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‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades

atlasobscura.com

121–130 of 182 posts

Re: ‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades

#121

Kind 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…

Cozy is the perfect word and I find myself noting often that the things I naturally find to be cozy are related somehow to finding small portals of comfort in order to make surviving in a harsh world a little easier, developed by people over the millennia.

Re: ‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades

#122
post #14

I’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.

Yeah, I remember watching a YouTube video of a Japanese restaurant owner, who does the same thing: every day, he refills his broth pot to full, puts more bones in, and leaves simmering. He said that he only had to restart a decade or so because of tsunami induced flood. Sounds cool, but then if you do the math, and assume that every day he uses half of the broth, then after only 10 days, there is only around a teaspo…

I love this math, thank you. Reminds me of homeopathy where if you do the math not even a single molecule of the original thing remains when they dilute it.

>Homeopathic dilutions beyond this limit (equivalent to approximately 12C) are unlikely to contain even a single molecule of the original substance and lower dilutions contain no detectable amount.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathic_dilutions

Re: ‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades

#123
post #68
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 r…

You've now given me an idea to try - Islay with an American honey bourbon

Re: ‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades

#124

Earlier 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 used to believe in the "don't clean your Bialetti", but then one day I realised it's the same gunk that's in the bottom of by coffee machine drip tray. Yuck!

Re: ‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades

#125
In the long run, you would likely have metal corrosion issues. Everything eventually dissolves, at least a little, it just takes a long time. Heat and moisture "forever" is a rough environment for metal. Consider metal parts dipped in a tropical ocean for decades, or the parts inside a nuclear reactor or steam plant. This is probably why you tend to hear about pH neutral broths and such instead of perpetual lemonade or perpetual pickles.

If you heat oils long enough they'll polymerize just like putting finish on cast iron. It might take 100 years instead of 100 hours but it'll polymerize eventually. The rancid taste can be avoided by serving fast enough that the average age of the food is reasonable. In general, with good mixing and fast serving, it can't get much worse than a couple days old even if the long tail is theoretically a century old. The whole topic is a good intro to distribution curve shape.

A perspective comment: Many people do this without thinking about it. I have a tin container I've been adding dry looseleaf tea to for perhaps a quarter century. I do try to run it out completely between adding batches of newer tea, but I'm sure there's some dust in there from the last century and its been in continuous use since then. My grandma had a perpetual dry granulated sugar covered dish, and a perpetual salt shaker on the table.

Re: ‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades

#126
post #94

TWO profiled broths were destroyed by bombs in war. Apparently a leading cause of broth destruction. > an even older pot, in Perpignan [France], had been bubbling since the 1400s until it finally met its demise in 1945 during World War II bombing raids. > The broth [in Tokyo’s historic Asakusa quarter] would be going on 100 today, but the previous batch was lost in 1945 during World War II bombing. 1945 was not a goo…

I would expect a lot of long-running things are lost to wars or big natural disasters.

As a tavern owner, one might be prone to neutrality. One king is as good as another, as long as they leave you alone.

In dramatizations of wars we always see an army taking over a village and sucking it dry, but I suspect there would be some overlap of tavern locations and 'tactically bad places to get caught by the enemy', such that the officers might volunteer you for a free meal and then move on before enemy scouts tattle on your whereabouts. Certainly somewhere in the world there are roadhouses located in kill boxes and thus have operated independently and unimpeded for generations.

Re: ‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades

#127
post #75

Earlier 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.

Navy cooks will bust the bubble promptly. They clean the pots religiously, the difference is that each cook treats the brew differently. If a cook left a vessel or had a mate make the coffee, sailors'll notice the change in treatment. Also, you have to keep in mind, Navy coffee is a mythic thing. Taking on a spiritual character from being a source of constancy and solace in an otherwise stressful/hostile environment.…

Makes me wonder if the coffee subplot in The Expanse was just a coincidence or someone had experience with Navy coffee, directly or by reputation. Holden just about cries when he has his first cup of Real Coffee from their salvaged Martian Navy frigate.

Re: ‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades

#129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't had it personally, but one of my SO's tried a famous "perpetual stew" when in France and we talked about it at one point. Her description kinda matched what I'd expect from braises that I've let go to long: you end up with bland mush. I think there's a reason very few restaurants serve this style of dish, and it's not because of health codes. We live in an era of insane abundance compared to the medeivil an…

I've always thought of it more as a way to conserve the calories that food represent, rather than a delicious dish in its own right

Agreed.

It's not some ultimate dish, nor was beer some delicious delicacy.

These were techniques by our not so distant ancestors to survive in far less connected, far less hospitable times and conditions.

Re: ‘Perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades

#130
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost all dangerous bacteria develops in temperatures between 40 and 140 degrees, so as long as you keep the stew hot enough it's likely to be fine: https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and...

To add to this, the ones that survive outside that range are typically anaerobic and can't survive being exposed to air, so that makes it even less likely to be a vector for food poisoning

2 ways bacteria/fungi hurt people: excreting toxins or by colonizing us.

The 140 degree rule basically stops all colonizers since anything that lives in those temps probably isn't planning to infect us.

But some extremophile that takes hold in the hot soup could still excrete toxins that build up over time

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