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

[Elaine Koogler]

el2iot2 at mail.com wrote:

>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
>  
>
I remember, from my childhood, getting hams and shoulders that had been 
salt-cured from my grandfather's farm.  We hung them in a very cool 
place (would have been a smokehouse or something similar had we lived on 
a farm), and my mother would occasionally cook one of them.  The first 
step of the cooking process was to scrub the ham or shoulder thoroughly 
to remove the light mold that had accumulated on the meat.  The meat 
wasn't rotten in any sense of the word....I doubt, given the way it was 
preserved, that it could have gone bad.  The mold was just a common 
occurrance in this situation.

Kiri