SC - Thoughts on Food- reply, long.

[Philippa Alderton]

Lady Elisabeth asked :

 I 
>especially would like to hear of some of the more unique recipes that 
everyone has found, especially period ones, containing unique 
ingrediants or animals.  I would also like to hear if you have cooked 
said recipe, or said unique animal, and your comments.<

My lady, while I would not consider myself in a class in experience with
many of the Cooks on the List, I have done a fair amount of reading about
various foods eaten in many cultures, and I think I can truthfully say that
there isn't a species of animal on this earth, and very few plant species
as well, which have not been ingested by humans. The only exceptions I have
seen have been items which are out right poisonous, and many of those have
been processed for human consumption- look at poi, acorns, and poke weed.
Also, the Japanese have a special delicacy, which if not prepared properly,
is so poisonous that if you eat one of these fish, can't think of the name
of it, with a drop of the toxin on it, you're dead before you hit the
floor. 

Most insects are edible, and kosher as well. The Philipines have a
specialty which is a fermented chicken embryo- its consumption is a macho
thing, and according to a friend who tried it, and who had to keep a
straight face at the time, is terrible. His Philipino wife taught me to
cook and eat fish heads, bones and all, and when I asked her why her family
ate them, she said that if they hadn't, there would not be enough food and
they'd go hungry. I've come to prefer the heads to the rest of the fish. 

Adamantius and I were chatting one day, and jokingly started to come up
with a menu that most folks wouldn't eat, including several types of
seaweed, Gravlax (salmon spiced and fermented for a few days), brandade,
jelly fish salad, beef tendon noodle soup, sea cucumber, pork and beef
dumpling soup, Alys' recipe for bull penis, mountain oysters, kimchee, and
a few other oddities such as 100 year old 
(duck) eggs.

We've recently discussed on the List such things as Smithfield hams, which
develop mold on them which needs washed off, cheeses like bleu or
Roquefort, in which the mold is what you want, various fermented fish
sauces including the Vietnamese thing, nuom duc (sp?) and recipes for cat,
dog, guinea pig, dormice, whale, and porpoise.

We've also discussed long pig, and I'll refer to a passage from a book I
just read, "Aztec Autumn", where in the hero is talking to a friend who is
telling him about the animals the Spaniards brought to the New World,
including "porcus", which tastes just like the thigh meat of a healthy
young man.

As far as period oddities, Anthimus refers to organ meats such as kidneys,
stomach (tripe), matrix (sow belly), udder, liver, and many birds and
fishes, including lamphreys. Apicius refers to rose and violet wine, brain
sausages among many others, intestinal fat and intestines as casings,
nettles, smelt pie or sprat custard, ostrich, grane, thrush, figpeckers,
pheasant, and many other birds, sow's womb, tails and feet, lungs,chamois,
gazelle, wild sheep and dormouse, rays, squid, octopus and sea urchins, and
eels, including conger. Platina includes omentum,  maidenhair fern, heads
and giblets of capons and chickens, tounge, chicken and other animals
testicles testicles, porcupines and hedgehogs, brains and heads of all
species, eyes, hearts and lungs, liver, udders, spleens, kidneys, stomach,
fish eggs, several for hemp (cannabis), turtles, murex, and eels including
moray and conger.

As far as my personal experience goes, there's very little I won't try
once. I love sushi, octopus being my favorite, but squid I find to have an
unpleasant oily taste. I would, if backed into a corner, try the Philipino
fermented embryos, but hopefully will never have to, not being either male
or macho. I might try the poisonous Japanese fish, but only after I'd seen
someone else survive the experience, and from the same fish. I'm a hunter,
and eat much of the local game, but I dislike the many bones of squirrel,
although I love the flesh. There are no reptiles or fish I hate, but I have
my preferences. Ras and I did brains and other organs at Pennsic, and
brains are a bit rich, but good. Poke weed tastes like asparagus. The only
things I passionately dislike/will not eat are Green Bell ) peppers and
black licorice/anise flavors.

I think we humans are called omnivores for a reason ;-)

Phlip

Phlip at bright.net

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider that cain't be throwed.
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