Indian food spiced to hide spoiled meat?

I've tried looking into this, but I'm not finding any credible sources.

I've heard that indian food is usually heavily spiced (or at least historically had been developed that way) as to cover up the taste of spoiled ingredients, particularly meat.

I've also found the claim that steak sauce was created for the same means.

Then what about the spicy vegetarian dishes?

[Lainie]

I was taught in school that spices were highly valued in Europe for centuries because they covered up the taste of meat that was, um, less than fresh.

[geminilee]

What is with these threads? Food is heavily spiced (or salted) as a preservative, and because it tastes good. Perhaps as a side effect it also masks the flavor of food that has gone a bit manky, but that is not its primary purpose.
From the History of Spices:

The people of those times used spices, as we do today, to enhance or vary the flavors of their foods. Spices were also flavor disguisers, masking the taste of the otherwise tasteless food that was nutritious, but if unspiced, had to be thrown away. Some spices were also used for preserving food like meat for a year or more without refrigeration. In the sixteenth century, cloves were used to preserve food without refrigeration. Cloves contain a chemical called eugenol that inhibits the growth of bacteria. It is still used to preserve some modern foods like Virginia ham. Later, mustard and ground mustard were also found to have preservative qualities. When spices were not available people went hungry because they could not preserve their foods to carry them over to the winter. Such was the importance of spices those days.

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by geminilee

What is with these threads?

What threads?

Food is heavily spiced (or salted) as a preservative, and because it tastes good. Perhaps as a side effect it also masks the flavor of food that has gone a bit manky, but that is not its primary purpose.

Thanks for the link.

[Blatherskite]

I've only ever heard this applied to medieval European cookery, which was also very keen on spice.

How well would spices hide bad meat? And would it be cheaper to buy spoiled meat and a hefty spice supply, or simply to always use fresh meat?

The idea that Indian cuisine developed this way because of historical food presevervation (or lack thereof) doesn't hold up, either, because food in some other parts of the world stopped being exciting before advances in preservation.

[Eddylizard]

Originally Posted by Lainie

What threads?

This one maybe.

[Bonnie]

Here are a couple well-preserved threads from the old board that may be of interest here. (There may well be more, too.)

http://msgboard.snopes.com/message/u...00012/p/1.html

http://msgboard.snopes.com/message/u...00109/p/1.html

Bonnie "and everything nice" Taylor

[llewtrah]

My former (and, I believe, now late ) boss was from Pakistan and these were his explanations.

Goat meat and mutton aren't the most delicately flavoured meats; spice enhances the flavour. In an Indian meat market in Singapore I encountered both types of meat and could well understand the use of spices.

Meat tends to be chopped up in chunks regardless of where it comes from on the animal i.e. it isn't turned into cuts such as rump, rib, blade etc. The meat in a meal can be of variable quality. Spice helps to overcome this except for the chewiness. Some of the cooking ingredients may tenderise the meat or counteract fatty meat.

My Hindu colleagues (who frequently bring in things for me to try and "forget" to warn me of the heat) are veggie and just tell me that the spicy food is good for my digestive system.

In my case, very spicy food makes me sweat more - embarrassing in a restaurant, but no doubt useful in a hot climate. Tarquin and I frequent a very nice Nepalese restaurant and I haven't yet had the courage to eat the Gurkha Chicken dish (very hot). Phaal is just insanely hot and not very flavoursome. However I enjoy a Patia - heat and flavour - and sometimes a vindaloo if the restaurant is known for ones that are tasty rather just hot for the sake of hot.

[jimmy101_again]

I thought that most cultures that developed near the equator had a tendency to eat more heavily spiced foods than do cultures that developed farther from the equator? Indian, Spanish etc. foods tends to be spicer than cool climate cultures like Germany or Russia.

One misconception that folks have posted though is that spices help to preserve food. This is not true. Salt is the only common spice that has any preservative action. Essentially all other spices will actually cause food to rot faster.
1. Most spices are dervied from plants.
2. Plant material harbors bacteria.
3. Heating a spice to sterilize it would destroy its flavor.

Therefore, most spices will increase bacterial growth when added to food. Primarily because the spice is a bacterial source.

(At least, that is what my 6th grade daughters science fair project discovered. )

The only other "spice" I can think of that has preservatory powers would be vinegar.

[geminilee]

Originally Posted by Eddylizard

This one maybe.

