# Culinary curiousities????



## freddychef (Dec 19, 2001)

What exactly are the `impurities` in making stocks? Where does the term `Toupee ham` come from,,,,how about `fatback`.....any ideas, any others,,...feddychef


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## chefmikesworld (Nov 17, 2002)

The impurities is a rather an in-depth question that I will answer tomorrow, it's about 3:30 now and am closing in on a 24 hour day...

The fatback is a quick one and as far as Toupee Ham...I have no flipping idea...

Fatback is from the old days when people would bring sides to the butcher and they would ask for the "fat back"...today's product has evolved from this, but is not the same thing anymore...

The impurity question is a good one...worthy of an article...will be back tomorrow night, it'll gimme a chance to think about how long my reply is gonna be...

Cheffy


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## starrleicht (Aug 10, 2003)

Wow, never heard of Toupee Ham - even tried looking it up in google and nothing (well except this forum!  ) . Now I"m curious, so if anyone knows, please do reply - thanks!


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## chef wil (Aug 18, 2004)

It's a European style cured/dried ham usually served slivered or shaved. It is like a Seville or Prosciutto ham in appearance and basic flavors.

Fatback as sold today is salt pork, either cured or not and may be smoked but usually not. In the old days it was a layer of fat that grew over the side meat or bacon. Pork animals usually don't have that layer today because of feeding and breeding practices.

Generally speaking, impurities in stocks are proteins, fats and other organic mater and may include vegetables and seasonings. "A true stock is lightly colored and so perfectly clear that you can rad a newspaper through a basin of it" quoted by a French chef I worked under.


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## freddychef (Dec 19, 2001)

Thanks for the replies..toupee ham to me though seems to be a commercial ham roll product here in Canada, quite different than what has been mentioned...I wonder if it is just an industry bastardization of the real thing mentioned above...freddychef

what about `mock ckicken`---I know that it is some kind of luncheon meat but ergo again, the names!!??


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## moxiefan (Jan 31, 2002)

I was reading recently about mock chicken... I think in the last issue of Gastronomica. The article discussed a number of mock recipies, including mock apple pie, soda cracker pie, ect. Mock Chicken is just that... meat that's not chicken, but meant to simulate chicken. Ubiquitous today, chicken was relatively rare in the pre agrobusiness world from which most mock chicken recipies date. If you were subsistence farming, you'd probably let your chickens while away their delicous youth laying eggs, too. Most commonly the meat used to simulate chicken was veal. Again, a practical concern... that calf was not only good eating, you didn't have to share the milk supply. Strange today to think that veal was once more common than chicken, but true. And as recently as many of our grandmother's lifetimes. How quickly we forget.

-P


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## starrleicht (Aug 10, 2003)

Great info everyone - and thanks for the answer on that toupee ham - very interesting and good to know.


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## freddychef (Dec 19, 2001)

What about `a hand of pork` or `scotch fillet`, the first is from Wales and the second is from Australia...freddychef


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## mezzaluna (Aug 29, 2000)

Moxiefan, that makes total sense! I never thought about that. There's a bit of information for the next cocktail party. 

"Hand of pork" is called jambonneau in French or pork knuckle in English (U.S.) I think a scotch fillet is a rib eye in the U.S.


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## freddychef (Dec 19, 2001)

Has anyone heard of the phrase `pots treat`?freddychef


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