Journal of Historical Sociology Vol. 15 No. 4 December 2002
ISSN 0952-1909
Deconstructing Haute Cuisine: Food
Preservation as a Factor in the Culinary Arts
FRANCIS MCFADDEN AND CORINNE TRANG
‘‘Preserve your meats in mustard mixed with vinegar, salt and honey.’’
~Apicius, Roman Merchant and Gourmet (AD 14–37)
A classic dinner menu in a modern Parisian restaurant might include
Jambon de Bayonne avec Beurre Doux; Civet de Lièvre, Champignons
Sauvages Sautés et Pommes de Terre à la Vapeur; Frisée et Lardons
avec Vinaigrette Chaude; Plateau de Fromages; and Pêche Melba.
The starter, Jambon de Bayonne, a ham from France’s
Southwestern Basque region, is prized for its flavor complexities
and subtleties. Salted just enough to allow the sweetness of the meat
to surface, this ham is air-cured for at least nine months to ensure a
superior product. Prior to finishing, the flavor of the ham is further
enhanced with dried local bright red chilies called piments
d’Espelette, which are finely ground and rubbed over the exterior
of the ham in its entirety to add subtle heat to the meat. When
served, Jambon de Bayonne is presented sliced paper-thin and
accompanied by sweet (unsalted) butter, and country bread. The
sweet pork, somewhat fatty, salty, and peppery with a buttery
texture, lifts the palate and stimulates the appetite for the course to
follow. While the butter acts as a mediator between the three distinct
flavor characters, the bread acts as a blank canvas on which all
these can be assembled. If made correctly, the bread also introduces
a subtle nutty wheaty undertone, and a crusty, chewy texture for a
harmonious bite. For this course, a two to three year old dry white
wine such as Jurançon sec from the same northern (French) Basque
region, would cut the richness of the meat with its tartness and
therefore be an exemplary compliment.
It is often assumed that these marvelous flavor combinations
developed solely out of an historical regard for the dish as a sensual
experience – a wonderful and complex two-hundred-year-oldevolution from peasant fare, doctored for decades by talented chefs,
and perhaps having been served at the court of Louis XIV or
Napoleon. The driving force behind the structure of the dish – indeed
the entire meal and its ingredients – is assumed to be its flavors,
these predominant over nutrition, for example. Put another way, in
French cuisine especially, one expects both that all the flavors are
suited to an especially evolved palate, and that the flavors act as the
principal organizer of the meal’s structure.
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The reality is more complex, however, reaching back thousands
rather than hundreds of years, and tied more to brute survival than
to flavor as an expression of what has now become the West’s most
evolved culinary art. That salted Jambon de Bayonne probably
started out in ancient times as a wild pig kill too large to be
consumed entirely on the spot. The meat might have been dragged
back to camp, and sampled over a period of several days. Good at
first, it eventually would have spoiled. This spoilage – especially
under shifting temperatures and relative humidity – sickening,
perhaps killing, those who ate it. The essential task here is to prevent
bacterial and microbial action on the meat. That is, the living animal
had a complex system of enzymatic balances that allowed it to make
use of bacteria and other microbes without being consumed by
them. Death radically altered this balance, leading to spoilage, an
agglomeration of off-odors, off-putting flavors, unsightliness, and
ever increasing degrees of toxicity. If winter were coming, if drought
were upon the land, or if starvation were at hand, the issue of how to
keep the meat from spoiling would be critical. How to keep the winter
at bay, survive the drought, preserve food, and so preserve life itself.
This was the deep foundation, the origin of the spécialité: not flavor
combination or sensual experience, but food preservation.
Salt, one of the mainstay preservatives in our modern French
menu is our most widely used food preservative, dating back as far
as recorded history and before. Appearing in prehistoric times in
conjunction with Neolithic trade routes, and in ancient Chinese texts
on production methods and typologies, in Egyptian mummification,
Hebrew and Far Eastern birth rituals, it was also used throughout
both the Roman and Chinese Empires as currency. ‘‘Can nothing
which is unsavory be eaten without salt?’’ (Holy Bible, book of Job;
2250 BCE). Salt is present in the human body, an average adult
having about 250 grams. (Hence the expression, ‘‘Not worth his
salt.’’) Culturally, salt has been associated with rituals of wealth,
social standing, marriage, hospitality, healing, humor – almost
anything associated with worth.
Any type of food – vegetable, seafood, meat, or poultry – can be
preserved with salt, which creates a hostile environment for
microbes by chemical action, upsetting the electrical balance of the
liquid in which microbes act, and by dehydration and related
suspension of decay. Salt also controls the rate of fermentation,
which is important in producing consistent charcuterie such as our
ham.
As our French menu is further deconstructed, it is more than
evident that specific preservation techniques underlay every
ingredient and dish. Aside from the salt described above, vinegar,
wine, and air-drying with floral, herbal, and hot spice components
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are also employed. In the ham, for example, the piments d’Espelette
(local chili pepper) rub acts as a preservative while adding subtle
heat to the meat. Its active element is capsaicin, the naturally
occurring chemical in hot peppers, and a substance – like salt –
understood to be both an antimicrobial and a flavor element. Some
dishes in our menu use several preservation techniques, others rely
on highlighting a single one. In every case however, the dishes have
preservation at their base, with appreciation of flavors understood as
an extension of that preservation: an acquired taste, perhaps, but
specifically acquired through the mechanics of a basic need to
survive.
