|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
(boy, am I opening a can of food worms with this one, but I'll give it a try  ) I saw a fascinating study of the table fare of Henry VIII's court on the Food Channel the other day called, Eat Like A King. It's running all month and is a wonderfully intriguing, and thorough, examination of the king's table and all that went into it's daily preparation, a worthwhile excursion from an historical, culinary, and linguistic perspective. There were many words describing food and derived from food at that time that I thought worthy of discussion here. upper crust -- evidently derived from Henry VIII's penchant for favoring a slice from the top crust of a loaf of bread. carving words -- A master carver was considered an important and delicate artform then, and carvers who were adept were said to be able to use their cutlery like it was another extension of their arm. So much so that each type of meat, fish, and poultry had their own unique techniques for slicing, and there were actually different words according to each specific procedure...i.e. [verbing] a swan. I'll have to search for these on another site and come back with them, though...they did mention a few on the air. stargazy pie -- a pie made with small whole fish, pilchards or herrings, with their little faces sticking through the crust around the rim so they were looking at you before you ate them. Maids of Honor -- a unique tart pastry whose secretive recipe is guarded by the family to this day. During his travels, Henry VIII was presented with a feast at some village, and he liked these Maids of Honor so much he had the poor sucker who made them arrested and impressed into his culinary service. They did mention how the tarts earned their name, Maids of Honor, but it evades me. Tudor England, and most notably Henry VIII's court, was responsible for many drastic changes in the "Western diet", some of the foremost of which was the importation of sugar to use in vast quantities (in lieu of honey) and the imbibing of distilled spirits. There were no potatoes in Britain until the 18th Century (fish'n'chips a recent tradition, eh?). This also makes me wonder how potatoes became such a crucial part of the Irish diet, and what the folks in Ireland relied on for their main subsistence before the potato. liquorFirstly, as was mentioned on another thread, all people drank large quantities of beer and ale, all day long, instead of water at that time because the water was considered unsafe, even the children. It was said there are old jokes about Tudor England being constantly drunk because of this. Henry VIII had a goblet of ale delivered with his breakfast every morning when he arose at 5 am to go hunting. Distilled liquors, however, were a new import that only the King's Court could afford or obtain. Royal usquebaugh: This was a special recipe liquor drink made from rare Arabian distilled liquor with the addition of gold leaf to supposedly help the King's health as a tonic, especially the heavy metal. hypocras -- another Kingly liquor concoction Two more facinating culinary notes; The King consumed a large portion of cheese at the end of every meal (a three hour, three course affair beginning at 11 a.m. every day, main meals in the evening didn't become customary till much later) to help with his digestion (as advised by his physicians)...it's a wonder he lived to 57! The King's chefs experimented with all sorts of decoration and coloring, including child's urine, which gave them a desired green coloring. Roasting meat over a spit was first done by employing a spit boy to sit by the hot fire for hours, constantly turning the spit of meat. They later did develop a crude rotisserie to do this. Here's the link to the show site. And there are speciifc links here to the recipes and backgrounds of stargazy pie, Maids of Honor, hypocras, and Royal usquebaugh. http://makeashorterlink.com/?J2C832244This is a food-word thread, but...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Stargazy pie--ohmigawd, what a wonderfully whimsical name! I was captivated with delight--until I saw what it actually was!  BARF! Speaking of barf: my fun-loving son made us all sick the other night at the buffet. It was bad enough at first, when he brought back these tiny little squid on his plate: purple-and-white, body maybe a quarter of an inch (mabye about a half a centimeter?), with its legs splayed out and curled, somewhat like ribbon. Rather decorative, if it weren't something to be eaten. Then he brought another one--decorating his vanilla ice cream.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
Found the carving terms after some exhaustive searching: >Dealing differentially with hens and hares and all the other birds and beasts that might appear on lordly tables was a respected social grace in medieval and renaissance Europe, where the art of carving was held in particularly high regard. Carving was not only a gentlemanly skill but also an expression of gentlemanly service. In England, a specialized lexicon applied, and remained current at least until the end of the 17th century. Known as the Terms of Carving, it consisted of verbs, each particular to a certain type of roast. Thus deer were broken, swans lifted, quails winged, pheasant allayed, and rabbits unlaced(7). --from The Art of Carving (here's the link for the complete story -- now I have to try to find the Terms of Carving for the complete glossary): http://makeashorterlink.com/?T55931244
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
Found a more extensive list of meat carving terms: > Carving TerminologyThe art of carving has been in decline lately. This is partly because fewer people carve at the table and fewer people eat meat. It is also because the terminology of carving has largely been forgotten. So, for your edification, we present a few proper terms for carving different meats. Verb.........Meat break....... deer rear........ goose lift........ swan spoil....... hen disfigure... peacock allay....... pheasant thigh....... pigeon unjoint..... bittern chine....... salmon splatt...... pike splay....... bream side........ haddock culpon...... trout barbe....... lobster http://home.tiac.net/~kaleberg/carving/carving.html
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
This should cover most the terms and gives a more colloquial hint o their usage as well: >Section- Terms for Carving all Sorts of Meat at Table. The Gentlewoman's Companion: or, A Guide to the Female Sex. Terms for Carving all Sorts of Meat at Table. Date: 1675 Before we shall treat of the body of Cookery, I think it fit by way of Prologue or Introduction, to acquaint you with those proper terms in Carving, which are used abroad and at home, by the curious students in the art of Carving; take them thus as follows. In cutting up all manner of small Birds, it is proper to say, Thigh them; as thigh that Woodcock, thigh that Pidgeon; but as to others say, Mince that Plover, Wing that Quail, and Wing that Partridg, Allay that Pheasant, Untach that Curlew, Unjoint that Bittern, Disfigure that Peacock, Display that Crane, Dismember that Hern, Unbrace that Mallard, Frust that Chicken, Spoil that Hen, Saue that Caon, Lift that Swan, Rear that Goose, Tire that Egg. As to the flesh of Beasts, place that Coney, Break that Deer, and Leach that Brawn. For Fish; Chine that Salmon, String that Lamprey, Splat that Pike, Sauce that Plaice, and Sauce that Tench, Splay that Bream, Side that Haddock, Tusk that Barbel, Culpon that Trout, Transon that Eel, Tranch that Sturgeon, Tame that Crab, Barb that Lobster.< --from The Chaucer Library, Emory College: http://makeashorterlink.com/?F26516A34(if anyone can find a link to the text of that original Terms of Carving [Dr. Bill?], I'd be much obliged) ((now I can sleep in peace...next time I'm in a crab house I'll tell somebody to "tame that crab"...and that'll get me flagged, I'm sure!  ) And "mince that plover" will get me arrested down here, guaranteed!  g'night...))
