Wordsmith.org: the magic of words

Wordsmith Talk

About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us  

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 1 of 2 1 2
#121657 01/30/04 02:26 PM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
W
wwh Offline OP
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
All is not balneal in a bagnio.


#121658 01/30/04 02:51 PM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
This puzzled me: bain-marie: literally, bath of Mary, a pan with hot water in which smaller pans may be placed for slow cooking or to keep the food warm.
Why a 'bath of Mary'? Oh--wasn't it one of the Marys in the Bible who bathed Jesus' feet? Does bath of Mary mean a foot bath; that is, shallow? I don't think I've ever heard the term before.



#121659 01/30/04 03:31 PM
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
J
veteran
Offline
veteran
J
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
I seem to remember that balneum Mariæ is an alchemical device and term. Not sure which Miriam it might've been named for. OTOH, bagno and balneal are from the same root.


#121660 01/30/04 03:35 PM
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
M
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
M
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
How else do you cook your Hollondaise sauce for the sparrow grass? :)

[F.; ad. L. balneum Mariæ (14th c.), lit. ‘the bath of Mary,’ so called, Littré thinks, from the gentleness of this method of heating.]

(See quot.)
1822 Kitchiner Cook's Oracle 398 ‘Bain-Marie’ is a flat vessel containing boiling water; you put all your stewpans into the water, and keep that water always very hot, but it must not boil. 1875 Ure Dict. Arts I. 280 Bain-marie, a vessel of water in which saucepans, etc. are placed to warm food, or to prepare it and some pharmaceutical preparations.


OED2


#121661 01/30/04 03:36 PM
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
How else do you cook your Hollondaise sauce

Use a double-boiler.


#121662 01/30/04 03:49 PM
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
M
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
M
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
yeahbut®

It don need no steenken boilin, let alone no dubble bubble toil and trubble


#121663 01/30/04 03:55 PM
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
no steenken boilin

Exactly why you would use a double boiler. The boiling is confined to the lower chamber.


#121664 01/30/04 04:45 PM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
‘the bath of Mary,’ so called, Littré thinks, from the gentleness of this method of heating.]
Yeahbut®--why Mary? Why not Jeannette, or Katherine, etc.?



#121665 01/30/04 05:00 PM
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
J
veteran
Offline
veteran
J
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
There was an alchemist by the name of Mary the Jewess or Maria Prophetissa (supposedly the sister of Moses), or at least a text attributed to her.

http://www.wordwizard.com/clubhouse/founddiscuss1.asp?Num=1737



#121666 01/30/04 05:44 PM
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
below the fold, for months, Dr Bill has been making interesting post.. one site he found was
engines of ingenuity.. transcrips of a 15 minute or so radio broadcasts.
http://www.uh.edu/engines/engines.htm

one episode was about Marie the Jewess, and her work with what we now call double boilers.
http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi964.htm

double boilers allow you to regulate heat.

in a water bath/water based double boiler, water, which boils at 212(f) or 100(c) controls the heat of the upper vessel (which is why we heat melt chocolte on a double boiler) --it keeps its (provided the upper and lower vessels aren't tightly sealed and there is escaping steam) at the upper bowl at the tempurture of boiling water..
(so the chocate or custard or what ever, never gets hotter than 100(c).

if you want to learn the melting point of an unknow material, being able to figure out if it is higher or lower than water is one step.
interesting how almost nothing is know about her.. (so true for so many woman in science.)


Page 1 of 2 1 2

Moderated by  Jackie 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,580
Members9,187
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members
Karin, JeffMackwood, artguitar, Jim_W, Rdbuffalo
9,187 Registered Users
Who's Online Now
0 members (), 332 guests, and 0 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days)
Top Posters
wwh 13,858
Faldage 13,803
Jackie 11,613
wofahulicodoc 10,713
tsuwm 10,542
LukeJavan8 9,931
AnnaStrophic 6,511
Wordwind 6,296
of troy 5,400
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site. Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.

Home | Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Subscribe | FAQ | Archives | Search | Feedback
Wordsmith Talk | Wordsmith Chat

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5