[Sca-cooks] from a newbie

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach Linda Anderson:
>Please excuse the first post from a newbie via Philippa but:
>
>My mother always ground her own beef for hamburgers and I always 
>made my own sausage from my own pigs.  How could one tell if the 
>salt/pepper/spice ratio was correct without tasting?  I know my mom 
>and I did taste and as I told Phillippa, the dog (a toy fox terrier) 
>always vied with us for the tastings.

Well, just as a devil's advocate of sorts, we should remember that 
there are some fairly common formulas for at least the salt, if not 
spices, in sausages, and modern recipes, after making such a 
recommendation, still tell you to fry up a bit before stuffing the 
casings, for that reason. Interesting, I never felt uncomfortable 
tasting raw beef for seasoning, but pork is a different story. 
Possibly raising them yourself gives you a really good sense of 
whether there are various parasites and such present.

>The problem (as I know of it) with raw beef in a restaurant is the 
>cleansing process- what did the restaurant do to clean/disinfect the 
>grinding mechanism between grindings of various meats not where did 
>the original cuts come from.

In theory (practice can be a whole 'nother story) these things go 
through dishwashers that will melt plastic, if you're not careful. 
Frankly, I'd be much more concerned about eating the ground beef from 
the supermarket raw, and it seems likely that a restaurant where 
there was any question of sanitary standards wouldn't be stupid 
enough to tempt fate by putting a raw beef dish on the menu.

>I love sushi and sashimi.  and almost raw/cold-inside beef steaks. 
>Not that we can get sushi or sashimi up here in Northeastern PA. 
>more's the pity!
>
>I'm enjoying lurking on the discussions this week.  I can't take 
>garlic, either (but not really allergic) but I keep it out of all my 
>recipes.

Well, don't blame _me_ when vampires come to visit!

>When did potatoes become available in Europe?  did they really come 
>from the Andes and the conquest of the Incas?

Popular legend has it that Sir Walter Raleigh brought them from South 
America to his estates and began growing them in the 1580's, but 
those were probably sweet potatoes, and ornamental, at that.  White 
potatoes don't seem to have been really common or popular in most 
parts of Europe until the nineteenth century, but there may be 
exceptions, and I'm sure this is disputed anyway.

>Linda
>no nom yet nor a Barony or anything else

Some Kingdoms have websites that'll tell you where you live, based on 
your zip code, I believe. Should be pretty easy to find this 
information.

Adamantius,
Crown Province of Ostgardr, East Kingdom