Civet – from the French cive, green onion (this is a principle flavor
ingredient) – is a classic French stew made with game meat cooked in
its own blood. In the case of civet de lièvre, a hare is freshly killed,
dressed, and its blood is drained completely and reserved for making
a sauce that is an integral part of the dish. (The liver is also
employed.) In large part the dish relies on acid-based preservation
techniques, these including red wine, and its close cousin, vinegar.
These items are of significant importance because the fresh blood
called for in the recipe is particularly susceptible to spoilage, so
much so that it is very difficult or even impossible to obtain
commercially in the US. It is often got at the time and place of
slaughter in France, being set aside at that time, and vinegarpreserved on the spot.
Vinegar – essentially a fermented grain or fruit product – has been
in use for thousands of years. References dating as far back as the
5th century BCE have Hippocrates recommending it as medicine,
and it is still employed as such today. In Italy’s Reggio Emilia and
Modena, and in Germany’s Rhineland Palatinate region, blended
vinegars are produced from extremely complex layers of individual,
wood aged vinegars, many of which are sold as a cross between
gourmet cooking items and medicinal restoratives. Some of these sell
for hundreds of dollars, their production being as complex as the
production of vintage wines and blended scotches, and their
consumption by older men on New Year’s Day being ritualized as a
restorer of youth. Other vinegars are produced directly from a
principal ingredient, as in apple vinegar, or ‘‘cider vinegar’’ which,
despite its relative familiarity and low cost, is also highly valued as a
folksy medicinal curative, especially for winter ailments. This vinegar
is often produced in apple-growing regions such as North America’s
northeastern states and France’s northern Normandy region. Massproduced American white vinegar (such as Heinz’s distilled white
vinegar) used for cooking, pickling, and cleaning (many a chefs have
used it in combination with baking soda for cleaning chopping
boards), is made from sun-ripened grain. Its taste is sharp,
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somewhat crude, and without complexity. A low priced item on
supermarket shelves it is often used for pickling, allowing the
vegetables, fruit, or other food items to lend their unique flavor to the
pickling liquid along with spices and herbs.
For millennia, vinegar was simply the hit-or-miss result of spoiled
wine, i.e., accident was the basis for vinegar production. While
vinegar can be made from various fermented liquids including
apples, potatoes, or rice, the oldest form is derived from the
ubiquitous grape wine – grapes being easily grown, are climate
adaptable, and highly productive. As vinegar was part of an
historical trial and error by-product of wine production, its culinary
use was similarly either favored or not, depending on, essentially,
luck. When wine is improperly corked or otherwise exposed to air, it
becomes a host for bacteria, becomes sour and acid. It is said to have
‘‘turned’’ (‘‘tourné,’’ in French) and become a ‘‘vin aigre,’’ meaning
sour wine, from which the word ‘‘vinaigre’’ (meaning vinegar) derives.
Accordingly, in ancient times, the sour, spoiled wine was often
considered useless and unpalatable. The odd batch must have been
compelling, however, because vinegar did become popular as a food
preservative in sixteenth-century England, used as the base for a
spiced brine for extending the life of eggs, vegetables, and nuts. In
essence, it supplanted and augmented salting, which soon thereafter
became thought of as an inferior method suited for the less
fortunate. It is important to understand that while the first vinegars
may have come from the production of wine, it can be achieved
through any fruit or grain; as long as a liquid contains sugar and
starch, it can easily turn into vinegar.
The famed nineteenth-century French biochemist Louis Pasteur
was the first person to discover the bacteria responsible for the
‘‘spoilage,’’ this leading to the standardization of vinegar production
in modern times. This removed much of the chance element in the
industry, drastically altering the scenario in which some wines may
have produced a delicious vinegar as a matter of course, while others
would not. As Pasteur discovered, a well-balanced palatable vinegar
requires acetobacter aceti, which when added to the wine furthers its
fermentation and acidification in a way that is predictable and
controllable.
Each vinegar has a specific flavor and level of sweetness, both of
which are dependent on the vinegar’s source. Accordingly, rice
vinegar, apple cider vinegar, and red wine vinegar all taste very
different. Acidification of food is the commonality here, and while the
intensity of the acid differs from one type of vinegar to another, all
are acidic enough to use for preservation.
The civet, then, de-emphasizes the use of salt, except, perhaps, as
a flavor intensifier, combining and remembering (indeed, celeß Blackwell Publishers Ltd 2002.
