Haggis is banned in Ma? I gotta admit it ain't popular here but it ain't banned in Fl.
'Cowboy' food
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Not really. I know a place in Nevada (Mt Charleston) only about 45 minutes from Las Vegas that still has a one room schoolhouse from kindergarden through fifth grade. And it serves three gated communities on the Mountain with the lowest valued home being over $800,000 for less than 1000 square feet and you supply your own electricity.
Banned in the USA for containing shees lung, considered not a foodstuff by the US Department of Agriculture - haggis-a-like is made in the USA - but it hasn't got the lung, which changes the texture apparently.
Sounds reasonable. Up to a point anyway. There is absolutely nothing that is totally banned in the US as food provided it's not classified as a drug or on the endangered list. It may be banned from importation or even banned from being sold. But if you want to harvest any animal and/or plant matter for your personal consumption or your family's consumption, there's no law to prevent it.
Examples would be raw milk/dairy products or Sassafras.
I can only imagine that banning something would only increase the demand for it, though haggis may be the exception that makes the rule. In any event, it is certainly available, only it will take some looking to find it. If anything, over the years, more and more different kinds of foods have become commonly available (Haggis still being an exception) to cater to immigrant populations. That's undoubtedly true in the U.K., too. Incredibly enough, pork products are available in the Middle East, though demand isn't high.
Two things probably would have had an impact on cooking and eating habits since the Civil War, which was at the beginning of the day of the open range cowboy. The first might have been refrigeration. Those living on farms may have had a springhouse or even an ice house but those living in very temporary camps next to the chuck wagon would not have even had that, and still wouldn't, if they still camp beside a chuck wagon. Generally speaking, there have been a lot of changes in food preservation and storage, although some, like canning (and salting and drying) had already been in use by then.
The other thing, at least as far as home consumption, is convenience foods. Traditionally, everything was prepared fresh at home, after a fashion. It may not have been all that fresh in three or four days but it was all prepared at home. In Europe, I understand that buying bakery-baked bread has been the custom for ages and that home-baked bread was not common, though I suppose that varied by region, too. These days, many main dishes can be had in a heat-and-serve basis, like frozen pizza. Home canning supplies (glass jars and lids) are available where I live, though I don't know who still does that. It only makes sense if you have a large vegetable garden. Also, foods that were once available only seasonally, like tomatoes, can be had year-round, and some fruits, like oranges, were essentially imported foods in some parts of the country and relatively expensive. You might get one at Christmas. Nowadays, cut flowers are even available at the grocery store all year long. In the winter, they are flown in from South America. It's hard to believe.
Shortbread, genuine Scottish produced, is available here, as a speciality dessert type item but all sorts of European dessert type candies, cookies, chocolates, and confections are available here, some wide available, others available in specialty shops.
Two things probably would have had an impact on cooking and eating habits since the Civil War, which was at the beginning of the day of the open range cowboy. The first might have been refrigeration. Those living on farms may have had a springhouse or even an ice house but those living in very temporary camps next to the chuck wagon would not have even had that, and still wouldn't, if they still camp beside a chuck wagon. Generally speaking, there have been a lot of changes in food preservation and storage, although some, like canning (and salting and drying) had already been in use by then.
The other thing, at least as far as home consumption, is convenience foods. Traditionally, everything was prepared fresh at home, after a fashion. It may not have been all that fresh in three or four days but it was all prepared at home. In Europe, I understand that buying bakery-baked bread has been the custom for ages and that home-baked bread was not common, though I suppose that varied by region, too. These days, many main dishes can be had in a heat-and-serve basis, like frozen pizza. Home canning supplies (glass jars and lids) are available where I live, though I don't know who still does that. It only makes sense if you have a large vegetable garden. Also, foods that were once available only seasonally, like tomatoes, can be had year-round, and some fruits, like oranges, were essentially imported foods in some parts of the country and relatively expensive. You might get one at Christmas. Nowadays, cut flowers are even available at the grocery store all year long. In the winter, they are flown in from South America. It's hard to believe.
Shortbread, genuine Scottish produced, is available here, as a speciality dessert type item but all sorts of European dessert type candies, cookies, chocolates, and confections are available here, some wide available, others available in specialty shops.
