19 minutes ago, Nancy in Pátzcuaro said:Yeah, but I was talking about a largely under-educated family in a small mountain town in Colorado, part of an extensive Italian community
My apologies. When you said "they knew" I missed that you were talking about a specific family. I thought you just meant people in general.
Funnily enough, the first time I heard about the brining technique was back in the 1970s when I found a description in a Latin document from the late Roman Empire. I wish I could find it again, but any notes I made at the time are on the other side of the planet in my sister's attic.
I'm told it was used in China even longer ago, but seems to have disappeared in modern cuisine. Some friends were horrified when they saw me throw what they thought of life-threatening salt into a brine one day. I've has similar reactions when just salting water for pasta.
But then, I did have to wrestle three people to the ground to prevent them calling an emergency ambulance when they totally freaked because I ate a raw button mushroom. They were convinced I wouldn't last ten minutes. They love their food but, like people everywhere, know very little about it.