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brating) the evolution of vinegar from wine by employing both. As
mentioned above, after the animal’s slaughter, its very fragile blood
must be kept from spoiling on the spot. Vinegar, here being used as
an acid-based preservative, is added immediately. Note that here the
acid keeps bacteria from developing in the blood due to its exposure
to air. Immediate refrigeration is also necessary, which can either
reinforce or supplant the acidification. Most cooks, however, would
want vinegar preservation in addition to cold storage. (Organ meats
also spoil quickly, this tied to the action of blood which comes in
contact with these organs through arterial flow. For this reason,
special care should also be taken when cooking with organ meats.) In
civet, the vinegar also keeps the blood from coagulating during the
cooking process, in turn, allowing the dish’s distinctive sauce to be
thick and velvety. Red wine, the other acidic ingredient used in
making the sauce, is also employed to marinate the hare for a
minimum of twenty-four hours and often up to two days. This
process deepens the flavor of an otherwise very mild meat and
breaks down the flesh, tenderizing it in the process.
While personal and regional variations on the dish abound,
certain basics remain a constant. Aside from the acid-based
marinating steps, the sauce is made by cooking lardon (cubed
smoked pork belly, similar to bacon) in a bit of butter with onions,
these caramelized until they lend a sweetness to the dish. Smoking –
employed since pre-historic times – is used to combat bacterial
spoilage in seafood, poultry, or meat by removing moisture from
food. Drying, by way of smoking, or smoke-curing, makes for a light,
easily transported, flavorful food, this preserved by drawing out
moisture from the flesh. This would have been very important with
pork, which has relatively lightly saturated fats, and can spoil
quickly, playing host to the parasitic and fatal trichinosis bacterium.
(It is believed by some that this tendency to spoilage was the root
cause of ancient religious prohibition of pork consumption,
especially in warm climates.) Smoking also lends unique flavors to
food by way of the wood species used, apple or hickory chips being
among the most popular. Seasonings such as salt, herbs, and
spices, also help in the curing and flavoring process. Here, the lardon
is generally made using wood smoke, salt, and sugar (personal
variations abound, these often a function of the individual butcher
or chef.) Its function is, like that of many foodstuffs, to add flavor in
the form of fat, herbal notes, sweetness, and smoky overtones. Once
cured, the fragile pork meat and fat – like the fragile hare’s blood –
can be creatively used in combination with other foods without
concern for contamination due to microbial action.
After transferring the crispy salt bacon and sweet, green onions
(‘‘cive’’) to a plate, the hare, cut into sections, is added to the same
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pot to brown in this lard and butter base. This is a form of
preservation known as ‘‘heat cooking,’’ which prevents bacterial
spoilage short term, or for about three days as a general rule. (For
example: a stock must be reheated every three days in order to keep
it from spoiling.)
A bit of flour is added and stirred to pick up the brown bits and
makes what is called a roux, or what is essentially a flour and butter
paste. Occasionally, cognac follows to flambé the meat, crisping it
and deepening its flavor yet again. A good red wine (one that is good
enough to drink that is, and – properly – the wine that has been used
for marinating the hare), is added to the pot along with a bouquet
garni (classically thyme, parsley, and bay leaf wrapped in a piece or
two of leek and tied with kitchen string). The hare braises for about 2
hours, the blood (and sliced liver) stirred into the wine sauce half way
through the cooking process to thicken it, along with the roux.
Traditionally, white button mushrooms are added to the civet, and
some chefs have recently started to add a garnish of sautéed wild
mushrooms, or dried wild mushrooms. In the later, the dried
mushrooms have been desiccated by sun-drying. Dry heat
dehydrates, killing bacteria in the process, and has the added
benefit of concentrating and deepening the flavor of the dried
ingredient. In some senses, the dried mushrooms are a snap shot
of the relationship between and among preservation, convenience,
evolving culinary art, and lifestyle. Dried foods were, as noted, lighter
and more portable, allowing, for example, an extended range of
hunting. They have a more concentrated flavor note, thus
encouraging the palate, i.e., a specific relationship between basic
eating to survive and the luxury of learning to appreciate subtlety of
flavor.
Wild mushrooms such as shiitakes, black trumpets, and cèpes
(porcinis) taste of the earth when fresh, but they also taste somewhat
nutty and fermented when dried. The texture is also altered from
tender to slightly chewy. And pungent as they are, dried mushrooms
must be rehydrated in water until fully softened prior to cooking.
(The soaking water can be reserved for enhancing stocks and sauce;
see below).
Sautéed in a bit of butter and olive oil, the wild mushrooms are
seasoned with salt and pepper. For a pungent finishing note, a
persillade (freshly minced garlic and parsley) is tossed into the
mushrooms just before the pan is taken off the heat, allowing the
herbs to warm through, releasing their essence without losing their
refreshing and textural character. The herbal bouquet is also tied to
both preventative and curative medicinal benefits and preservation.
Herbs, like spices, having been used to help inhibit microbial growth
for millennia.
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The sauté of fragrant wild mushroom complements the civet
exceptionally well, especially with steamed potatoes, pommes de
terre à la vapeur. These ‘‘pull together,’’ or unify and integrate the
flavors and textures on the palate. Acting as a carbohydrate-rich
buffer, the potatoes provide starch for a more balanced meal, and,
when crushed, soak up and convey the deliciously thick wine and
blood sauce.
