SC - Trenchers and Tex-Mex

[snowfire at mail.snet.net]

- -Poster: Jean Holtom <Snowfire at mail.snet.net>
 
>The first question that comes to my mind is pretty much the same one
>that I asked (implied?) earlier: what the blazes were you doing eating
>Mexican food of any kind in Salisbury Plain (yes, I know, it seems as if
>you may not have had a choice)? 

Crazy right?  But it was lunch time and we happened on this pub, so we stopped there 
(my mother's a diabetic) not knowing anything about the place.

I suppose the menu was a novelty. 

The other thing they had which was their "claim to fame" and had a place of honour on 
the wall by the door, was a picture of the queen passing the pub in her car (probably 
on the way to Stone Henge, or "Stone Hedge" as someone I worked with here in 
Connecticut once called it).  It was a white gloved hand waving inside a car window, 
taken at speed so quite blurred.  It was an interesting afternoon....

>BTW, there are subsets of Tex-Mex where wheat flour tortillas are not 
>inappropriate...or were these made with ordinary cornmeal?   

Oh probably McDougals Plain Flour or something.  I lived in El Paso and we did have  
flour tortillas, but there ones on Salisbury Plain were too light a texture to be be 
truly authentic.  BTW Salisbury Cathedral was amazing.  I got a few photos of knights 
tombs from the 14th century, some of the outside stonework (medieval figures of kings, 
saints etc), and one of an angel complete with plate armour and a sword. 
 
>Actually, more often one gave the "plate" to the poor or the dog to eat,
>but some period recipes (and many in late period) do call for food to be
>served on sippets of toast, which in turn would be served on some type
>of actual plate or dish. The sippets would normally be soaked very
>slowly in the sauce or broth to achieve a sort of bread pudding
>consistency before being topped with the main part of the dish. 

12 - 13th century or earlier?
 
>Quite possibly a throwback to the sippet tradition, since, as I say,
>trenchers seem to have been regarded by all but the coarsest and most
>gluttonous as food for the poor, after the rich were through with them.

Interesting!

>Sandwiches, BTW, probably also are an offshoot of such traditions.

And card tables! ;-)

>This isn't exclusive to Britain, BTW, any more now than it was in
>period. Plenty of French dishes are served, even today, on croutons (a
>fried toast, normally), and you often find a piece of some kind of toast

Like pate.  BTW I'm sure the British "meat paste" must be a poor relative of that.

>under various American steak dishes (which could be due to French or
>British traditions, I suppose).

Even hamburgers on their toasted buns.

>I actually have access to things like baked beans on batch bread toast, as well as my 
favorite oddity, curried chips on toast, in a few local restaurants, since my 
neighborhood has quite a few recent Irish immigrants.

Oh yes?  Do you also have the infamous "chips and gravy" then?  (With salt and vinegar 
of course!) - Might be an acquired taste.

One last thing - I also learned that in period cheese and bread were often eaten as 
the last meal of the day in order to "seal" the stomach for the night.  Nowerdays we 
say (in Britain anyway) that eating cheese late can give you nightmares.
 
Elysant
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