We Still Eat This All The Time - Strange Food Preservation From 1739 - 18th Century Cooking 

oi that’s my comment you dog

For a long time, it's what kept Dutch colonialism alive and thriving

ok this comment is getting old. try something original

​@@Paperbutton9boohoo

​@@Paperbutton9I agree. I have seen it multiple times. It was clever the first time, but it is getting stale.

How sweet of you to adopt a 75-year-old husband!

@@ericv00🤣🤣🤣

That is adorable, thank you for sharing

A man of culture

Cheap date.

It was also used in the production of gun powder.

Came to comments to say this. Seems weird he didn’t know this with how much meat cooking and preserving they do…?

Still used today in deli meats.

That's what i was thinking about. This process give best conditions for Clostridium botulinum to develop and raise its toxin to a deadly level. Never do that ! Botulism kill. This is for historical purpose, no for health and safety. Clostridium botulinum kill so many of our ancestor, no joke. First, it is easier to kill the bacteria rather than neutralize its toxin (toxin resist in the stomach acid, bacteria not), nearly impossible to neutralize the toxin without carbonizing the meat. So fresh meat ! Second, avoid room temperature + anaerobic condition. One of the two ok, both not. If both conditions are unavoidable, put sodium nitrite/nitrate with you salt to ferment properly your fresh meat and really master what you are doing (learn well before and check in lab your firsts trials). Third, from fresh and clean meat, the best processes to avoid Clostridium botulinum infection is t°≥ 120°c during 10 minutes / 15% NaCl (+ nitrate/nitrite if needed) / min 2% of acetic, lactic, citric, etc acid. Every other method didn't persist because botulism kill.

Nowadays, preserved meats have sodium nitrite (which prevents botulism) added directly, rather than adding saltpeter (sodium nitrate) and letting bacteria convert it into sodium nitrite.

Nitrites and salt(cure #1) are used when cure time is less than 30 days usually for cold and hot smoked meats and is safe to taste after 12 hours. Nitrate & nitrite(cure #2) combo is for cures greater than 30 days such as for air cured sausages and hams. Over time nitrates convert to nitrites. Then nitrites convert to nitric oxide(Gas) in 8-12 hours. Nitric oxide(Gas) is what cures the meat. It bonds to a protein in the meat called myoglobin preventing it from oxidizing and so keeping it pink.

Thank you for commenting this, more people need to know the truth about ‘uncured’ meat products.

He was saying that sodium nitrite is for color, and replaced potassium nitrate. He is 100% correct. It also causes heart murmurs, arrhythmias, and heart attacks.

This is still done whete I live. Cook a lot of pig meat and preserve it in hardened pig fat.

They used to do this in Germany with fried sausages as well.

Potting fried sausages in lard or suet is still used to this day in Eastern Europe.

They were kept in a crock which is cooler and then put in a very cool place, like a cellar.

My Grandfather talks about this sometimes, and they were doing it in the 40's in Texas. Neat to see the amount of folks who do this.

Rillettes

As he shows in the video, it is still done here too. They never stopped doing it.

Goose rillettes are a particular treat.

The technique is not so different from Confit, either. If the meat has enough fat of its own, use it.

Wish I could get some. Went to several stores and had to show them what it is and so far no one called me back on mace/macis. I suppose next time I go to a bigger city they just pull a bag from under the counter like they did before with pine nuts and sodium chloride.

I'm from the Caribbean and so have seen this for real... I'm not sure many people would understand what you are explaining!

Didn't know that.

So mace is the husk around the nut, kinda like what you see with a pecan?

@@kimberlym5988 it's kinda like red lace around the nutmeg

Its all thanks to wanting to try something new, and paying attention. The beer was likely originally from not wanting it to go to waste or enjoying the flavor, and then noticing they stayed good longer than normal. Most scientific discoveries are more someone going "huh that's odd..." than the "Eureka!" moments people think of. And cooking is just chemistry you can *usually* eat lol.

Trial and error.

It's crazy to know that you think it's crazy that they would've known this back then and crazy that you even know this now!¡

Beer is acidic, hence it has a _low_ pH. The pH of beer typically falls between 4 and 5.

@johnopalko5223 yes an using stale beer it would be lower closer to 2-3 depending on how old.

To be fair, it's either adapt or die. Hunger is a great motivator lol

Necessity breeds innovation. It's not surprising we find so many preservation methods. Those who didn't have preservation were more likely to die.. creating a form of survivors bias. The sad thing is people have lost these techniques. One reason I love this channel.

true but then again it was either do that or die honestly, today we have the option, thankfully

if you weren't you flippin' DIED

People tend to think people years ago were basically cavemen.

