You may be interested in the German name for a type of rusk, “Zwieback”, which literally means “baked twice” (though with archaic, fossilised grammar)
In Italian we have both “biscotto” (double-cooked) for cookie and “ricotta” (re-cooked) which has no translation, both are also done cooking something twice
I’m fascinated by the existence of so many foods. Who decided to boil tree sap for 3 weeks to make maple syrup? Who agitated cows milk vigorously for 20 minutes to discover butter? Who saw cheese for the first time and decided to still eat moldy milk?
I thank those nameless humans for their service to society.
The first one would have been obvious by the time Europeans reached the Americas because reducing things to increase the intensity of flavours by removing water would have been a known cooking technique for a long time by then (and I’m guessing would have been figured out soon after the invention of pots). Then, it would have been a matter of someone who was aware of that technique tasting raw sap, realizing it was sweet, then trying to extract the sugar through reduction, then discovering it’s still pretty good as a syrup rather than dry sugar.
And extracting sap from trees goes way back, as that’s what frankincense and myr were (and disappointing to find out these “precious substances” just smell like church).
For every person that managed to make maple syrup there must be several that made a stew from danger-mushrooms.
Darwinian evolution is as much luck as it is skill
Yogurt is also very interesting, as its bacteria originates from ants. Who would think “hmm ants have infested my milk container but hey let me taste what they did to milk anyways”
You can just leave milk out at room temperature for a few days and you’ll get yogurt. There’s tons of lactobacilli floating around in the air and on every surface. You might need ants for a specific strain, but you don’t need them if you just want any yogurt.
I think there’s a lot of “dare you to eat that” in food history.
I think a lot of it boils down to, “we either eat it or starve.”
And sometimes both.
Oregano trail wasn’t wrong when it made dysentery a near death experience.
Oregano trail
There’s also a lot of " Tom didn’t make it" and “Not gonna do that again” in food history.
blue cheese was discovered from a guy eating lunch in a cave, and leaving it unfinished to go talk to a pretty girl. when he came back months later the cheese had molded into blue cheese and he ate it and it was good
months later
the cheese had molded
he ate itWhat a moron.
Who though to stab a tree and collect the juice? I want that mf knighted
Right? And trees that leak, like pines, have sap that tastes like absolute ass. You’d think they’d avoid tasting tree sap at all costs
Birch juice though mmmm
Just wanna mention, you don’t need to boil maple sap for anywhere near that long to make syrup. It can be done in an afternoon unless you’re trying to make gallons.
I suppose you’re right - it could be done on a small scale. I’m so used to seeing massive vats at the sugar bush that I didn’t even think of a small volume in a pot
Thus this custom of firing houses continued, till in process of time, says my manuscript, a sage arose, like our Locke, who made a discovery, that the flesh of swine, or indeed of any other animal, might be cooked… without the necessity of consuming a whole house to dress it.
From the 1888 A Dissertation Upon Roast Pig
Unfortunately the rest of it is pretty trash.
I learned the other day that British have a delicacy called the toast sandwich which consists of a slice of toasted white bread between two slices of untoasted white bread with optional butter in between.
It is true and this is a real thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toast_sandwich?wprov=sfla1
Is this a struggle meal that beats all struggle meals?
Cost one side of the middle slice in butter, the other side in honey.
Now youre there.
An 1861 recipe says to add salt and pepper to taste.
Woah, slow down there Guy Fieri.
Delicacy is maybe not the word I’d use, but it certainly exists
More of a wartime rationing delicacy.
Well now I have a delicacy called the toast sandwich.
Sweden: hold my sandwich cake!
Smörgås tårta.
I’ve not heard of anyone else making such a thing, but not surprised it does exist. However, I can 1-up that with my childhood creation - the triple fold sandwich. One slice of buttered bread, one slice of buttered toast & one slice of butter fried bread. Fold each one in half, overlapping half of the adjacent piece. You get a mix of three different bready textures & flavours in each bite. I haven’t made it in a few decades so I may not enjoy it so much now, but it was good at the time!
That actually sounds kind’a dynamite.
It’s actually an ok snack. I made one after seeing it mentioned i line a while back. The combination of textures is nice.
The brits really do be eatin like the kaiser is still bangin down their door.
As a Brit I’ve never heard of such a thing. Sounds awful like putting a pie on a muffin (bread roll, barm cake) 🤮
Has anyone tried cooking it again? Projections show an incredible increase in flavor!
