[Sca-cooks] Rotten meat and spices...

[el2iot2 at mail.com]

I know I have read references to 18th century practices of cutting the mold from hams and cheeses, and other forms of preserved foods.  But again, as you say, not in period.  

But what we consider "rotten" may be far short of what was thought "rotten" at some other point in history.  We really have little or no way to be certain.  

I know I eat many things that people around me think are no longer safe to eat.  But then I believe, "that which does not kill us, makes us strong".

Joy
Radei

----- Original Message -----
From: "El Hermoso Dormiendo" <ElHermosoDormido+scacooks at dogphilosophy.net>
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Rotten meat and spices...
Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 14:11:47 -0600

> 
> On Tuesday 12 April 2005 10:15 am, dale elliott wrote:
> > What of the pheasent scene from Sho-Gun.  Did the English hand the pheasent
> > until the neck rotted?  or is this bunk?
> [...]
> "Rotted" is probably not the correct description, either, whether they
> actually did it or not.
> 
> "Aging" meats is an autocatalytic process - it's not to allow spoilage
> organisms to invade the meat, but to allow time for existing enzymes in the
> meat to break it down and tenderize it.
> 
> Presumably in the case of the pheasant, the idea was not that it would "rot"
> but that once the muscle and connetive tissue had softened enough, it would
> no longer be strong enough to support the weight of the bird's body.  At that
> point, you'd know the tenderizing process had reached the point that you
> wanted.  Hanging the bird up would also allow gravity to stretch the muscles
> and minimize the effects of rigour mortis on the texture of the meat.
> Apparently, both the initial rigour mortis and the subsequent
> "aging" (breakdown and softening of the muscle fibers due to enzyme activity)
> happen fairly quickly in birds, as compared to e.g. beef or mutton.
> 
> I'd also suspect that the cool climate of England probably kept spoilage
> organism growth on a bird hung outside to a relatively slow pace.
> 
> If you had spoilage organisms invade the bird, it would likely bloat up and
> reek horribly (MMmmmm, hydrogen sulfide and related gasses), and I can't
> imagine any amount of spices masking that...spoilage only on the surface of
> the bird would presumably be peeled away with the skin and any remainder
> washed off or cut out, I would think.
> 
> And as far as period recipes for dealing with spoiling meat, the one that I
> can remember was, I think, from the "Goodman of Paris" document (upper-middle
> class rather than nobility, as I recall) and (again, from memory) explicitly
> described REMOVING the parts that had been affected by spoilage, and
> described steps for saving the remainder.  I don't personally recall ever
> running into a "put a bunch of spices on it and nobody will notice that the
> meat you're feeding them is rotten" reference in "period" - not that there
> couldn't be any, but I've never seen any hints that there are.
> 
> (On the other hand - Harold McGee reports that in the 19th century beef and
> mutton WERE literally hung up until the surface of the meat was ACTUALLY
> rotted.  No mention of doing this with poultry, though, and of course 19th
> century is post-"period".)
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joy

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