After a rich dish such as civet, a so-called palate cleanser, i.e., a
menu item to help ‘‘cut the fat,’’ and aid digestion is traditionally
served. This often appears as a dressed salad, offering both dietary
roughage (and useful enzymes) in the greens, and an acid note. The
French eat the salad not as a first course, but as the course after the
pièce de résistence (main dish), and prior to serving the cheese
course. They call for ‘‘Une salade pour faire couler!’’ This means,
figuratively, a salad to let [the food] down the pipe easily, i.e., clearing
the palate for the next course. Vinegar is used in making a dressing
or sauce (vinaigrette) combining chopped garlic, mustard, and fat
(vegetal oil or pork or duck fats, for example). Allowed to sit in the
vinaigrette for about a half hour, the garlic cures, lending its essence
to the dressing, becoming more mild and sweet on the palate.
Frisée, a mildly bitter, curly leafed, crunchy lettuce, is often
prepared with crispy lardon and dressed with a vinaigrette made
with red wine vinegar, warm rendered pork fat (this got from crisping
the lardon), garlic (added for a refreshing pungent finish), and Dijon
mustard. The moutarde de Dijon – crushed or pureed yellow mustard
seeds, vinegar, salt, and white wine – a specialty of France’s
Burgundy region, is added, in part for the spicy note it lends to the
vinegar-based dressing. Mustard, however – like many other spices –
is a mild preservative, as well as an emulsifier, stabilizer, binder, and
antioxidant. Here, again, a simple ingredient that is often taken for
granted in modern cooking, is revealed as the result of a complex,
centuries old synergistic evolution of microbial inhibitor and
medicinal element at the base of what evolved into a texture modifier
and flavor enhancer. The frisée, with its smoky-salty bacon and lardbased vinaigrette, is a medley of crispy, tender, and chewy textures,
with flavor notes ranging from salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and spicy.
(Incidentally, these same multiple flavor notes are emphasized in
classic Chinese cooking.)
Cheese has been made ever since man learned to milk cows,
sheep, and goats, and solidify milk, with evidence of cheese
production dating to ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt, with
estimates of its origins dating back to 7000 years before Christ.
The most basic cheese is essentially fermented milk, the result of a
process of controlled and extended bacterial spoilage. Its color and
flavor are derived from variations in the milk itself, from the diet of
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the animal, the season of production, and the nature of the place in
which it is produced, as well as the particulars of production.
Certain cheeses can reveal the diet and pasturage that produced the
animal’s milk, tasting of clover and smelling of wildflowers, for
example.
The most basic cheeses are made from soured (fermented) and
separated semisolid milk curd, producing a soft whitish cheese solid
that can be preserved for short periods, and is often smoked, stored
in oil, kept cool, brined, spiced, waxed, or dried. More complex
cheeses require complex enzymatic action got from rennin, this
derived from the digestive juices of suckling grazing animals such as
calves or goat kids, and in some instances, from herbs and
vegetables. In all cases, however, enzymatic action and ‘‘useful’’
bacteria combine to form a preserved food item that is nutritious and
flavorful, the production of which is complex enough to be
considered an art form.
It is important to understand the cheese production was
traditionally a very fragile process, often resulting in failure in the
form of over fermentation, uncontrolled molding, poor texture, harsh
flavors, and other unhealthy and unpalatable results. Modern
pasteurization and production mechanization, as well as controlled
storage methods, have combined to produce a more consistent
product often taken for granted. Suffice it to say that the
preservation of milk in the form of cheese evolved over millennia,
but only recently became more than a moderately hedge-able
gamble. In this way it is akin to the production of fine wine.
The French are particularly well known for their cheeses, having
several hundred types to choose from. Cheese can be understood
as a way to preserve dairy cream, yielding a storable, easily
transportable, and long-lasting version of what is in essence a very
fragile item extremely susceptible to spoilage under normal
conditions. In France cheese is traditionally had at the end of a
meal, but before the dessert course. Often times a meal is finished
with the savory cheese alone, eliminating the sweet dessert
altogether. (Or rather, employing cheese as ‘‘adult’’ dessert.) Rich
cheeses can be kept for months in the refrigerator, although room
temperature storage produces further ripening, enhancing the
aroma and altering the texture from hard to soft, or soft to hard,
and perhaps to more dry. Salts can become more concentrated as
well. In some cases cheese can become ammoniated, i.e., have
slight traces of ammonia resulting from the breakdown of amino
acids in the protein-based part of the curd, or casein. It is a
further testimony to the complexity of cheese that some consider
this a sign of ‘‘spoilage,’’ while others consider it a flavor intensification.
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Sugar is a unique preserving agent, preserving the texture and
color of food better than any other natural occurring substance,
lifting and intensifying flavors, while also keeping it from spoilage
by microbial action. Thus, it relates directly to the sensual appeal of
the food item. Almost purely a carbohydrate (99%), sugar also has
subtle traces of sodium, potassium, and iron, and – importantly –
occurs naturally in every fruit and vegetable at different
concentrations. Its principal source is sugar cane, however, a large
grass-like plant loosely resembling certain bamboo. It is highly
soluble, making it easy to produce syrup, which is the basis for
modern refined sugar.
