[Sca-cooks] Rotten meat and spices... (a few excerpts from Apicius)

[Huette von Ahrens]

The author of the article uses an old book on English food, to whit:

Drummond, Jack Cecil, Sir, 1891-1952. 
The Englishman's food; a history of five centuries of English diet  
London, J. Cape [1958] c1939.
482 p. illus. 23 cm. 

and cites "Food safety in urban contexts soon became the target of city government, and the
duplicity of butchers selling cheap meats spiced to mask decay and of other merchants trying to
dump lower-cost spoiled foods on consumers meant that these hazards increased as socioeconomic
status and purchasing power decreased."

While this does, sort of, cover what we have been discussing, it really doesn't prove that
the Medieval cook used spices to cover up rotting meats.  It shows, if this is in fact correct,
that crooks were willing to use spices to get rid of merchandise they couldn't otherwise sell.  
One would have to look up the laws of Medieval York to see if there were laws written to prevent
this practice.  This would prove that unscrupulous butchers were using spices to cover up rotting
meats.  But this would not prove that cooks were doing the same.  

As a supposition, let us take John the Cook to Lord Adam.  Lord Adam has requested that a
good leg of lamb be served at dinner as he has been having a craving for such.  John the
Cook goes into his larder for a leg of lamb he has kept there for such an occasion.  But
when he finds it, he notices a odor of rotting meat.  Does he 1) say to himself "I will just
cook it with a lot of spices and Lord Adam will never know the difference, or 2) throw the
meat out to the dogs and hogs and request that Joe the Shepherd bring in a young lamb to
be slaughtered fresh for Lord Adams dinner?

If John the Cook follows course 1, what would happen if Lord Adam eats the rotten leg of
lamb and gets sick with food poisoning?  John the Cook would be sacked, without any references,
and spend the rest of his days in abject poverty.  How likely would it be that John the Cook
would risk his reputation and his livelyhood because he was too frugal to throw out rotting
meat?

On the otherhand, if Lord Adam were down to his last shilling and couldn't afford to throw
out meat that was just going off, how would John the Cook afford the expensive spices that
would be needed to cover up the bad taste?

I am sure that Amy Sullivan is good in her field.  However, I do question her use of such an
old book, when there are many newer books out on the subject with more current data available.
Could it be that the newer books didn't agree with her theories, so she rejected them for an
older book that did agree with her theories?  I have no idea.

Huette

 

  
--- "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius.magister at verizon.net> wrote:
> Also sprach Chris Stanifer:
> >Here's a reference from an author whom *I* respect, with numerous 
> >references from authors my
> >author respects.... you might find it a bit of a dry read at first, 
> >so i will direct your
> >attention to page 7, the lower left hand portion of the page (left 
> >column) in which the author
> >mentions, quite clearly, the spicing of meats to hide decay.  In 
> >fact, I suggest everyone read the
> >entire article...it is very fascinating, and paints quite a 
> >descriptive picture as to what
> >*actual* life in medieval York was like (based upon scientific evidence)
> >
> >Yes, this is a modern article on Medieval York, but it is backed up 
> >with researched facts, and
> >*digged up bones*.  Check out the bibliography.
> >
> >http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/110433643/PDFSTART
> 
> I wish I could. Wiley won't let me onto the site. Tried three browsers...
> 
> So what does it say on page 7 about the spicing of meats to hide 
> decay? That the technique might have been possible/used, or that it 
> was done, or that they found a piece of meat with a poopload of 
> cubebs on it, which radiocarbon dating and/or other forensic testing 
> indicated was putrid before the spices were added?
> 
> Adamantius
> -- 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> "S'ils n'ont pas de pain, vous fait-on dire, qu'ils  mangent de la 
> brioche!" / "If there's no bread to be had, one has to say, let them 
> eat cake!"
> 	-- attributed to an unnamed noblewoman by Jean-Jacques 
> Rousseau, "Confessions", 1782
> 
> "Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?"
> 	-- Susan Sheybani, assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry 
> Holt, 07/29/04
> 
> _______________________________________________
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> 

Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves for 
they shall never cease to be amused.


		
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