[Sca-cooks] Too much spice.

[Bonne of Traquair]

from
>what I know about the antiseptic properties of some spices and
>barks, not unbelievable.
>	Kinda shoots another hole in the "spices to cover up
>rotten meat" -- it might actually have been the case (sometimes)
>of "spices to prevent meat from rotting in the first place."
>
>		-- Ruth

You are already with the team on that one.  Rotten meat made you just as
sick then as now, and no amount of spicing would prevent it and no
experienced cook who wanted to keep their job (or their life maybe even)
would pull the stunt.

On the other hand, most people I know have a VERY high standard of when meat
is 'spoiled'.  During a poorer period of my life, I did indeed highly spice
meat that had an ever so slightly 'off' scent if you really sniffed closely.
  But it was the only thing to eat, so lots of cayenne, salt, garlic and a
very long, hot cooking process were used.  If I'd known the properties of
cinnamon at the time, I'd have added that as well.   The range of what is
considered 'safe' is likely much smaller now, but I doubt serving outright
rotten meat was ever anyone's habit.

Bonne


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