Historically, sugar originated in eastern or southeastern Asia, but
most likely came into widespread use in ancient India. Honey was
the most common form of sugar in ancient Rome, where it was used
to preserve food. Quince, for example, was preserved by macerating
the fruit in honey for a month, i.e., until the fruit pulp broke down
into a spreadable jam. Honey was also used on savory food items
such as ham, this to keep the ham from spoiling. In Asia, the use of
granulated sugar spread from India to China, especially after the
seventh century AD, when the Chinese Emperor Tai-Hung sent
workmen to Gur to learn the art of creating refined cane sugar. By
the tenth century the item had spread, where it was initially
regarded as a spice and consumed as a medicinal item. It was, for
centuries, extremely expensive and available only to the upper
classes. European experiments in the extraction of sugar from beets
were successful as early as the sixteenth century, but serious
production did not root itself until the nineteenth century, when war
cut Europe off from its Asian sources of cane sugar. Coconut palm in
Asia, and sugar maple in North America are also sources of sugar,
these most often in the form of drawn and boiled saps, which are also
occasionally further refined into granulated sugar for use in candy,
as in maple syrup and maple sugar candy, respectively.
Modern refined sugar is generally extracted from sugar cane juice,
which is in turn, extracted from the plant, and boiled until the
liquids (mostly water) evaporate. Crystals are left behind, spun, and
further refined into granulated sugar. In making sugar syrup – an
important item in cuisines the world over – one (re)combines sugar
and water, boiling the mixture until it is lightly thickened. The
resulting syrup is used for preserving fruit (‘‘preserves’’), or added to
savory sauces for marinating meats, for example. Syrups can also be
scented with spices such as star anise, cassia bark, and nutmeg, as
they often are for use in refined dessert items. Notably, in making
preserves sugar helps the fruit retain its shape and bright color,
preventing it from disintegrating to a rather faded-colored pulp
during the cooking process.
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Sugar is exceptionally versatile. It caramelizes, turning from white
to golden in color, its flavor becoming slightly bitter. The
combination of sweet and bitter is what gives a good caramel
(essentially, water and sugar – and sometimes cream – reduced over
even heat) its appeal. The golden crust on a loaf of bread is the result
of sugar’s caramelizing during baking. This would be either from the
sugars occurring naturally in the flour, or, in some cases, the result
of sugar having been added to the recipe. Such a bread would always
be always present at a French meal such as the one under
discussion – formal or informal – and its character would be directly
related to sugar’s preservative and characterological capabilities.
Sugar also adds body and prevents lumping in processed foods
such as ice cream, cakes, and frostings. It aids whipping, foaming
just enough to give the basic structure of angel food cake or soufflé.
And it is, like salt, a flavor enhancer.
Poaching fruit in a light spicy syrup is a classic dessert just about
anywhere in the world. In Poland sliced up fruit poached in a light
syrup makes for a delicious soft drink. In France classic desserts
such as pêche Melba – originally created by the great French chef
Escoffier when he was at the Savoy in London, this to celebrate the
famous nineteenth-century Australian opera singer, Dame Nellie
Melba, and her triumphant opening at the opera Lohengrin. Here,
the peaches are poached in sugar syrup and served with vanilla ice
cream, toasted almonds, and raspberry sauce. All parts of the
dessert use sugar.
Ice cream – understood to have come from Asia as fruit ices, later
refined into sorbets and sherberts, then developed into a creambased concoction in seventeenth-century Paris – incorporates the
food preservation technique as a principal component of its
preparation. Freezing food items in service of preservation dates
back to prehistory, when it was likely discovered happenstantially by
Neolithic hunters. A large animal may have been left at a kill site by a
hunting party in late Fall or early Winter, then discovered to have
frozen upon its return. Freezing, or low temperature preservation,
has been used ever since. For centuries, the only way to extend the
ability to freeze food was to cut ice from ponds and streams, and
store it in well-insulated wooden structures known as ice houses.
Occasionally, anomalous geographical formations such as deep
gorges have also produced ice, but these are difficult to access, and
their yield would likely have quickly melted if taken out of season.
Commercial freezers appeared in the early twentieth century, and
have since become ubiquitous the world over.
It is important to note that freezing food is a bit complicated, and
can be done to the betterment or detriment of the food item to be
preserved. Foods do not freeze at exactly 0-degrees Celsius (32ß Blackwell Publishers Ltd 2002.
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degrees Fahrenheit), for example, but rather freeze through a range
of 0-degrees to ÿ5-degrees Celsius (32-degrees to 23-degrees
Fahrenheit). This is due to variations in density, and the presence
of various ingredients in a given item. It should also be noted that
quick freezing and the maintaining of stable temperatures
significantly improves the quality of frozen food.
Ice cream is made with eggs, milk (or cream), sugar, and
sometimes a thickening agent such as tapioca starch or cornstarch
(these allowing the concoction to retain its shape rather than melt
immediately). It starts out as a custard, which is then churned and
frozen. Sugar, aside from acting as a sweetener, is also used as a
stabilizer, and preservative for the custard, which contains eggs and
cream, both of which are fragile and susceptible to spoilage. All sorts
of flavors can be added to the basic custard. Vanilla (as in the pêche
Melba), chocolate, and strawberry are generally considered to be the
most popular in the West, but herbal ice creams flavored with sage,
lemon grass, or saffron, for example, can also be made, and are
refreshing at the end of a heavy meal.
