TDG: Tasting History

[Adam Balic]

Potted userly refers to the storage aspect of the dish, rather then what it is cooked in, although they are often the same. Potted beef of the 19th C. in Scotland would be a shine of beef that is very slowly cooked in a pot with stock, veg, spice and a cople of pigs/veal feet (for the gelatine). the meat would be removed, shredded and mixed back with the reduced stock, placed in a ceramic pot and covered with butter, lard or oil. In effect beef 'Rilletes'. Different containers used.

With potted herring, the fish would be layered with herbs and spices, covered im meled and clarified butter, then slowly cooked. When done they would be taken out of the oven and allowed to set in the same pot.

[jackal10]

Pot roast is something quite different, and refers to roasting in a pot, rather than something that is "potted", that is put and stored in a pot...

When cooking was mostly done on an open fire, roasts were either spit-roast, or cooked in a a large enclosed pot buried in the ashes, hence pot roast..

Edited February 6, 2004 by jackal10 (log)

[Adam Balic]

Pot roast is something quite different...... cooked in a a large enclosed pot buried in the ashes, hence pot roast..

That's true, but if you then poured in melted butter of lard and then stored the dish you would have "potted" meat in the sense that we are talking about. Obviously metal is to expensive to to this with and can taint the product, so it was either done in earthenware ("Terrine" from 'terra') or in a crust, when it would become a pie (or 'pate' = in paste). Whole joints of mutton, beef and venison where often baked in a crust, the airspaces being filled in with melted butter/lard. If they were intended for transport or storage rye flour was often used. In these case the crust were not meant to be eaten.

[Janice]

One of my favourite sandwich fillings when I was a child in Scotland was 'Potted Hough' - jellied potted shin of beef.

Traditional butchers north of the border still make and sell their own I believe. If you get a good one it tastes much better than it sounds (or looks).

[Adam Balic]

One of my favourite sandwich fillings when I was a child in Scotland was 'Potted Hough' - jellied potted shin of beef.

Traditional butchers north of the border still make and sell their own I believe. If you get a good one it tastes much better than it sounds (or looks).

"Hough" is pronounced "Hock"?

[Janice]

Rhymes with "loch"....

[Andrew Fenton]

(my favorite is the Braised Stuffed Heart from the 1944 "Share the Meat" campaign.)

I would like to join this campaign. Where do I sign up?

[Adam Balic]

Rhymes with "loch"....

Yes I thought so. Explains the great merriment in the local butcher when I asked for a 'Hoe'.

[alacarte]

Putting on my work hat for a second... *splorp* *ahem*

The Library of Congress American Memory Collection has a fair amount of online material related to cooking and recipes, including Jefferson's instructions on how to make pasta, a letter to George Washington with a recipe for beaver's tail, and, of course, plenty of wartime recipes (my favorite is the Braised Stuffed Heart from the 1944 "Share the Meat" campaign.)  Outside American Memory, we have gems like the first published American cookbook, which is on permanent display in the American Treasures exhibit.  Everyone is encouraged to browse online, or, if you're in the DC area, come take a look.

Thanks for the info, hannah. I'll be spending some quality time with this resource for sure!

I understand that Jefferson was quite the gastronome, that he had very specific ideas on what he liked to eat and how he wanted food prepared. If that politics thing hadn't panned out, I bet he'd have been a very interesting chef.

Edited February 6, 2004 by alacarte (log)

[Katherine]

Don't forget potted chicken livers, the poor girl's paté.

I steam chicken livers and drain, then sauté some onion in butter. When everything is cool, put in the food processor until fine and add enough room temperature butter to make a fluffy consistency.

To die for.

[Carolyn Tillie]

According to Vincent Price, in his 1965 cookbook, A Treasury of Great Recipes, on Potted Shrimp:

A delightful spread for bread, toast, or crackers at teatime, Potted Shrimp are a delicious British invention. This recipe was given to us by Boris and Evie Karloff, who serve them at their house at a first course or with cocktails. We are inordinately fond of them (the shrimp as well as the Karloffs) and have them often at our house, too. Mary likes to make Potted Shrimp in tiny individual crocks and we serve one to each guests with crisp melba toast on the side.

I love that quote! The recipe, by the way, is nothing more than melted butter and a few spices poured over small shrimp and ensconced in small crocks.

[ruthcooks]

I've often made V. Price's potted shrimp and served it with melba toast or homemade corn melba toast. Michael Field's recipe for chicken liver pate is wonderful, as are most of his recipes.

However, I once made a James Beard recipe for potted beef which contained anchovies. Took one taste and realized I'd just made faux tuna fish!

