adamantius writes:

>The sad fact is that there is a very common misconception among many
>people who haven't studied the calendar as it applies to hunting,
>farming, slaughtering, etc., that medieval food was generally heavily
>spiced to disguise the fact that the meat was rotten. Evidently the
>author of the LA Times article was one such person. I'll certainly
>concede that recipes such as Markham's do exist in several sources, but
>then there are also several books in print today about repairing food
>that didn't quite turn out as intended. That doesn't mean that it is a
>distinguishing mark of modern American (or whatever) cuisine that the
>food is generally burned, oversalted, lumpy when it should be smooth, or
>what have you.

I was not saying that they ate *spoiled* food.  My contention is that meat
didn't keep as long as we keep it now.  Even now, we have recipes to deal with
freezer-burn, meat that has sat in the refridgerator too long, what have you. 
That isn't to say that we eat spoiled meat, just that we are being thrifty and
we have techniques to make the most of what we have.

Now how mustard figures into this, I don't know as I think mustard only
belongs on hot dogs (which aren't period and are totally tasteless).

Derdriu