Reminiscent of Rincewind's roll-up cigarettes made from fragments of old roll-ups: "The implacable law of averages therefore dictated that some of that tobacco had been smoked almost continuously for many years now."
‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades
21–30 of 182 posts
Re: ‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades
#22Kind of related to this is the concept of "Brunswick Stew." Look it up if you want a more accurate description, but as I recall, the idea from Colonial times in America is that there'd be a tavern/inn with a fire, constantly running, and a big cauldron of stew always topped off and ready for weary travelers. The idea is that they never "finished" a batch. They just perpetually added leftovers and foods that were at r…
Perhaps i'm geeking this out too much, but I guess it depends on ingress-vs-egress and drawdown....but...doesn't including nearly spoiling food risk the whole stew going bad in a few days? Or do the constant simmer prevent that?
I don't know. I'm not sure the historians fully know. This concept might even be apocryphal to an extent. What I have learned is that the concept evolved (like so much cooking does) from what I described into a "it's actually now a recipe that people prepare once."
Something else I learned is that back in the day, people had different expectations for food quality. We would regularly eat rancid meat (many BBQ sauces were specifically built to hide/safen up rancid meat). And maybe while the concept was "it's always going", there were practical things we like to exclude from oral/written tradition, such as "well... actually we purge it once a week otherwise it goes completely bad." Who knows!
Re: ‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
Perhaps i'm geeking this out too much, but I guess it depends on ingress-vs-egress and drawdown....but...doesn't including nearly spoiling food risk the whole stew going bad in a few days? Or do the constant simmer prevent that?
I don't know. I'm not sure the historians fully know. This concept might even be apocryphal to an extent. What I have learned is that the concept evolved (like so much cooking does) from what I described into a "it's actually now a recipe that people prepare once." Something else I learned is that back in the day, people had different expectations for food quality. We would regularly eat rancid meat (many BBQ sauces…
> well... actually we purge it once a week otherwise it goes completely bad
I know that when I cook stews I often end up with a lot of food bits stuck and eventually burned at the bottom and sides of the pot. I can imagine keeping it going by pouring the stew contents to another pot so that I could clean the first pot though. Without doing that... those stuck & burned bits will certainly add "flavor" to the stew.
Re: ‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades
#24Kind of related to this is the concept of "Brunswick Stew." Look it up if you want a more accurate description, but as I recall, the idea from Colonial times in America is that there'd be a tavern/inn with a fire, constantly running, and a big cauldron of stew always topped off and ready for weary travelers. The idea is that they never "finished" a batch. They just perpetually added leftovers and foods that were at r…
Came here to make a Ship-of-Theseus dad joke, beaten throughly to the punch.
Re: ‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades
#25Wouldn’t having a propane burner on 24 hours a day be very expensive? Also, does it really make that much of a difference? I feel like after a couple of hours with a fresh batch you could be right back where you started without really missing out on too much.
It takes a long time to pull flavor and nutrients out of bones.
Re: ‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tangentially related would be Navy coffee, which sailors say is made in pots that are never cleaned and develop a "varnish" of sorts.
People say the same about Bialetti-style "moka pot" coffee makers. The reality is that any "varnish" is just old rancid coffee oil.
I think a pretty big component of it is protein? Mine only comes off with the special cleaner, or powdered detergent (not the liquid kind which is missing some anti enzyme cleaners) (or lots of scrubbing)
Re: ‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades
#27I’m not sure if the math holds up on this. Diluted over and over I doubt there is any of the previous remaining (enough to taste) and soup is boiling I assume so there’s no bacteria you are keeping going like with mole or sourdough.
I think the fact that there's no bacteria remaining is the point, since food preservation was a real issue then. Aren't there autocatalytic oxidation reactions? There might be flavor effects from always having a pool of those ready to oxidize new ingredients.
Also the perceptual flavor effects of the associated story on the broth being old.
Re: ‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades
#28Reminds me of the Stone Soup story from the original creators of Fractint.
Re: ‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades
#29Kind of related to this is the concept of "Brunswick Stew." Look it up if you want a more accurate description, but as I recall, the idea from Colonial times in America is that there'd be a tavern/inn with a fire, constantly running, and a big cauldron of stew always topped off and ready for weary travelers. The idea is that they never "finished" a batch. They just perpetually added leftovers and foods that were at r…
I think the coziness of this recipe might be tempered somewhat by the fun food-borne illnesses that would have to spring up doing this.
Re: ‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades
#30Kind of related to this is the concept of "Brunswick Stew." Look it up if you want a more accurate description, but as I recall, the idea from Colonial times in America is that there'd be a tavern/inn with a fire, constantly running, and a big cauldron of stew always topped off and ready for weary travelers. The idea is that they never "finished" a batch. They just perpetually added leftovers and foods that were at r…
I think the coziness of this recipe might be tempered somewhat by the fun food-borne illnesses that would have to spring up doing this.
I think if it is brought to a boil every hour it should be safe-ish