SC - "No Naked Food" Suprise

[Phil & Susan Troy]

Decker, Terry D. wrote:
> 
> But here's a question for you.  What constitutes a garnish and what
> constitutes an integral part of the dish?

In common usage, a garnish is  a decorative (or otherwise interesting)
interruption to an otherwise boring surface. So, the fried almonds, or the
fried onions sprinkled on top of some dishes, or the pomegranite kernels, are
a garnish. In classical "French" (by which I mean European and OOP) usage, the
garnish can be an integral part of the dish. So, you find various stews, for
example, a la bonne femme, garnished with, IIRC, mushroom caps, diced bacon,
and pearl onions. These are integral parts of the dish, in that they are
stirred into the dish rather than sitting on top, and the dish would not bear
the name it bears without them. So, they're integral, but still a garnish. I
guess in period parlance the items sprinkled on top for decorative effect,
aroma, and flavor, could be considered garnishes in their function, or perhaps
not because the word isn;t used specifically. Maybe they're not garnishes
because Taillevent doesn't say they're garnishes.
> 
> As an example, let me quote Piers Plowman, "Upon my soul, I haven't a scrap
> of bacon, and I haven't a cook to fry you steak and onions."  Are the onions
> a garnish or integral to the dish?

Well, they're integral in that without them, the dish is no longer steak and
onions, but steak. It could certainly serve as a garnish, even if not sitting
on top of the steak in a decorative fashion. MAny would claim that for a dish
like that, no additional garnish is necessary. I'm one of them, although a
sprinkling of flat parsley generally doesn't hurt any dish much...

How'd you know I've been searching for an early recipe for steak smothered in
onions, and just received the earliest one they could find on
rec.food.historic this morning? (1860's or so...)

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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