# Ever wonder...



## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

how some things were discovered? Like Mayonnaise for example. Was it deliberate or did someone stumble upon emulsification by accident? Did someone go... "hrm, let's see what happens when we drizzle oil into eggyolk?" How about Meringue? Did someone just figure they would beat the dickens out of sugar and eggwhites? Amazing isn't it? What's the next big culinary breakthrough? Please don't say foams 

Kuan


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## jim berman (Oct 28, 1999)

Call me cynical... call me Cantankerous... but the only foam I prefer is for shaving.


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## kimmie (Mar 13, 2001)

History of Mayo
Mayonnaise was invented in 1756 by the French chef of the Duc de Richelieu. After the Duc beat the British at Port Mahon, his chef created a victory feast that was to include a sauce made of cream and eggs. Realizing that there was no cream in the kitchen, the chef substituted olive oil for the cream and a new culinary creation was born. The chef named the new sauce "Mahonnaise" in honor of the Duc's victory. 

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About the foam, I agree with both of you. Remember the thread?


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## cape chef (Jul 31, 2000)

I always am amazed at how things come to be.

What about Chaud froid? and confit...to preserve foods?


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## marmalady (Apr 19, 2001)

Hubbie always wonders about the first person to pick up an oyster, crack it open, and eat it!


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## alexia (Mar 3, 2002)

I wonder about some of the things that are poisonous if not prepared in particular ways, like taro root.


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## anneke (Jan 5, 2001)

CC:

Chaud-froid (lit.: hot-cold) came about when the Marshal of Luxembourg was late for a diner at the Chateau Montmorency in the mid 18th century, and was served cold chicken fricassé. He fell in love with the cold leftover and asked for it to be served again. It was called "refroidi" (cooled) but he didn't like the name, so he re-named it chaud-froid.


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## shawtycat (Feb 6, 2002)

Just my take on it but I always thought that someone must have seen an animal eating oysters and thought "hey, it hasn't killed him" and tried one. Hey! It coulda been that simple! 

Jodi


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## coolj (Dec 12, 2000)

chaud-froid, that's the white decorating sauce that is used on turkeys and such right ?. Anyway the story I was told was that , The king's chef, I think it was Careme, anyway, was preparing a banquet and in the middle of the preparations the kitchen crew was called away to help fight a battle and when they got back the bechamel had set into a gel, so rather than heating everything up again, the chef served it cold and it was a hit.

Did you know that originally people ate the green tops of the potates, until they figured out that it was the root they were supposed to eat.

Dubarry, aka cauliflower garnish etc... was name after a royal mistress whose name happened to be Dubarry and she had an immense passion for cauliflower.

Parmentier, potato garnish came about the same way, some french guy (guess what his name was) loved potatoes so much, and i guess he at them at every meal that the name just stuck.

One thing I've always wondered is how people discovered that eggs were good eats.


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## kimmie (Mar 13, 2001)

:lol: :lol: Oh you're sooooooooo bad CoolJ!!


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## athenaeus (Jul 24, 2001)

Hmmmm Kuan wonders what is next.

I will be heretic now but never mind 

Cooking is not a science but an art. So I do not really think that new inventions as the examples you mentioned will appear.

What ever needed to be discovered was discovered I am afraid.
Tell me what new discovery we have had in cooking during the 20th centrury...Unless we talk about the foams 

Careme and all these French ( whether we like it or not) have said the last word... C'est fini!


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## the saucy cajun (Apr 1, 2002)

Marmalady, I read a story in a cookbook years ago about the first man to eat a oyster. Can't remember which book, but I've always remembered the story 'cause I thought it was great! So, to your Hubbie, with my compliments....

A caveman was walking along the beach and spied a strange looking shell. As he picked it up to get a better look, the shell opened and pinched his finger. He jerked away, put the hurt finger in his mouth, and tasted something wonderful! So he found a rock, beat open the shell, and was the first human to ever eat an oyster. This must be the way it happen. No one would have been brave enough to be the first person to eat an oyster if they had seen it before they tasted it!

The Saucy Cajun :lol:


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## athenaeus (Jul 24, 2001)

The author of this book is obviously the same with the one who writtes the script for "Zena" ... LOL


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

Some King probably made his food taster eat it first and waited to see if he fell over. 

Kuan


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## monkeymay (Feb 11, 2002)

I don't think we can reinvent the wheel - I think we can learn to manipulate it a little better. I think the next big trend will be people finally learning how to eat locally and think globally, using sustainable production methods for produce, livestock and wildlife. 
If we can't learn to maintain and support our food sources, and make people aware of shrinking supplies and limited diversity due to a lack of regard for our enivironment, there ain't gonna be anything left for the new century.

Just my two cents for today.

Monkey
p.s. in regards to the oyster - I always wondered the same thing about artichokes


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## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

It's scary to think that Wal Mart has entered the supermarket arena and has already given Albertson's a run for their money.

