Mundane Thoughts or Comments

Opsimath said:
Okay, in all honesty if I were in a situation where I had to go "fine dining" in England I would adhere to their rules to the best of my abilities out of respect for their culture. At home, though, I'm definitely shoveling by their definition.
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Compare and contrast with Japanese soup restaurants! The British would be appalled at all the slurping.
 
edwin said:
I won a six pack of beer by eating a bowl of Campbell's mushroom soup with chopsticks.
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Folks would pay to see that.
adorshki said:
In China and Japan some folks carry around their own chopstick in a little box:
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Americans just don't get it.
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I have a set, very cool, gift from ex GF, green embroidered box. I hide them in the back of a long drawer full of knives, bottle openers, etc, provenance and all.
RBSinTo said:
Not necessary when we have you here who obviously knows everything.
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Folks who think they know it all are really irritating to those who do.
 
Guildedagain said:
It sucks gaining this much knowledge just to realize you're losing it, can't remember where you left anything.
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Many times it's tied to a location. Like when I'm home and I can't find something, but I know what I want to order at the restaurant later. Then I get to the restaurant, and can't remember what I wanted to order, but I remembered where I put the thing at home. So location, but not the current one I'm in...... so fun.
 
mushroom said:
I’m smart enough to know I’m not smart enough.
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I'm trying to get there but it's awful tough.
Opsimath said:
If we eat French fries with ketchup (previously spelled catsup) then why don't we put ketchup on baked potatoes? Or butter and sour cream on French fries?
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Well maybe you don't. Then there's tartar sauce on chicken nuggets.

The etymology of "ketchup" is a fascinating subject in itself, and there are several theories as to the true origin of the phrase. I'm in the school of "If it doesn't have cat in it, it's not catsup", but that one wasn't covered in Wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketchup

"A popular folk etymology is that the word came from the Amoy (Xiamen) region of China into English, as a borrowed word 茄汁 (ke2 zap1, Cantonese, meaning "tomato sauce";[15] the character 茄 means 'eggplant'; tomato in Chinese is 番茄, so the phrase literally translates to foreign eggplant sauce).

Another theory among academics is that the word derives from one of two words from Hokkien of the Fujian region of coastal southern China: kôe-chiap (in the Amoy / Xiamen dialect and Quanzhou dialect) or kê-chiap[16][17] (in the Zhangzhou dialect). Both of these pronunciations of the same word (膎汁, kôe-chiap / kê-chiap) come from the Quanzhou dialect, Amoy dialect, and Zhangzhou dialect of Hokkien, respectively, where it meant the brine of pickled fish or shellfish (膎, 'pickled food' (usually seafood) + 汁, 'juice'). There are citations of koe-chiap in the Chinese-English Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Language of Amoy (1873) by Carstairs Douglas, defined as "brine of pickled fish or shell-fish."[18]


Ketchup may have entered the English language from the Malay word kicap (pronounced [kitʃap], sometimes spelled kecap or ketjap). Originally meaning "soy sauce", the word itself derives from Chinese.[19]

In Indonesian cuisine, which is similar to Malay, the term kecap refers to fermented savory sauces. Two main types are well known in their cuisine: kecap asin, which translates to "salty kecap" in Indonesian (a salty soy sauce) and kecap manis or "sweet kecap" in Indonesian. Kecap manis is a sweet soy sauce that is a mixture of soy sauce with brown sugar, molasses, garlic, ginger, anise, coriander and a bay leaf reduced over medium heat until rather syrupy. A third type, kecap ikan, meaning "fish kecap" is fish sauce similar to the Thai nam pla or the Philippine patis. It is not, however, soy-based."

I think that's where it came from. From the spice and opium trade, while China itself was closed off. Toss some tomatoes into that type 2 sauce, "soy sauce with brown sugar, molasses, garlic, ginger, anise, coriander and a bay leaf reduced over medium heat until rather syrupy", and viola!, er voilal!

And don't forget the cat. The backstrap is the best but legs and shoulders will do in a pinch.

Like our venerated member @Graham used to say;" "I Iove cats, I just can't eat whole one at once".

Then there's Worcestershire Sauce but good Worcestershires have gone the way of the wild Haggis.
 
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Tomatoes were slow to be recognized in Europe as edible. They were noted as being from the Nightshade family( As in “Deadly Nightshade”), but any truth regarding their toxicity was actually only related to their acidity attacking the lead-based pewter plates favored by the rich at the time. The common people of Italy used ceramic plates, so there tomatoes developed their initial culinary popularity, principally for making pizza sauce. It’s hard to imagine life without the vegetables cultivated over thousands of years by the South American indigenous peoples. Their acceptance into Europe was largely hindered by the fact that they are not mentioned in the Bible.
 
Skywalker said:
Tomatoes were slow to be recognized in Europe as edible. They were noted as being from the Nightshade family( As in “Deadly Nightshade”), but any truth regarding their toxicity was actually only related to their acidity attacking the lead-based pewter plates favored by the rich at the time. The common people of Italy used ceramic plates, so there tomatoes developed their initial culinary popularity, principally for making pizza sauce. It’s hard to imagine life without the vegetables cultivated over thousands of years by the South American indigenous peoples. Their acceptance into Europe was largely hindered by the fact that they are not mentioned in the Bible.
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Actually the Spanish introduced 'em to Europe, one of the earliest elements of the Columbian Interchange along tobacco, potatoes and maize. They knew they were edible from eating 'em in the New World. But the rest of Europe was slower to adopt for the reason you mentioned: they thought they were poisonous. Didn't get into Italian cuisine until late 16 or early 1700's, and tomato-based sauces are actually regional.

Interesting point about the Bible, although doesn't Leviticus say somewhere "All fruits and vegetables" (free of insects and pests)?

The Chinese had no problem with 'em though. But I haven't seen a good plate of Tomato Beef in years. :D
 
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