By definition "cowboy" was the term used to describe those driving the herds from Texas to the stockyards in Kansas from the 1870s to the late 1880s so technically there are no "open range cowboys" today; instead they're "cowhands" or "ranch-hands." Those that follow herds on large commercial camps now are fed by cooks in trailers with gas stoves and fridges powered by gas generators.
Likely because from ancient times until the industrial revolution only the wealthy could afford an oven at home.
Shortbread is a type of biscuit ("cookie" in American English) which is traditionally made from one part white sugar, two parts butter, and three parts flour (by weight). The use of plain white (wheat) flour is common today, and other ingredients like ground rice or cornflour are sometimes added to alter the texture. Also, modern recipes often deviate from the pure three ingredients by splitting the sugar portion into equal parts granulated sugar and powdered sugar and many further add a portion of salt.
Shortbread is so named because of its crumbly texture (from an old meaning of the word short). The cause of this texture is its high fat content, provided by the butter. The short or crumbly texture is a result of the fat inhibiting the formation of long protein (gluten) strands. The related word "shortening" refers to any fat that may be added to produce a "short" (crumbly) texture. Alternatively, the name may be derived from 'shorts', the bran and coarse part of meal.
Shortbread is different from shortcake, which can be similar to shortbread, but which can be made using vegetable fat instead of butter and always uses a chemical leavening agent such as baking powder, which gives it a different texture.
Shortbread biscuits are often associated with normal egg-based biscuits, but they hold their shape under pressure, making them ideal for packed meals.
Shortbread is so named because of its crumbly texture (from an old meaning of the word short). The cause of this texture is its high fat content, provided by the butter. The short or crumbly texture is a result of the fat inhibiting the formation of long protein (gluten) strands. The related word "shortening" refers to any fat that may be added to produce a "short" (crumbly) texture. Alternatively, the name may be derived from 'shorts', the bran and coarse part of meal.
Shortbread is different from shortcake, which can be similar to shortbread, but which can be made using vegetable fat instead of butter and always uses a chemical leavening agent such as baking powder, which gives it a different texture.
Shortbread biscuits are often associated with normal egg-based biscuits, but they hold their shape under pressure, making them ideal for packed meals.
I know loads of people who do it. But not vegetables usually (pickled okra is an exception) Mostly fruit preserves and jams. My aunt still puts up fig preserves (not common with Yankees though) and most people I know put up muscadine, strawberry, blackberry, crabapple, mayhaw jams, etc. in season.
The way I remembered it the translations used to be:
English "biscuit" = American "cracker
English "cracker" = American "cookie"
Nope, most homes here had them - even the poor ones - they were stone bread ovens build into the chimney breast. Wood fired to heat and the coals raked out. They are still there in lots of houses.
Not sure where the idea of home baked bread being uncommon comes from. Some places had communal bakeries (where you all took your bread to be baked from a single firing. Do you have the patty cake song? The bread was marked so you know whose was which. Bread was still home baked by many people as I grew up - bakeries only exist in towns and cities - many villages were too small to have their own.
Just going by what I'd seen on a couple of documentaries BR. But TBH I don't remember them saying exactly where (England? France? etc) Just a generalization. And the time period was somewhat vague.
Yeah we've got that song too. And likewise the smaller communities here didn't have bakeries when I was growing up; still don't. But that was/is quite a bit later than the industrial revolution, LOL.
I suspect that on the American frontier, people did not live in close villages they way they did and still do in Great Britain and the continent, so they baked their own bread--if they baked at all. Their bread may have taken other forms, mostly quick breads (though I realize those are still baked). Still, it's hard to generalize about practices all over Europe since there is so much variation. But having lived in Germany for almost two years (and my daughter is returning there in two weeks), I have the impression that no one in Germany, at least, lives out by themselves. I am looking at a photo on my wall of the village of Questenberg in Saxony-Anhalt. The village is where my family name originated and has since been anglicized to Quesenberry. Anyway, there are fewer than 300 living there and less than three dozen red-roofed buildings. Hard to say how many because it's hard to tell where one building ends and another begins. There is a church but no apparent commercial buildings, though there may have been a bakery at one time and perhaps even a larger population. There used to be a castle on the hill above the village but that's true of half the places in Germany. If the Germans are anything like the English, one of those buildings must have a pub, which is more important than a bakery.