By the same token, IBM has taken over many companies including the one for whom I work. Things just ain't the same anymore. Whoever invented homogenization ought to be brought before the firing squad.


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## leo r. (Nov 10, 2001)

CoolJ,i noticed you`ve mentioned Antonin Careme,he was a dedicated and skilled chef.The problem was that he was not known for his tolerance Sounds like quite a few famous chefs!! Chefs like Brillat-Savarin, Careme,etc,had to improvise and work under conditions that we wouldn`t tolerate today.Leo
:chef:


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## gsquared (May 29, 2002)

I am not so sure about shrinking supplies, Monkeymay. A recent study by the UN Food & Agriculture Organization concluded that "With lower population growth and the gradual attainment of medium to high food consumption levels in most countries, crop productivity will continue to outpace the overall growth rate in the demand for food"


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## monkeymay (Feb 11, 2002)

Fair enough, GSquared. I value the UN's opinion. We have a government here that pays farmers not to grow crops because there's too much. However, (and I know it's a loaded question), why are there people that still don't have enough to eat - both in my country and certainly on your continent? Like I said, I know it's a loaded question. Just throwing it out there.
Peace,
Monkey


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## gsquared (May 29, 2002)

Monkeymay, I think that the largest famines of the last 10 years or so were the direct result not of inherent problems with food production, but of government policies and politics that interfered with the distribution of food aid. Our neigbour to the north, Zimbabwe, is a case in point- food aid is simply not reaching the vast majority of hungry people because of a corrupt and venal government. We live in an imperfect world......


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## zouzouni (May 30, 2002)

Originally posted by GSquared 

I think that the largest famines of the last 10 years or so were the direct result not of inherent problems with food production, but of government policies and politics that interfered with the distribution of food aid. Our neigbour to the north, Zimbabwe, is a case in point- food aid is simply not reaching the vast majority of hungry people because of a corrupt and venal government. We live in an imperfect world

Yesterday I was watching the latest film by french director Agnes Varda entitled "the gleaners and I" (les glaneurs et la glaneuse). The premise of the film was to follow those people who practice the almost abandoned gleaning after the harvest of vegetables. But, that only serves as an excuse to focus on the practice of picking as seen not only after corn harvest season is over, but after potatoes are machine collected: 10 tons/potato season are DISCARDED usually because they don't fit the 2-4 inches paradigm of the market. Gleaners then come and pick potatoes to their heart's content. Oysters, dislodged by heavy storms get the same treatment. Vintage wine growers do not permit gleaning and prefer to stomp on all unpicked grapes and let them rot. Tomatoes in greenhouses can be picked at the end; apples from orchards as well. There are laws that specify that gleaners are allowed to glean provided they stay behing the picking farmers x yards. The film also follows gleaners of the city: people who pick their food from trash cans outside the supermarkets: products discarded because their expiration date was yesterday; outside the open markets: apples, lettuce, parsley, tomatoes, even cheese. Some of them are doing this consiously: there is too much wasted food and they do not like to see anything get away. There was a 2 michelin french chef, a young man, who gleans most of his products to be used in the restaurant!

I suggest that you see this film: it is not judgmental, but raises important questions about property, respect of nature, willingness to help others.

zouzouni


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## monkeymay (Feb 11, 2002)

zouzouni-
I am so glad you have seen this film- I posted a blurb on it in 'the late nite cafe' titled 'minute movie review' Facinating, isn't it, to see what society deems trash. My favorite person in the film was the young man who subsists on the fruit and vegetable leftovers in the open markets of Paris and teaches French to the newly arrived immigrants at the shelter where he lives. He gleans what he needs to exsist, and gives back to his community.
What an amazing concept. 

Monkey


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## zouzouni (May 30, 2002)

Monkeymay,

I'm sorry, I had no idea you had posted on this film previously...I have not yet had the time to peruse all older threads.

Nevertheless, I'm glad we are of the same opinion about the film.

zouzouni


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## monkeymay (Feb 11, 2002)

Me too!
Monkey


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## jock (Dec 4, 2001)

It is one thing to consciously or accidentally create a food item (like Mayo for example.) But when it comes to eating things for the first time in their natural state (like oysters or artichokes) I think some hunter gatherer must have been starving. When they ate something poisonous they got sick or died and the others in the group would stop eating whatever it was. 
Boy, am I glad we don't have to go through that when we experiment with food today.  

Jock


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## kimmie (Mar 13, 2001)

Points to Ponder

--Just how did massaging cattle with sake and feeding them beer begin?

--Which came first, the sake massage, or the beer drinking?

--Did they begin giving them beer to make it easier to get them to lie down on the massage tables?

--Do they use licensed masseuses? 

--Light or dark beer?

--Do any Japanese beer or sake companies use this in their advertising?


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## monkeymay (Feb 11, 2002)

There's my visual for today - men with beer and drunk cows - interesting - don't we have laws against that in this country? 
It all sounds so wrong - the **** thing is - it just tastes sooo goood....:lol:


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