[zennenn]

I have not tried her recipes for potted meats, but Helen Witty's Good Stuff Cookbook has several. Anyone tried those? I can vouch for the plum jam, banana ketchup and cranberry preserves out of the same book as being marvelous. It is not an old cookbook, but is simply reviving/revising old recipes and preservation techniques. I am afraid this straying off the topic of old cookbooks . . . my apologies if I'm breaking the rules!

[Adam Balic]

Rummaniyya Mukhanththara (from “Pomegranate” and “Thickened”)

Adaptation from an original translation from a 14th C. Arabic cookbook by Charles Perry.

Ingredients:

3 pounds of Lamb shoulder, cut into two inch pieces

1 teaspoon each of:

Chinese cinnamon, dried ginger, powered toasted cumin and powdered rose petals*

2 teaspoons of sugar (un-refined cane or palm would be good)

pinch of saffron

3 Tablespoons of Pomegranate molasses**

100 grams of pistachios, ground

2 Tablespoons of finely chopped mint

Oil for cooking (un-toasted sesame oil is best)

Method:

-Put a small quantity of oil in a large pot/ tagine and add meat and spices, gently heat through until spice aromas are released and meat has ‘whitened’.

-Add two cups of water (no need to cover meat) and pomegranate molasses. Cook gently on stove top with lid on for two hours or until meat is tender.

-Thirty minutes before the end add the ground pistachios and half of the mint. Remove lid and cook until liquid has been reduce to a thick sauce.

-Add salt to taste and garnish with remainder of the mint (and pomegranate seeds if you have them).

Stew should be sour, with sweetness to balance.

*Available from Middle-Eastern grocers

** or extract juice from fresh (sour fruit are best in this case) or dried seeds. If using fresh juice increase to 6 Tablespoons.

[Pan]

Thanks, Adam. That recipe looks marvelous!

[Adam Balic]

From the same book as above:

“Medieval Arabic Stuffing for Fresh Fish"

Ingredients:

1 large bunch of parsley, finely chopped, half this amount of finely chopped mint.

2 Tablespoon of ground coriander

1 teaspoon of ground Chinese cinnamon

2 teaspoons of ground sumac

1 Tablespoon of tahini

6 Tablespoons of olive oil

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

100 gms of ground walnuts

lemon juice

salt.

Method:

- Mix all ingredients, except lemon juice and salt. Add these to taste.

- This is a ‘stuffing’ for fish, but I tend to use it like Moroccan Chermoula.

[Milt]

I just discovered this topic and, as Arnold says "I will be back". My two oldest cookbooks will need to be dug out, as I think they will prove interesting. One was printed by Crisco. I believe it was published two years after Crisco was introduced to the market. It seems like half of the book is devoted to convincing cooks of the advantages Crisco offers over lard and butter. The point is made over and over throughout the book. The other book was published in Denver in 1871. The recipe for soup begins "One the first day ..." and then continues with the steps for the first and second days of the process. No wonder Campbell Soup Company went over so well. I will dig them out soon. I know where the Crisco book is, but I haven't seen the other one in years. I hope my first wife didn't keep it. I bought it (She didn't) for a dollar at an antique store in Parkville, Missouri in 1968.

[jodicalhoun]

In regard to Tasting History; many x2 years ago, a friend gave me an old cookbook that he found in an abandoned log cabin located in the Colorado high country. It's uniqueness to me was that in addition to a cooking section, it also contained a section for treating human illness as well as a section for treating farm animals. The date in the book was 1921 and the treatments for illness in both man and beast (including birth) were decidedly old fashioned, generally recommending the use of herbs with lovingly detailed drawings for the identification of those herbs.

The recipes would be considered basic simple farm or ranch type food. Baking directions are given in handful increments, hot, or very hot oven temperatures, in some cases giving a "count" on how long the cook should be able to hold her hand to determine the temperature for the baking of bread. The recipe section includes recipes for creating emollients for softening hands, for the whitening of dull laundry and keeping weevils out of the flour.

A few years later, my husband and small son and I were living in a cabin in the Colorado high country; blessed with a classic wood cook stove. Out came "The Book" to guide me through simple dinner preparations with no thermostats or dials. So confident was I that I actually made a batch of croissants and baked them in the wood stove just so I could say I had. They were fabulous. Legendary Thanksgiving dinners still live in my family's minds.

I am ever grateful for that old book. It holds a place of honor on my bookshelf. In the event of retrograde technology...I'm ready.

[Wholemeal Crank]

I am in the DC area now--how do I get to browse the LOC memory cooking collection?