Asian cuisines, particularly Chinese cuisines, can be seen as
similar to those in the West and more specifically to those in France,
that is, relying heavily on preservation techniques as the root of
much cooking technique. Chinese culture, however, can be seen as
being even more tied to its preservation-based history in terms of
technique, and more in touch with the medicinal qualities assumed
to be part of many preservation-related ingredients. The ancients
saw the world around them with a combination of awe and terror.
Nature was either deadly foe, or mystical savior. They understood,
far more than modern humanity, that they were literally the direct
result of what they ingested, that they were what they ate. In this
context, food was understood as a preventative, as a curative, as key
to life itself. In this belief system, animals, when eaten, were
assumed to transfer their attributes: the flesh of a strong animal
conveyed strength to the person who would eat it. At its basest
manifestations, this produced a kind of superstition-based value
system, leading, in extreme conditions, to cannibalism of respected
enemies. At its most exalted, however, it produced a culture
powerfully in sync with the wonders and mysteries of nature. It is
this exalted form that predominated over the centuries, evolving into
highly sophisticated cuisines that simultaneously manifested deep
connections between food and fundamental processes in the human
body. In other words, what the culturally dynamic West has
forgotten in terms of its preservation-based roots, the more
culturally static East has preserved across the millennia.
A simple Chinese menu – this seen here as a kind of rhetorical
mirror of the French menu outlined above – might include Dong Gua
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Tong (Winter Melon Soup); Jiu Gai (Drunken Chicken); Sien Lut Jup
Choi (pickled vegetables); Dau Miu (Pea Shoots); Char Siu (Cantonese
Roast Pork) these served with a bowl of Fan (boiled white rice).
Dong gua tong, or winter melon soup, is a simple brothy soup
employing what the Chinese refer to as ‘‘superior’’ stock. Made with
Yunnan ham, a salty air-cured ham, meaty chicken bones, scallion,
ginger, and Shaohsing rice wine, the stock is a complex and flavorful
base often used for sauces, soups, and braised dishes prepared for
special occasions. Yunnan ham (c. AD 1727) comes from the
Southwestern province of Yunnan, and dates back to Manchurian
Qing (also Ch’ing) Dynasty (AD 1644–1911). While the exact process
by which Yunnan ham is made is considered a trade secret, it is clear
that it undergoes three types of preservation techniques: heavy
salting, smoking, and air-curing for at least a year. These
techniques, in combination, result in a salty, dry-hard ham, similar
in leanness and flavor to the American Smithfield ham, which is
often considered an acceptable substitute. Before the ham can be
used it must be soaked in water for at least twenty-four hours, this
both to get rid of its harsh salt flavor and to soften the ham
sufficiently to facilitate slicing. It is likely that this ham, like others
the world over, evolved out of concerns for both meat preservation
and flavor notes. Notably, while the cuisine of Yunnan is not as
widely celebrated as other Chinese provinces (Szechwan, for
example, is just to its north), many of its soup and stew dishes
employ this signature ham as a flavor base, and this seems to have
further evolved into the particularly fragrant stock employed
throughout China, and known as ‘‘superior.’’
Shaohsing (also Shaoxing) rice wine appears as both a
preservation element and a flavor counterbalance to the salty ham
in the stock. While technically related to other rice wines such as the
familiar Japanese sake, this wine has a distinctive amber color,
somewhat unguent fluidity (it is often served warm), and a sherrylike note. On its own, it has a slightly harsh note, and is sometimes
drunk with a preserved salty-sweet dried plum in the glass.
Produced in the southeastern province of Shaohsing, it is made
from sticky ‘‘glutinous’’ rice or millet. The invention of Shaohsing
wine goes back to the third century BCE, employing the
preservation-rooted fermentation of rice (cf.: vinegared rice as the
preservation-root of Japanese sushi). It is believed to have both
preventative and restorative health benefits, and is employed as a
tonic, often being added in small quantities to soups such as this
winter melon soup, marinades (see below), and sauces, for example.
Winter melon has its own benefits. It is a great absorber of flavors
and on a physiological level, a diuretic. In winter melon soup it is
used fresh, sometimes combined with rehydrated dried black
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mushrooms (also known as shiitakes). In the case of the dried
mushrooms, again, the drying process is based on ancient
preservation techniques, but has gained in complexity and depth
through centuries of culinary evolution. Chinese cuisine places
particular emphasis on the use of dried black mushrooms, enjoying
both their earthy-smoky concentrated flavor and perceived
medicinal qualities. The mushrooms are believed to lower cholesterol
by as much as forty-five percent, lower blood pressure, and prevent
cancer. They are also a great source of protein and fiber and contain
all essential amino acids in greater concentrations than soybeans,
milk, eggs, or meat. Full of minerals, vitamins, and niacin, black
mushrooms also produce a fat-absorbing compound, which
promotes weight loss. For this reason, when soaking the dried black
mushrooms, the soaking water (an extension of the preservation
process) is generally reserved and added to stocks, soups, braised
dishes, contributing not only flavor but nutritional value to any dish.
