Also in Thailand (there seems to be many videos with different years of how old the soup is): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29RxjfH0H1k
Some podcasters talking about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX2lUssXJpc&t=889s
‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades
61–70 of 182 posts
Re: ‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades
#62I'm reminded of ramen restaurants I've visited that tell stories about their broth and its origins, mentioning that it's been simmering for decades. Some of the more famous ramen places I've visited have gone so far as to point out that the broth is made offsite in case anyone was thinking about attempting to tamper with it. Maybe some of that is for dramatic effect, but I imagine if you're a competitive restaurant and your success is dependent on something decades old, then you need to protect it.
Re: ‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades
#63In Mexico, there are some people who do this with Molé
Most famously now is Enrique Olvera of Pujol fame from Season two of Chefs table on Netflix.
I like many, grew up with some kind of stove top medley that'd be going for a while.
Re: ‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades
#64Earlier 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?
Food goes bad when either there are microbes growing in it (you get sick from infection), or there have been microbes growing and those microbes have left behind toxins (you get poisoned). Nothing can remain alive in a boiling pot of stew, the few things that can survive have very specialized habitats. So the only things you have to worry about are non-living poisons: toxins and prions. Since these by definition cann…
Spores will survive boiling, that's why autoclaves (pressure cookers) are used in medical research https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoclave.
But spores are in a state of dormancy, so if you never stop boiling the broth, then spores never grow into anything. The most dangerous thing would probably be to boil the broth in stops in starts
Re: ‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades
#65Kind 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?
Before refrigeration people were a lot less picky about what was considered spoiled food. One of my grandmothers would never look at the dates, but just trusted her eyes, nose and tongue as to whether something was fit for consumption or not, regardless of how much it was past the 'best before' date.
Re: ‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades
#66Earlier 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?
Food goes bad when either there are microbes growing in it (you get sick from infection), or there have been microbes growing and those microbes have left behind toxins (you get poisoned). Nothing can remain alive in a boiling pot of stew, the few things that can survive have very specialized habitats. So the only things you have to worry about are non-living poisons: toxins and prions. Since these by definition cann…
[deleted]
Re: ‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
Food goes bad when either there are microbes growing in it (you get sick from infection), or there have been microbes growing and those microbes have left behind toxins (you get poisoned). Nothing can remain alive in a boiling pot of stew, the few things that can survive have very specialized habitats. So the only things you have to worry about are non-living poisons: toxins and prions. Since these by definition cann…
Spores will survive boiling, that's why autoclaves (pressure cookers) are used in medical research https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoclave . But spores are in a state of dormancy, so if you never stop boiling the broth, then spores never grow into anything. The most dangerous thing would probably be to boil the broth in stops in starts
Depending on the circumstances, boiling in stops and starts may not be too bad: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyndallization
Re: ‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
I call this an "infinity bottle." I mix both bourbon and scotch, too. Typically the last ounce or 2 of a bottle. Sometimes it ends up pretty meh, but other times it's fantastic. If I don't like the flavor, I'll come back to it in a month and see if it has mellowed out at all. I also keep list of what's in there taped to the bottle.
Just a note that I've found infinity bottles of Scotch don't work nearly as well as American whiskeys do; Scotches don't all play nice with each other (and I don't drink a lot of phenolic Islay stuff; I'm saying, like, a bottle full of random Speysides gets funky quickly.)
It will definitely depend on the scotch. I mixed an Ardbeg Uigeadail into the bottle and it changed it considerably, but not in a terribly bad way especially after it sat for a couple weeks. But I think that's part of the journey. Right now, it's pretty heavy on the Islay (peated) scotch so it is definitely a bit weird at times, but it'll change over time with my palette, and I like that.
For example, right now I'm really into blended whiskies like Wolves [0], and as such the infinity bottle is starting to change from that characteristic Islay peat/smoke flavor profile to a more American whiskey profile.
I've found that writing tasting notes help me enjoy a weird whiskey a bit more, which includes the infinity bottle.
(But I will admit -- I have wanted to dump the bottle before! In that case, I just topped with bourbon and considered it a soft restart.)
Re: ‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades
#69What does food science say about the safety of this?
Sound disgusting to me and a good way to get salmonella.
Imagine the goop stuck up the sides of the pot.
Re: ‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades
#70The details here are intriguing. It's also a kind of classic differential equation problem. I.e. take a desert lake fed by a small stream carrying dissolved minerals, which loses half its water by evaporation (removing no mineral) and half by an outflowing stream - what's the concentration of minerals in the lake relative to the feeder streams?
First, how long should you wait before adding fresh bones, vegetables, etc to the soup before serving it, if it's always simmering at 200F (94C)?
Second, what percentage of the soup is consumed per day? Taking one bowl out a 100-bowl pot of soup per day is vastly different from serving 90 bowls per day, then restarting with only 10 bowls left in the 100-bowl pot. This allows asking the question, "what percentage of the food added a week ago is still in the pot".
Also if you're adding bones I imagine the whole pot is strained from time to time to remove such solids.