[Sca-cooks] all there is to know about food... in three minutes!

[Johnna Holloway]

And in 3 minutes, Can one even begin to summarize the important papers
on this topic... like the Laurioux Foodways article, what's been 
published in all the Oxford
Symposia papers, plus all the assorted other papers and books on spices?
Talk fast---I guess

Johnnae

Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius wrote:

> Also sprach Finne Boonen:
>
>> On Sun, 10 Oct 2004 14:55:43 -0400, Brett / Wistan 
>> <brettmc at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>>  A couple odd perceptions that come up when talking about food in the
>>>  middle ages.
>>>
>>>  1.  People didn't use many spices because they didn't have any.
>>>
>>>  2.  People used lots of spices because their food spoiled too quick. (
>>>  I tell them only the French did this, an it was post period. ;) )
>>>
>>
>> hmm, does food stay good for longer periods of time when using certain
>> spices? (eg salt, but others then salt) Since warmer regions often use
>> a different spicing pattern. (wich might just be because more spices
>> where available, wich might be because certain spices preserve food
>> and warm regions meat spoils sooner)?
>
>
> The question then becomes, how often (really) are spice mixtures used 
> as a preservative in warmer countries? Offhand, I can think of one 
> spicy dish (and some relatives thereof) that is made as it is in order 
> to retard spoilage (among other things), and it's not really clear to 
> me that it's not a near-desiccating cooking process and plenty of 
> oxygen-excluding oil that actually does the job: the Sumatran beef 
> curry dish called rendang is, from what I've seen, is cooked until the 
> meat is tender but almost dry, and most of the liquid component is a 
> [very little] thick jamlike stuff under a layer of oil. It's intended 
> to keep at least a day or more without refrigeration, and is eaten 
> with hot rice. As I say, it's not clear to me that it's the spices, or 
> at least the spices alone, that really perform the actual preservation.
>
> However, it may be that the desiccation (and salt) protects from 
> bacterial growth, and the spices repel insects who'd be tempted to lay 
> eggs in the food (which is, I understand, the rationale for pepper in 
> the cure for Smithfield Ham).
>
> Adamantius
>