Jiu Gai, drunken chicken, is a classic Shanghainese dish. The
preparation is rather simple. A chicken is steamed with ginger and
scallion, then cut up, seasoned with salt, sugar, and white pepper,
and placed in a bowl and arranged tightly. Shaohsing wine is then
poured over the chicken to cover and the dish is left to macerate for
twenty-four hours or more. The combination of salt, sugar and wine
essentially preserves the chicken, ‘‘cooking’’ it twice, and rendering it
as a sort of variation on charcuterie or ‘‘cold cuts.’’ While this chicken
can be part of any informal meal, it is more often sliced thin and
added to the Chinese cold cut platter that is served at special
occasions such as the Chinese wedding banquet, and includes jelly
fish, lamb, beef tongue, and fish. Drunken chicken is also served
with a dipping sauce, which combines finely grated ginger and
scallion with a generous amount of salt, and heated oil. Notably,
both the chicken and dipping sauce are preserved foods, with salt,
sugar, ginger, oil, and wine being the main preserving agents.
The ginger, seen here in the dipping sauce, and above in the
Winter melon soup has long been regarded by the Chinese as a gift
from God that heals. Believed to cleanse the body of toxins, ginger
has been employed in traditional Chinese herbal medicine for
millennia, and is used as a remedy for food poisoning, nausea,
flatulence, colds, and colic among other things. A natural
preservative, ginger acts as a bactericide, breaking down protein
and tenderizing meat in the process. It is often employed in seafood
dishes to kill bacteria that may cause seafood poisoning.
Oil is, in and of itself, technically not a preservative, but it is used
in conjunction with canning and jarring, where it is heated, and
contributes to an anaerobic environment hostile to bacteria. In this
scenario, it helps deny the food item air, suppressing (or in some
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Francis McFadden and Corinne Trang
instances, such as cheese preservation, controlling) bacterial action
and decay. In the drunken chicken dipping sauce, however, it has
evolved to a binding, moisturizing, and flavor agent, as the sauce is
almost always made fresh. Similarly, scallion, while not a
preservative, is perceived to have medicinal value. Whether eaten
alone or in combination with other ingredients it is believed to treat
certain physical symptoms. For example, mixed with honey it is
employed as an ointment for skin abscesses or infections. When
ginger is added to the honey and scallion mixture and taken
internally, it is used to treat colds and chills.
The Chinese have been pickling vegetables in the form of our
menu’s sien lut jup choi (and other similar items) for millennia. (N.B.:
the Koreans and Japanese have followed suit, creating their own
versions called kimchi and tsukemono, respectively). Chinese pickled
vegetables lend a refreshing note to any meal. Vegetables such as
Chinese celery cabbage, cucumber, carrot, and daikon are sliced,
salted to extract the water, and pickled in a combination of distilled
white rice vinegar and sugar. The resulting preserved food item is
sweet, salty, and sour. To add to the complexity of this simple
vegetable dish, fresh or dried red chilies (preservation items unto
themselves, as we have seen) are tossed in for a spicy note.
Dau miu, pea shoots, also referred to as pea pod leaves, are
sautéed with a small amounts of garlic, oil, and fermented bean curd
(tofu), and served as a compliment to other menu items. The bean
curd, which is believed to date from the Han Dynasty (206 BCE–AD
220), is made from soybeans and is high in calcium, potassium, and
iron. Here it has been preserved with salt and rice wine, is as
complex as any French cheese. Through its fermentation, the curd is
transformed, its water evaporated, its texture compact, its aroma
smoky. Fermented bean curd is a condiment eaten as is (straight
from the jar), or used as a seasoning, much in the way soy sauce is
employed. Any number of Asian greens are routinely stir-fried with
this preserved soybean product, which is as pungent as any garlic,
and valued for its ability to deepen and add flavor complexity to the
simplest food item.
Meats, too, are prepared with fermented bean curd, the most
famous being char siu, or our menu’s Cantonese roast pork.
Marinated with condiments such as soy sauce, honey, fermented
bean curd, and Shaohsing wine, the pork is roasted in a vertical
oven. It is then hung in the windows of Chinese restaurants to entice
passersby. The pork does not suffer at room temperature. For once it
is fully cooked, its marinade full of sugar, salt, and spices will
preserve it for some time.
It should be noted that in China’s culinary culture – as in other
Asian countries whose cuisines are largely derived from the Chinese
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– do not typically take dessert at a meal. Very importantly, and in
marked contrast to our French example, Chinese meals do not
normally have courses (formal banquets excepted). Rather, all items
are present when the meal is presented, and each is sampled as the
meal is enjoyed over a period of time. The winter melon soup, for
example, would not be presented as a starter – as is common in the
West – but would be served and replenished throughout the meal as
a palate cleanser.
