Food History Articles and Links

[Anna N]

Quite fascinating. Although almost all the dishes are quite familiar you might be hard-pressed to find many of them on a modern restaurant menu. Grilled kidney and bacon probably not show up on the menu in any Canadian restaurant. 

Edited May 12, 2021 by Anna N
Edited to correct “cheese”;to “kidney” (log)

[Margaret Pilgrim]

34 minutes ago, Anna N said:

 Grilled cheese and bacon probably not show up on the menu in any Canadian restaurant. 

Nor might grilled kidneys and bacon.

[liuzhou]

41 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Quite fascinating. Although almost all the dishes are quite familiar you might be hard-pressed to find many of them on a modern restaurant menu. Grilled cheese and bacon probably not show up on the menu in any Canadian restaurant. 

 

A few of the dishes would still appear on some menus in London. The sort of places working people use for lunch, rather  than a night out kind of venue.

 

Is grilled cheese on that menu? I can't see it. And the  grilled bacon accompanies kidneys, so that would still apppear in London, too.

P.S. Of course, they are using the British English meaning of 'grilled'. What you may call 'broiled'.
 

[Anna N]

52 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

Is grilled cheese on that menu? I can't see it. And the  grilled bacon accompanies kidneys, so that would still apppear in London, too.

Nope. Poor copy editing on my part. I dictated kidney, I think but it got changed to cheese, I think!

I think I did understand what they meant by grilled. I am not quite sure that what I think of as a mixed grill would necessarily be correct. I would think of lamb chops lamb kidneys, beef steak, tomatoes and mushrooms. 
 

I have had many mixed grills over here but they have been of cuisines other than British.

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

Nor might grilled kidneys and bacon.

My original post has been corrected. 

[liuzhou]

2 minutes ago, Anna N said:

I am not quite sure that what I think of as a mixed grill would necessarily be correct. I would think of lamb chops lamb kidneys, beef steak, tomatoes and mushrooms. 

 

Yes. Probably sausages (pork) and fried eggs, too. I haven't had one in decades!

 

[liuzhou]

Want to try Jane Austen’s favourite cheese toastie? Now you can

Quote

The ‘household book’ of Martha Lloyd, who lived with the Austens, contains recipes giving an authentic flavour of the writer’s life

 

[Anna N]

Quite fascinating. do you happen to know the meaning of  “A Harrico of Mutton“.  This dish comes up elsewhere on something you posted. I believe it was a restaurant menu from the turn of the last century. Does not seem to have any relationship to beans. But I could be missing something. 

[liuzhou]

8 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Quite fascinating. do you happen to know the meaning of  “A Harrico of Mutton“.  This dish comes up elsewhere on something you posted. I believe it was a restaurant menu from the turn of the last century. Does not seem to have any relationship to beans. But I could be missing something. 

 

The original meaning of harrico or haricot was: 
 

Quote

haricot, n.

(ˈhærɪkəʊ, -kɒt)

 

Also 7 aricot, 8 arico, harricot, 8–9 harico, harrico.

 

[a. F. haricot (16th c. in Littré), in 14th c. hericoq de mouton (Hatz.-Darm.), hericot (Littré), in sense 1; in sense 2 Hatz.-Darm. cite fevre de haricot of 1642. Origin uncertain: see Littré.]

 

1.1 A ragout (originally of mutton, now sometimes of other meat). Also attrib.

 

[1611 Cotgr., Haricot, mutton sod with little turneps, some wine, and tosts of bred crumbled among.] 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Haricot, a particular way of dressing Mutton-cutlets, or several sorts of Fowl and Fish in a Ragoo with Turneps; also a kind of French beans.    
1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr.

(1778) 102 Harico of a Neck of Mutton.    
1816 Catherine Hutton in W. Hutton's Autobiog. Concl. 90 Harico of mutton and gooseberry pudding. 1870 Daily News 16 Nov., Irish stew or haricot mutton.

The name for the beans came later. Haricot beans were the beans commonly used in harricots of mutton.

[Anna N]

3 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

The original meaning of harrico or haricot was: 

Thank you so very much. 

[chromedome]

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-was-native-american-food-like-before-europeans

[chromedome]

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/05/indigenous-forest-gardens-remain-productive-and-diverse-for-over-a-century/

[liuzhou]

Someone Took A Camera Inside A General Store Untouched Since 1963

 

I think there is enough of culinary interest in this half-hour video. It's an interesting story, too.
 

 

[Tropicalsenior]

13 hours ago, liuzhou said:

It's an interesting story,

It certainly is! Thank you very much.

[chromedome]

https://omnivorebooks.myshopify.com/collections/vintage-books/products/new-arrival-american-immigrants-leila-mcguire-ed-old-world-foods-for-new-world-families-a-handbook

[chromedome]

Meant to post this a few days ago, when I saw it initially, but forgot...

https://qz.com/1176962/map-how-the-word-tea-spread-over-land-and-sea-to-conquer-the-world/

[chromedome]

Pushing back the "known" date for animal husbandry...

https://www.pnas.org/content/118/25/e2100901118

[liuzhou]

It's National Gin Day! Who decides these things? Anyway, here is an interesting, if short, article on the history of gin.

 

https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Mothers-Ruin/

I'm off to celebrate with a G+T.

 

Edited June 12, 2021 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

I was going to post this in the Food Funnies topic

 

 

but then I read this.

Half cooked and half raw: the Irish tradition of potatoes with a moon

 

 

[Anna N]

4 hours ago, liuzhou said:

but then I read this.

What a fascinating exploration of a strange behaviour. I may never look at a potato again without wondering if it’s  boneless.  

[chromedome]

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210325-the-strange-medieval-fruit-the-world-forgot

[liuzhou]

On 8/6/2021 at 8:50 PM, chromedome said:

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210325-the-strange-medieval-fruit-the-world-forgot

 

I'm sorry, but that article is nonsensical. Medlars were common when I was growing up in the 50s and 60s. My grandparents had them growing their large garden.

Medlars are still commonly grown. I saw them in England in 2019. both growing and the fruit one of the supermarkets selling them, although the article says no supermarkets sell them!

 

Nor were either Shakespeare or Henry VIII 'medieval' as the article states.

Edited July 1, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

Extraordinary History of Three London Restaurants

 

I've eaten in the last two.

[Tropicalsenior]

It's interesting how Invaders come and go but they leave something of their culture behind that is there forever. It was interesting to see how much of the food that came to the new world from Britain actually came from Rome.

[Tropicalsenior]

This article indicates just how far back some of our favorite foods actually go. Much of the dating seems to be on conjecture but it does show that even the ancients gave a lot of thought to food preparation.