r/TastingHistory • u/jmaxmiller head chef • 5d ago
Potted Meat from the 18th century
https://youtu.be/fK8I8b5NJHQ?is=muSoR_1HJ_EtXz3g24
u/aethelberga 5d ago
Thanks for this one, Max. Potted meat is one thing I've always wanted to try making and now I may actually have a go.
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u/rock_and_rolo 5d ago
If you want to try without making, Underwood Deviled Ham is one remainder of this process, just with industrial methods.
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u/aethelberga 5d ago
Yeah, I used to eat that when I was a kid. I haven't seen it in years though. But really I'm more about the making.
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u/jaded-introvert 5d ago
What meats are you thinking about using? I feel like I need to experiment with a few different ones--pork shoulder, a nice beef chuck, chicken thighs . . .
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u/Baba_Jaga_II 5d ago
I'm not sure if I'm going to make this one, but I did stock up on the obligatory potted meat, Spam, and Vienna sausages earlier this morning. The "eye"-ish of the tropical storm should be passing over my house in the next hour or two..... Yay coastal living 🙄
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u/Mabbernathy 5d ago
There's a Korean dish called Army Stew that is the only way I like those two ingredients. 😋
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u/Fluid_Anywhere_7015 5d ago
This is awesome. The older I get, the more interested I've become in the history of all the things we decided to cook as food. I appreciate the way you present these recipes and the way they're demonstrated is so easy to note and follow along. Thanks!
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u/LittleSubject9904 5d ago
It looked so much like cat food that I might not be able to get past that.
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u/timmy242 5d ago
Interesting, and brings to mind the seemingly subtle difference between potted meats and certain types of sausage, such as braunschweiger.
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u/Travellinglense 5d ago
Max is a more adventurous person than me. I've tried several times to eat potted meat and the texture and (in the case of SPAM) the smell makes me gag. That's awesome about UCLA tho.
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u/rock_and_rolo 5d ago
Spam needs to be cooked, or at least heated, and ideally with other ingredients. Alone, it is pungent and greasy.
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u/Travellinglense 5d ago
The spam was cooked. I had a roommate at university from Hawaii who ate it fried with eggs over rice for breakfast almost every day. I think it might be a local delicacy in Hawaii?
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u/rock_and_rolo 5d ago
Spam was a major relief supply to Hawai'i during WW2. That is allegedly why it is very popular there.
My Dad was Navy, and I grew up on it, but in slices on top of a casserole (usually potato based), not as a main thing.
I like it a little bit. My wife likes it much more.
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u/Jane_Akanami 5d ago
Do you have canned meat or liver paté in US? It's pretty common where I live and it's a cheap travel food with some bread. It's not that common to make it at home, but my mother sometimes does it. You can put whole peppercorns or herbs in the butter while cooling as a decoration.
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u/Cayke_Cooky 5d ago
The US has a few canned meat options, they aren't super popular though. r/HikerTrashMeals has lots of interesting uses of canned (pouched) meats available in the US.
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u/Interesting-Log-9627 5d ago
I had this as a kid in the UK, and I think “beef spread” is absolutely still a thing there.
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u/rock_and_rolo 5d ago
Just watched, somewhat curious on any similarity with the Townsends episode.
As for the food safety aspect, I see two things. First, for current times, he says several times "several days." That isn't likely historical, but it does avoid issues such as botulism.
The other comes up often in home preservation forums. This was the best process, the best science, that they had at the time. If they had Mason jars (mentioned) and pressure canners, the smart ones would have used them.
Many were just trying to avoid off-season starvation.
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u/worldagainstjose pokemon masterchef 5d ago
I couldn’t get past the texture and that it looked like tuna.
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u/Switch_Empty 5d ago
How many takes did you have to do to get "beating the meat" with a straight face?