Accordingly, Chinese cuisine favors menu items constructed so
that each is balanced within itself and within the menu writ large
with regard to texture, color, flavor, and food types. (This rooted in
the yin-yang philosophy of balanced opposites, which applies as
much to food as it does to other facets of life.) Five flavor notes – salty,
spicy, sour, bitter, and sweet – are present to a greater or lesser
extent in all dishes at a properly prepared meal. Essentially, the
preservative sugar is understood to be part of all food items and is
apt to be emphasized equally through all of a given menu. A
predominantly or overly sweet item would therefor be considered
redundant. Citrus fruit such as oranges, which offer both sweet,
bitter, and sour flavors are welcomed, giving a refreshing finish on
the palate as well as aiding digestion. What Westerners call
‘‘desserts’’ – pastries, puddings, and so forth – are generally had as
afternoon snacks in Asia. (Many contemporary Asian restaurants
now often offer these snacks as ‘‘dessert’’ items, however, this
primarily as a gesture to their Western patrons.)
Additionally, tea, rather than beer or wine, is generally taken with
food. It aids digestion, cleanses the blood, and is believed to be a
cancer preventative. Tea is itself a preserved item. Picked fresh, the
leaves are then kiln-dried or smoked. In China tea is not only drunk,
but is used in food preparation as well. Tea smoked duck, for
example, is a classic dish, employing unfermented green tea. A
rather simple yet time consuming process, the duck is first steamed
with herbs and spices, then smoked with the tea leaves for several
minutes, and finally deep fried. A delicate tea flavor is thereby
imparted to the meat, which is tender and moist. Eggs are also
cooked in a spiced tea and soy sauce broth. First the eggs are hard
boiled, then rolled around to crack the shell. The eggs (with cracked
shells) are added to the simmering tea mixture for several minutes
and allowed to cool down in it. Shelled, the eggs look beautifully
marbled and have a delightful bitter, salty, and sweet flavor.
It is important to note that the role of preserving agents in Chinese
cuisine is inextricably interwoven with larger systems –
philosophies, really – of food preparation and its relation to life,
and life forces within the body. Food is perceived to have specific,
knowable benefits, these often assigned to or associated with specific
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organs. Traditional Chinese culinary art considers flavor alone an
inadequate yardstick for food preparation, requiring, instead, that
all the organs – not just the taste buds – be served. In this context,
even rice is assigned a specific, indeed, pivotal role in the culinary
realm.
Rice is a key element in the complex Chinese food system known
as the Fan-Tsai principle, or ‘‘grains (Fan) in balance with
vegetables,meats, and other foods (Tsai).’’ Rice is a manifestation of
the Fan component, generally meaning a grain element (In certain
areas where rice is not traditionally cultivated, Fan may be wheat or
sorghum, as in Mongolia, for example.). The complexities of this
system are too involved to be dealt with in depth here, but suffice it to
say that it points to a system of food preparation that includes
starch, meat, and vegetable at every meal. It is rooted in notions of
harmony with nature and the productive application of food spirit or
energy, this expressed as a highly organized and doctrinaire hot-cold
food system, and further refined as reflecting a need for yin-yang
balance. Ultimately, this becomes a means to mental, physical, and
spiritual health.
Mental, physical, and spiritual health are assumed to be
inseparable and synergistic; prolonging life and producing health
and happiness. Here, white rice can be understood as a kind of lens
onto the topic of food preservation and cuisine. Originally a wild
plant, it was cultivated over thousands of years, and exists in
modern times as a variety of plants with numerous variations and
complex flavor notes. Widely used in the West, in much of Asia it is
the foundation of every meal, whether it is served elaborately at
court, or eaten squatting on the dirt floor of a modest farmer’s shack.
Nutritionally, rice is a starch rice carbohydrate that provides energy
to the muscles. Often culturally and linguistically equated with food
in the East (In Chinese, ‘‘sik fan = eat rice (lit.) = come to the table
(fig.)’’), rice carries the symbolic weight of a sacred item, an offering to
the gods. Storable for long periods of time as a dried grain kept at
cool temperatures and away from light (heat and light exposure can
lead to decay), it is cooked with water, essentially reconstituting it to
a moisture content that is still moderately low, but high enough to
yield a pleasing texture and flavor. Extendable in the form of
porridges (‘‘congee’’ or ‘‘jook’’), it is seen as a deliverer of the masses
from famine and want. Dried and presented as long-lasting noodles
and skins, it is the basis for hundreds of dishes throughout Asia (the
ubiquitous noodle soups and dumplings, for example), and widely
assumed to be the basis for Italian pasta in the West. Roasted, is
often ground in to powder, and used as a coating or binder in many
dishes, and a basis for sweet snacks. Ground into flour, it is used to
bake easily transportable buns stuffed with meats, vegetables,
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legumes, or fruits. In this sense, rice provides a sort of lens onto the
development of survivalist food preservation techniques as they
moved from the wild, to cultivated fields, to the kitchen, and,
ultimately, the realm of reflective thought and nutritional-medicinal
application.
Modern culinary art is, to a large extent, survival food raised to a
series of basic yet critical staple items, then, through experiment and
recombination, evolved into highly developed and complex cuisines,
and raised yet again to become an essential element at the level of
culinary philosophy.
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