.
.
Update: my house burned down
Enter, Zwieback.
That was only an option if we were terribly ill.
Oh this thing we call it Batonas su cukrum (bread with sugar).
You don’t have to specify that the house burnt down, they usually don’t burn up.
Me realizing with horror that “burned down” and “burned up” are often completely interchangeable
In Germany we call bland white bread “toast bread” because it can only taste good when toasted.
I also often call it that (I’m Polish-British)
Yeah, what we call “bread” in the US is “toast bread” in Germany. I’ve heard stories of Germans going to US supermarkets and wondering where the real crusty bread is.
I’ve heard stories of Germans going to US supermarkets and wondering where the real crusty bread is.
Most US grocery stores I’ve been to have that too. Usually an entire bakery section filled with freshly baked bread.
The bigger ones do, yeah, but EVERY place doesn’t like in Germany.
Answer: people said the crust was the best part of the bread. How can we get crust on more of the bread? Slice the bread and bake it again.
And then you have those people who cut the crust off bread.
I think this might be correlated with the type of bread. When you have the really sweet highly processed white bread, the crust tastes very bitter in contrast. With higher quality breads, the crust is just a little dryer, but not too different from the rest of the slice. I never liked bread crust as a kid, nor did my partner. But my kid never complained about crust and this is my hypothesis as to why.
The crust is not just drier, it’s crunchy, it’s crackling. It’s got roasted aromas and all the flavours of the bread heightened 10 times.
I was just talking about the bread that one tier up from the basic grocery store sliced white bread. But yes, when you have actual good bread, the crust is an essential part of the experience.
That proves my point. Do they toast their bread? Do they cut the crust off their toast?
That photo looks more like a pancake than toast
It’s remarkable how England and English colonies have a whole variety of thick slabs of batter that they consider ’food’.
Just wait until you try doubled fried french fries. It’s the only way i eat then now.
Every potato should be cooked twice. It’s the correct way
Are triple cooked chips not common knowledge outside of the UK?
I’m sorry, you said TRIPLE! 😯
The best way I’ve found to make fries in the oven is to bake them on normal mode for 20-30 minutes, then hit them with convection mode for another 10.
Toast was all about finding ways to use stale bread again. It also kills mold.
It does kills fold.
I feel compelled to say “Yeah TOAST!”
My friends and I performed this for our high school talent show. We didn’t have a toaster for the drums though.
I like to buy Chewy Chips Ahoy!™ and then finish cooking them.
What’s your go-to toast topping though? Because if it’s just butter we’re basically soulmates, but if it’s something cursed like Marmite or ketchup we might need to have a serious conversation 😂
Butter is king. I like a bit of honey with it from tie to time, but plain buttered toast is the dog’s bollocks.
Even better if it’s butter made from peanuts.
So Butter is it.
try making a loaf of bread with like 6-12 tbsp of chestnut honey, specifically chestnut. Eat some fresh but let it cool and toast it after. It goes with everything and it smells amazing. I eat it with ice cream for an unparalleled ice cream sandwich that make those store bought bricks look and taste like dirt in comparison.
It’s crazy because chestnut honey smells and tastes kinda not food like IMO. Like a mouthful of worn pantyhose that has done an office shift and then inhale through the nose. Not saying I’ve done that but that’s just the image I have in my head from trying chestnut honey on its own.
Like a mouthful of worn pantyhose that has done an office shift and then inhale through the nose
How’d you find my diary?
I’ve been waiting for a large portion of my life for someone who has tried chestnut honey to confirm or deny but chestnut honey is really rare here and I also can’t confirm if there are multiple types of chestnut tree that would result in different flavour or aroma. I had two 1L jars of the honey from Slovenia, and one smaller jar from Italy several years later though so I expect it to be fairly consistent even from different hives.
Well, maybe once my dreams come true, I can report back to you
Get a load of this guy who has beehives in entire groves of chestnut trees.
I wish, except kinda not really because chestnuts are gross. Back when I worked in a grocery store chestnuts were a decidedly rare item to see people buying too.
I thought chestnuts were like almost extinct?
I freaked out and looked it up and it seems like its only american chestnut that is critically endangered and european chestnut, which is most likely the one the honey I have tried was made from, is least concern.
This is probably why I never heard of chestnut honey before going to europe and why even if you can find some here it’s imported.
Dat Maillard reaction tho…
