The Bacon Book: Irresistible, mouthwatering recipes!. Christopher Sjuve
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Название: The Bacon Book: Irresistible, mouthwatering recipes!
Автор: Christopher Sjuve
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Кулинария
isbn: 9780008263539
isbn:
«We’ve found evidence of pigs dating back 11,400 years on Cyprus, and it’s safe to say that they didn’t get there by themselves.»
«Remember, the next time you look at the pyramids, that they couldn’t have been built without the help of bacon. Makes you think, doesn’t it?»
DID THE EGYPTIANS MAKE BACON?
The Egyptians could have been the first. They’d certainly mastered the art of domesticating pigs – and ducks, pelicans, geese and quail, for that matter – and they made valiant, if unsuccessful, efforts to tame antelopes and various types of gazelle. You certainly can’t say they didn’t try. But it wasn’t just domestication – they had salt, too. Lots of salt. They used a different method from the Chinese boiling – as a desert people, they knew how to use the sun’s energy to evaporate the salt water of the Nile Delta.
There were a lot of domesticated pigs in ancient Egypt, and they left plenty of archaeological evidence behind. The oldest finds date back to 5,000 BC, and pig farming would appear to have continued more or less continuously throughout the classical era. The bulk of these archaeological discoveries has been found in the graves of the lower classes, indicating that pork may have been primarily a poor man’s food – possibly for builders, even slaves.
The first pyramids were constructed using vast numbers of people, whose diet, archaeological evidence suggests, was primarily meat-based. Archaeologists have dug up the bones of cows, sheep, goats … and pigs. Fewer pigs than the other animals, admittedly – it may be that some of the lower classes ate salted pork. Which brings us closer to bacon – so remember, the next time you look at the pyramids, that they couldn’t have been built without the help of bacon. Makes you think, doesn’t it?
We know for certain that the Egyptians understood the art of preserving meat and fish with salt, so it wasn’t a lack of knowledge that held them back from discovering bacon. There was, however, an aversion to pork among the upper classes. It is believed that the reasons for this may have been religious, as well as cultural, but either way there’s still no reason why the Egyptians couldn’t have been the first. But they weren’t. Even back in the time of the pharaohs, it seems that pigs weren’t regarded well in the Middle East.
The Chinese eventually discovered other ways of producing salt, including mining, but it was the boiling method that eventually spread westwards. The Romans adopted this technique around 1,000 years after the Chinese first wrote about it, and it spread throughout the Roman Empire. Long before the rise of Rome, the Romans had mastered everything to do with salt. Then, they went on to conquer the salt people.
THE CELTS – MYSTICAL SALT PEOPLE
Existing in parallel with the Roman Empire were the barbarians (the Romans referred to everyone who lived outside of their Empire as barbarians, albeit not necessarily with the same negative connotations that the word carries today), and among the most important of the barbarian peoples were the Celts. There remains an aura of mystery and uncertainty around the Celts, primarily because they left behind no written sources. What we do know, however, from numerous archaeological discoveries, is that theirs was a rich culture, skilled in trade, livestock and, not least, salt.
The Greeks called the people living to the north of the Roman Empire ‘keltoi’. The Romans called them ‘galli’, or Gauls, while the Egyptian version was ‘hal’ – which means salt. The Celts were the salt people.
Strabo (63 BC–24 AD)
Whenever you find a town called Hall-something-or-other, it’s more than likely that you’re looking at a Celtic settlement – a town where salt was extracted. The most famous of these is Hallstatt, where a huge prehistoric salt mine, filled with archaeological riches, has been found.
According to Mark Kurlansky’s book Salt, the Celts quickly learned that there was much to be gained from selling not just salt but salted meat, too. Salted meat was a Celtic speciality, known throughout Europe and the outer edges of the ancient world.
We know of the Celts’ love of pork from two ancient, unconnected historians from Greece. Strabo (63 BC –24 AD) observed that the Celts were fond of ham, especially from domesticated animals. They may well have developed the forerunner to Parma ham, for example, and they didn’t stop there. The second historian, Athenaios, writing 200 years later, tells that the Celts seemed to have a particular love of the upper cuts of ham, which brings us perilously close to that all-important pork belly. It’s interesting that Athenaios felt that this distinction was worth pointing out. The difference between a cut of meat from the upper or lower part of the leg isn’t especially great in itself, but as soon as you reach the belly, the meat becomes much fattier. This makes the distinction more worthy of note. It’s as though the historian is trying to tell us that the Celts almost loved bacon but missed by a few centimetres – perhaps due to a lack of precise terminology, culinary understanding, or anatomical knowledge.
In summary: the Celts loved pork, were specialists in both salt and the art of salting meat, and they loved the upper part of the leg. It’s more than likely that the Celts made bacon – or, at least, something very like unsmoked bacon. It’s also not improbable that the Romans learned to make bacon, perhaps by figuring it out for themselves, perhaps by learning it from the Celts.
The Romans made something called petaso, often cited as a sort of forerunner to bacon. Petaso was, at least according to Apicius’ cookbook, made from the foreleg, or shoulder. It was boiled with figs for several hours, before being grilled and served with pepper. It’s not easy to see what this has to do with bacon, although I don’t doubt that it was tasty.
Another Roman source gives us a clearer idea of what the Romans actually ate. In Cato the Elder’s book on agriculture, which includes a good deal of practical information about wine-making, olive pressing, animal husbandry and the like, the entire final chapter is devoted to salting ham. There are detailed descriptions of how the meat should be completely covered with salt, that it should be turned after a few days and other such practical tips. Then he tells us that the meat should be hung ‘over smoke’ for two days. He doesn’t go into much more detail than that, which suggests that this was a familiar technique that required no elaboration. You get the impression that this was simply something that ‘everybody knew’.
«Given that the Romans were also known for salting and for raising pigs, they certainly had access to all three of the magic ingredients for making bacon.»
In this instance, the instructions are explicitly about ham. But, given that the Romans were also known for salting and for raising pigs, they certainly had access to all three of the magic ingredients for making bacon. Apicius’ cookbook includes several – more than several, in fact – references to pork that has been salted (salsum crudum), dried and even smoked. There are no actual recipes for anything that might be bacon, and the various types of cured pork are only ever referenced as pre-made ingredients, so details are unfortunately sparse.
The Romans, just like modern Italians, had a knack for coming up with delicious delicacies, so it should be no surprise that at least some of the Roman Empire’s numerous farmers, chefs and gourmets would try to salt, smoke and cure pork. It makes sense. They had everything they needed.
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