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 104
member
|
|
member
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 104 |
You know, I can just hear the servants in the kitchen, noses in the air, affecting their best mocking voice of the Royals: "He prefers the Upper Crust of the bread, he does" and then breaking into gales of laughter at their little jibe. Then the next meal someone alludes to the King as the "Upper Crust".......thus a phrase is born!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
In reply to:
There were no potatoes in Britain until the 18th Century (fish'n'chips a recent tradition, eh?).
From J.E.Austen-Leigh's A Memoir of Jane Austen (his aunt) written in the late 1860s:
The dinners too were more homely, though not less plentiful and savoury; and the bill of fare in one house would not be so like that in another as it is now, for family receipts were held in high estimation. A grandmother of culinary talent could bequeath to her descendant fame for some particular dish, and might influence the family dinner for many generations.
Dos est magna parentium Virtus.
One house would pride itself on its ham, another on its game-pie, and a third on its superior furmity or tansey-pudding. Beer and home-made wines, especially mead, were more largely consumed. Vegetables were less plentiful and less various. Potatoes were used, but not so abundantly as now; and there was an idea that they were to be eaten only with roast meat. They were novelties to a tenant's wife who was entertained at Steventon Parsonage, certainly less than a hundred years ago; and when Mrs Austen advised her to plant them in her own garden, she replied , 'No, no; they are very well for you gentry, but they must be terribly costly to rear.'
Bingley
Bingley
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
potatoes were available, but many europeans were slow to plant them...They became popular in france before they did in US or UK-- at the time of the american revolution, potatoes were still not a common food crop.
they originated in south america, and unlike corn, were not a crop that had wide distribution. Peanuts (a meso american cultivation) rapidly spread in use through out all of spanish america and other spanish colonies..(like corn, they started out with a wider distribution in americas)
many of the spanish colonies were tropical, and both corn and peanuts grow well in tropical countries. Corn was being cultivated over most of north america, but peanuts were introduce to US cultivation from Florida, originally a spanish colony, and spread through out southern US. The shell helped prevent the seed (the peanut) from germinating-- so they were excellent food for long sea voyages, fodder (animal)and were used with corn for the slave trade. (and are still a staple crop in africa)
Potatoes, first cultivated in the high andies, require cooler temperatures, and will mold and rot quickly if they get wet (ei, in a ship's hold)-- so they did not become as wide spread as fast. like tomatoes (an other tropical plant) they are members of the nightshade family, and were often thought to be poisonous.
The inca's of peru had a government/kingdom that stretched from coast to high mountains, and mountain products; llama and alpaka wool and meat, guinne pigs (for meat) and potatoes from the andies were traded with tropical products; peanuts, chilies, chocolate, tomatoes and the like. (corn had already become hybrid, and different varieties were grown in both places.)
There is a great deal of evidence that many cultures in the tropical americas practiced both human sacrafice and ritual canabalism. but canabalism was not as it has been suggested, needed as a sourse of protein. corn + beans are a complete food group, and peanuts, potatoes and chili's make up another so most of meso american could live on a largely vegetarian diet and do well. The coastal area's had more land to grow foods, and could grow a larger variety, the mountain had more domestic animals, and readily available animal protein.
and a central government help facilitate trade between the coast and the mountains.
peanut pods, along with squash blossoms and corn ears were frequent decorative elements in meso, south (and the souther part of norht) america.
potatoes, cabbage and dairy also work, (as a complete diet) and so does potatoes, chilis and dairy--one became the staple diet of the irish poor, the other, the hungarian poor.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154 |
I love them. I've never broken a deer but I've spoiled a few hens and by the time I get the bones out of a fish it does look like something that went splatt.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
carving terms The one that strikes me as the most peciuliar is tire an egg or tire that egg ( tiring an egg?)? Why is an egg included in carving terms, anyway?...praps after the shell is removed and it's sliced hard-boiled? And maybe there is another lost Middle English connotation for the verb tire?...OED, tsuwm? the potatoThanks for that enlightening culinary history of the potato, of troy.  And, Bingley...do you have these literary passages at your fingertips?...amazing. 
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,915
Posts229,919
Members9,197
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
804
guests, and
6
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
