Aging meat (was Re: [Sca-cooks] Spices and Cooking (oop)

[Nicolas Steenhout]

>Leaving the fermenting skate aside, from the description, I would say the
>meat may be "aged" rather than "bad."  Icelanders may be a little extreme in
>the aging process, but I seriously doubt they let the meat get truly toxic,
>since that represents a self-correcting error, evolution in action.
><SNIP>

In French, aging meat, especially wild meat and game is called "Faisander",
from the bird Faisan, which is a Pheasant.  My grand father (in Belgium)
told me how is father used to go hunting for pheasants, and to age the
bird, they'd hang it by the neck until the weight of the bird would break
the neck/skin/feathers and the bird would fall down.  I have no doubt this
could be a little exagerated.  Yet, this tells me that "over" aging of
meats was something likely to be common.

Also, from having worked in professional kitchens on both sides of the
proverbial pond, I can say that French/Belgian tends to keep meat a little
longer, and actually prefer a stronger tasting meat than the American
palate likes.


Nicolas
http://www.bmee.net
"You must deal with me as I think of myself" J. Hockenberry