I love deviled ham, which is potted meat. And I love my sardines.

Definitely. One of the best things I've ever eaten was some potted crab that my friend's family made in Dorset, UK. It was about 35 years ago and I can still remember the taste.

@@stevedoolan1540 I would have liked to see that process!

@@angrytater2456 I don't remember, other than boiling the crabs down at first. I do remember that we let it cool then immediately ate it, rather than eating it preserved - it smelled so incredibly good!

Yes, Morecambe Bay potted shrimp are superb.

Rillettes? Or perhaps a pate?

Something like cretons I imagine

It seems impractical bc butter is expensive and also I think a lot of people are afraid of foodborne illnesses. It's cool that you did it tho and that it came out good

Potted meats are too dodgy and dangerous for people to make unless they have to

Lard is better, but you can not become it so easily today, than butter.

@@mirkokrizan214 there should be stores nearby where you can get whole tubs of lard you just gotta hunt for it a bit

The old folks in my family did the same and thankfully taught me how

​@@windy1439I can find tubs of lard easily where I live. The problem is it's all hydrogenated with bht and bha added. The only unadulterated lard I can find is online and it's pricey.

Any fat that is a solid at room temperature would work.

Is that a pun? "Help clarify something".....and clarified butter.

@@GnomeInPlaid yeah, fayevines really popped off the top on their cold open.

​@@GnomeInPlaid Clarified butter is butter with the residual water and milk solids removed. It's also called 'ghee'. You basically simmer the butter for a while on low heat, periodically removing the foam from the top, until all the water us evaporated and the milk solids have gathered in little clumps at the bottom. At this point, the molten butter will have turned from soft yellow and opaque to a clear, golden liquid. That's why it's called 'claryfying'. Clarified butter keeps for much longer and you can heat it to higher temperatures without it starting to smoke.

...clarify something! Clever. You made me smile, thank you.

@@raraavis7782 I came here to say this. It doesn't spoil and you can keep it in a cool pantry. Best to use unsalted.

a general rule with things that seem complicated: break them down into individual steps, mini-goals that need to be accomplished. It is a huge task to undergo overall if you plan to eat after it was sitting at room temperature for weeks. But making sure you understand each step and knowing where you might have made a mistake will help greatly in understanding why it is still or isn't still good to eat. Everybody makes mistakes and surely back then they would have had experience with how things should smell like or what should it taste like.

These old techniques are likely to be necessary in the near future…. Glad though to have a good pressure cooker.

Is it complicated? It's just a slow roast with basic spices, pounded with and then topped with butter. Where's the hard part?

It’s the exotic stuff, like nutmeg, that John gets literally livid if you don’t include

John already said he’d attack Tasting History for what they did to his wife

@@oliverhopkins8074 what the hell happened????

​@@oliverhopkins8074what lol

.

omg yes that would be amazing

They have just recently ditched the paper wrapper on the cans. Replacing it with a regular glued on label like other canned goods. I hate that because it's what I used to use to keep the lid in the empty can afterwards so no one needed to worry about slicing their hand on the lid when pushing trash down in the trash can.

The paper packaging was a nice touch

I wondered if it had any use. Thx for posting. Now I know!

Actual interesting thought. Will try. Thanks unsensitive, this was sensitive.

Something much better for you to try, it's called kaymak in E.Europe. Take whole raw milk and cook it. Take the milk fat that forms on top, add some salt and try it after a few days.

I mean I'm not gonna just try that without some context tbf

Because it sounds like eating spaff

I grew up in Alabama. My brothers always liked potted meat sandwiches growing up, but I didn't have the palate for it.

We used to call it "spotted meat" because it was unappetizing. 😆

@@wtk6069 A literal laugh out loud. (But it still eats just fine. Sorry that you don't care for it.)

Deviled ham sandwich: A piece of white bread, half a smear of deviled ham, half a smear of mayo, drizzle of mustard, fold, enjoy. Also pb and mayo sandwiches - delicious. (Not from the south but came to find out the latter is a great depression era sandwich)

It's virtually apolitical and void of modern contemporaries. At least that's my thoughts on why I love this channel so much.

@@Arthurian. makes complete sense! He also has a calm demeanor 😊

The background music, love it.

@@robertgt1858 absolutely!