Yeah, that thread. These two just seem like xenophobia to me: the crazy foreigners eat spoiled food, and they just try to disguise the taste.

Perhaps I am just sensitive about this subject, and am seeing things that aren't there. (I had thought there was another spicy/foreign food - spoiled thread, but maybe I imagined it.)

[geminilee]

Originally Posted by jimmy101_again

One misconception that folks have posted though is that spices help to preserve food. This is not true. Salt is the only common spice that has any preservative action. Essentially all other spices will actually cause food to rot faster.
1. Most spices are dervied from plants.
2. Plant material harbors bacteria.
3. Heating a spice to sterilize it would destroy its flavor.

Therefore, most spices will increase bacterial growth when added to food. Primarily because the spice is a bacterial source.

(At least, that is what my 6th grade daughters science fair project discovered. )

The only other "spice" I can think of that has preservatory powers would be vinegar.

Well, perhaps your daughter's experiment had more scientific validity than these experiments, or maybe you guys just messed up somehow. Most sites seem to refute your claim that spices have no preservative value.

[llewtrah]

Originally Posted by jimmy101_again

The only other "spice" I can think of that has preservatory powers would be vinegar.

Not a preservative, but fresh chilli has antibacterial properties (at least according to an article in the New England Medical Journal some time around 1995) Whether powdered chilli retains that property I don't know.

[Cactus Wren]

The notion that medieval cooks, in particular, used spices to cover the taste of rotten meat that would otherwise be inedible always amuses me.

I'm pretty sure all the pepper in the world won't prevent food poisoning.

Not a big self-promotion point for a cook trying for a new place. "Er, yes, my last master did die of the bloody flux after eating something I'd prepared ... "

[Eddylizard]

I don't think that the point of the OP was that spices would act as a food preservative, or kill food poisoning agents, merely that when added during cooking they would overwhelm any funky taste that might alert the eater to the meat not being fresh.

In medieval times pathology was in it's infancy to say the least, and if M'lord did die of the bloody flux it would be blamed on all sorts of silly things, the chef might escape suspicion. Also to be fair, a lot of people who get food poisoning don't actually die - they feel very unwell then get better of their own accord. If M'lord did die, the physick is most likely the one under suspicion of incompetence.

However as regards the OP I think in Asian and tropical countries people just discovered that adding spices that grew on their doorstep gave their meals a bit of a zing, and maybe they were sometimes cooking with the less flavoursome (if perfectly edible) pieces of meat.

[James G]

Originally Posted by geminilee

Yeah, that thread. These two just seem like xenophobia to me: the crazy foreigners eat spoiled food, and they just try to disguise the taste.

Perhaps I am just sensitive about this subject, and am seeing things that aren't there. (I had thought there was another spicy/foreign food - spoiled thread, but maybe I imagined it.)

Well while the legend may be rooted in Xenophobia, surely the questioning of it is a sign that the person has realised that this may be the cause and thus was determined to verify it. I say this because I remember hearing this 'fact' when I was younger, and it was only on hearing similar stories, which were far more obviously xenophobic, that I questioned its nature.

[Jay Tea]

Originally Posted by Eddylizard

I don't think that the point of the OP was that spices would act as a food preservative, or kill food poisoning agents, merely that when added during cooking they would overwhelm any funky taste that might alert the eater to the meat not being fresh.

What exactly is a 'funky' taste?

I agree with your points, spices have been long prized for their flavour, making boring or rank food more stimulating, and this probably goes for any culture/cuisine.

Also, rotting meat kills you, spice or no spice. I got amoebic dysentery in India

[Eddylizard]

Originally Posted by Jay Tea

What exactly is a 'funky' taste?

Saturday night fever - accompanied by diarrhoea and vomiting.

[Tarquin Farquart]

What I find quite interesting is hotter countries seem to have even spicier food.

[Eddylizard]

Originally Posted by Tarquin Farquart

What I find quite interesting is hotter countries seem to have even spicier food.

Probably because most if not all spices are indigenous to, and grow better in hotter climates.

People will use what is growing around them to flavour their food. Until the sea trade took off, there was no oppportunity for people in cooler climates to acquire spices, and then at first they were horribly expensive. In the areas where the spices were indigenous, they had probably been incorporated into the local cuisine for thousands of years. In countries where spices do not grow, a different cuisine had developed.