SC - Grits

[Marian Deborah Rosenberg]

Christina Nevin wrote:
> 
> Speaking of toasting, I got to see an interesting piece of kitchen equipment
> in action on TV this weekend. The BBC did a docu on Hampton Court Palace,
> including a brief piece showing re-enactors in the kitchen. They showed a
> 'salamander', basically a flat iron disk with a very long handle, which was
> shoved in the coals to heat up, and then used mostly to heat cheese on top
> of bread. A medieval toastie maker the housekeeper said (erm, yes, well...).
> I'm not sure how accurate this is, as I didn't agree with some of the other
> stuff they said about food of the time. Has anyone seen pictures of this
> equipment in use?

Not in use, no, but I seem to recall seeing recipes for things like
Cambridge Burnt Cream (a.k.a. Creme Brulee) which describe getting the
salsmander red hot and holding it close to the surface of the sugared
cream, and moving it around a bit to get an even brown.

This all has to do with the fact that it was impossible, until the
advent of gas ovens with broilers, to get radiant heat directly on _top_
of foods (with possible exceptions like tandoor ovens), without a
heat-transferring "middleman" like the red-hot salamander.

As for toasted cheese being made with a salamander, I believe this
practice post-dates period, probably coming into being in the 18th-19th
centuries when things like Mornay Sauce(more or less cheesy bechamel)
became common, and thse sauces were and are frequently glazed under a
broiler or salamander.

There are descriptions of cheese being toasted in England and Wales, as
I recall, in late or early-post-period (perhaps Harrison's "Description
of England"???) and the process generally involves roasting the cheese
on an inclined board propped up near the fire: when the butterfat leaked
out enough to cause the cheese slice to begin to slide down the board,
by which time it was also brown and bubbly, it was quickly transferred
onto buttered (and sometimes mustarded) toast. I believe I've seen this
in Wilson's "Food and Drink in Britain".
  
Adamantius
Østgardr, East
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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