I believe the word "cowboy" was in use at the time of the American Revolution, though the meaning has since changed. My father, who grew up on a farm in Southwest Virginia, once worked as a cowboy and did use horses, but the expression is not generally used there. Instead, it's merely called "working cattle." Cowboy traditions vary somewhat over the West, though are still essentially the same from Mexico to Canada, over into California and even Hawaii and much of that comes from the Mexican Vaquero. And I know nothing of what Mexican vaqueros eat.
I believe the word "cowboy" was in use at the time of the American Revolution, though the meaning has since changed. My father, who grew up on a farm in Southwest Virginia, once worked as a cowboy and did use horses, but the expression is not generally used there. Instead, it's merely called "working cattle." Cowboy traditions vary somewhat over the West, though are still essentially the same from Mexico to Canada, over into California and even Hawaii and much of that comes from the Mexican Vaquero. And I know nothing of what Mexican vaqueros eat.
I know things like bannock/fry bread was and is popular in the USA, perhaps more isolated folk used this. Dutch oven cooking/baking is far more popular in the US than the UK so I suspect risen bread/sour dough was cooked in these in Ye Olde days?
When I lived on Cyprus in the 80s my local village had a community wood fired oven that was lit a few times a week and locals would bake bread of various types in it.
When I lived on Cyprus in the 80s my local village had a community wood fired oven that was lit a few times a week and locals would bake bread of various types in it.
This from Wikipedia made me smile. "...The gaucho/ vaqueros tendency to violence over petty matters is also recognized as a typical trait. Gauchos'/ vaqueros use of the famous "facón" (large knife generally tucked into the rear of the gaucho sash) is legendary, often associated with considerable bloodletting. Historically, the facón was typically the only eating instrument that a gaucho carried..." "...The gaucho diet was composed almost entirely of beef while on the range, supplemented by yerba mate (erva mate in Portuguese), a tea made from the leaves of the yerba tree, a type of holly rich in caffeine and nutrients. Argentine cooking draws influence from the simple recipes used in gaucho meals..."
Sourdough baking was associated with the gold miners, particularly in the Alaskan and Yukon gold rush. Again, I imagine some of the miners were better at baking than other were, just as some were better at finding gold than others were. One kind of sourdough baking requires a starter that you feed and use to start a loaf or bread, although one can do sourdough baking without a starter. Dough will turn into sourdough overnight under the right temperature conditions. From there, however, it is still an art form.
While the miners themselves probably did their own cooking, typically the cowboys would have had a cook who did all that and he was probably someone who had been a cowboy but was a little old to do that anymore, though he would have needed a knack for cooking (the pot wrangler). Brand new chuck wagons were still being manufactured in the 1930s.
You might note that all of these men, miners, loggers and cowboys, would probably have been living in places where there were lots more men than women, although it was not unusual to have women working in the cookhouse for a logging crew. But I wonder if logging camps still exist anywhere in North America these days.
While the miners themselves probably did their own cooking, typically the cowboys would have had a cook who did all that and he was probably someone who had been a cowboy but was a little old to do that anymore, though he would have needed a knack for cooking (the pot wrangler). Brand new chuck wagons were still being manufactured in the 1930s.
You might note that all of these men, miners, loggers and cowboys, would probably have been living in places where there were lots more men than women, although it was not unusual to have women working in the cookhouse for a logging crew. But I wonder if logging camps still exist anywhere in North America these days.
Nah.
'biscuit' means 'twice cooked' and is french in origin. It is identical to an American cookie but baked for longer until dry, so it will last.
A 'cracker' is a type of unleavened flatbread, really. Just flour and water backed until dry and crispy.
Yeah now that you mention it I vaguely remember that French origin for "biscuit." Just not the way I remember the terms used when I was there. That said, I really don't remember if everybody used them the same? That's one reason it can be confusing I suppose.