It's dangerous, isn't it lol? Then I remember I dont even cope well camping without full shower facilities, and that I have the practical skills of a dead pigeon 🙃

Fortunately it’s not optional. Not that I’ve tried it 😒

With a nightly dinner at Jon's house I could maybe manage it.

@@Ater_Draco How dead? just checking you're not over spoiled to be potted and preserved

@@IndecentLouie LMFAO 😂

Nitrates are also is highly carcinogenic

It's great when using duck as well. And the significant amount of fat that's rendered from a slow roasted duck is a perfect substitute for the clarified butter at the top.

John rejects your nonsense and destroys your nutmeg

Organ meats first; skeletal preserve.

"Because when we want potted fish, we can have it brought to us from the other side of the world in a matter of days." Economy of scale and globalization FTW!

I originally posted a reply in which I pointed out that there is nothing particularly strange about that, because it is normal for people to learn those skills that are useful to them, and knowing how to pot fish is not very useful today. And while I do think there is some truth to that, I have thought better of it, because something occurred to me recently. My mother knew how to cook and how to sew and knit. She learned those skills, primarily at least, from her mother, who learned them from her mother, who I can only assume learned from _her_ mother, in a chain of skill transmission that probably in some form goes back to prehistoric times, not only in my family but in most families all over the world. My mother, however, like many if not most women of her generation, did not pass those skills on to her own daughter. My mother did not seem concerned to teach my sister how to do any of those things, and my sister never took the initiative to ask her or to try to learn. And an entire generation of young and now middle-aged women today do not have those skills. Potting meat may not be a very practical skill anymore, but knowing how to cook dinner for your family and how to mend a pair of pants are still very useful skills, but they have been lost, because our society decided, quite frivolously, in my view, to break a chain of transmission that certainly went back a long time, and possibly to the earliest days of the human race. That makes me very sad.

My mom knew how to sew and knit, and attempted to pass those onto me. And believe me, I gave them a fair shot. But I honestly don't have the patience for sewing, unless I'm simply cross-stitching a transferred embroidery pattern onto dish towels. Knitting really doesn't rocket my creative jets, either. Crocheting is also a nope. Now jewelry making and its various methods of adding all kinds of "shinies" to a piece? Heck yeah! Pottery? I've been stewing that in my mental cauldron since high school, but have yet to have the proper space for a wheel and kilns. Cooking/baking? Candlemaking? Bring it! I think I love these crafts and arts because they have one thing in common: fire! (Hint -- I'm an Aries, a Fire sign) Yes, jewelry making can involve fire, especially when making one's own pendants and beads from glass or metal clays that are fired in tabletop kilns. And then there's other types of metalsmithing to do. 😁😁🔥🔥 I think if it wasn't such a big health risk with my asthma, I would even give blacksmithing a try. Jewelry making is more manageable. 😅

"Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them." (Alfred North Whitehead)

@@FrikInCasualModeyou’re high or a shill if you think globalism is good.

I've essentially made this, but with duck and some different spices. I always used the rendered fat from the roasted duck to seal it in the jars.

and you have a direct connection with that, through your dad! that is so cool, no matter how horrible it May taste today. I remember eating ketchup sandwiches, and my sister eating peas directly from the can. on a regular basis because we were hungry. Good Times.

My dad and I love deviled ham sandwiches (You get a single slice of white bread, smear half with deviled ham and the other half with mayo. Add a layer of mustard over the ham, fold, and enjoy). He also showed me peanut butter and mayo sandwiches as a kid

@@Your-Least-Favorite-Stranger we used to do the half sandwich thing all the time as well. I haven’t heard of peanut butter and mayonnaise, but I’m willing to give it a try. That’s great memories you have.

​@tonyabsoluteam3456 people like you who make backhanded comments disguised as pleasant interaction are unfortunate.

The movie _Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows_ references a specific location's potted shrimp as being one of Mycroft Holmes' favorite treats. It's a very brief mention but its there

Don’t forget rillettes

Your comment about duck confit is a little incomplete and might confuse people. Confit is the process of slow cooking in fat with the intention of preserving and tenderizing meat. There is no marinating in the process, and it doesn't have to be duck or leg. You can eat it as is, or as you mentioned, it's common to crisp it up afterwards. Just wanted to fill in the gaps 👍

@@skilletborne I was referring to the cold storage of the legs in duck fat after being cooked but prior to being reheated/prepared to order, though I did take poetic license with “marinate” there so I get how that’s distracting.

I would use lard too. I've never heard of using clarified butter until now.

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Found the prepper

@@oliverhopkins8074 that or inflation is just kicking in again.