Brit-Speak: Food and bonfires

[dudemom_2000]

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter/message/25097

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Rebecca K Hubbard" 
<hubbarrk at r...> wrote:
> ~Yb:
> > Aha! Something I know! Carol, if you're wondering about the'bain
> marie,' it's a cooking term for a hot water bath. They work well 
for (above) making sticky things less sticky (heat reduces 
viscosity, you know). <Snip>
 
> Carol again:
> Okay, so Alshain is suggesting placing the tin (or "can," in 
American English) of treacle (= molasses) in a pan of hot water to 
make it pourable? (I've done that for honey that has started to 
crystallize.)But what you're suggesting sounds more like putting a 
pan of water on the lower shelf of the oven (as in my fruitcake 
recipe somewhere upthread). Or maybe you cook bread pudding in a 
double boiler (I've seen photos of them in my mother's old cookbooks 
but have never actually seen one)?
>  
> Carol, who should have remembered that "bain" = "bath" but is still
> puzzled as to how "marie" fits in 
> 
>  
> 
> Yb:
> 
> You were close: my method involves putting a pan in the oven, with 
paper towels covering the bottom, and filling it about half full 
with water. Then put the pudding (in its own dish, of course) in the 
pan of water and bake for about 75 minutes. The trick is making
> sure the water doesn't splash; and fishing the dish out of the pan 
is easier said than done, as well.
> 
>As for word origins:
> 
>  
> 
> Mary the Jewess was a first century alchemist, published even 
(gasp!).
> Apparently female 
> 
> Alchemists weren't all that uncommon.
> 
>Maria Prophetissa was also known as Miriam, Mary the Jewess or 
simply
> Maria: Mary the Jewess was an accomplished practical alchemist and 
the inventor of a series of technical devices still in use today, 
such as the hot ash box for steady heat, the dung box for prolonged 
heat and the double boiler, still called the "bain-marie" in French. 
None of her writings have survived, but she is quoted with the 
utmost respect by Zosimus and the other early compilers of 
alchemical texts. (Zosimus considered her to be Miriam, the sister 
of Moses. He was of course, as always, going for the most ancient 
tradition.)
> 
>Maria approached alchemy as a fusion of the rational, the mystical 
and the practical, and she is remembered for the practical. She 
introduced several types of apparatus, including a three-armed 
still, the hot ash box for steady heat, the dung box for prolonged 
heat and the double boiler.
> 
> 
> Hope this answers your question; I know I learned something!
> 
> ~Yb
> 
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Excellent answer Yb! For some other interesting tidbits try this 
site:  http://www.foodreference.com/html/artbainmarie.html
My mother always baked her custards in a Bain Marie but she did not 
put a towel down in the pan. She placed the custard cups into the 
larger pan (which was already on the rack in the oven) and then 
carefully poured hot water from the tea kettle into the larger pan 
and then baked it. Can you tell me why you use the towel and if you 
think there are any advantages to it over not using one? In a way 
this is also like a double boiler except that the custard or pudding 
is immersed in the water partially. With a double boiler the water 
below does not touch the pan above - it allows a gentle heating of 
certain more delicate foods like chocolate, custards and sauces so 
they don't scorch. If anyone has a double boiler try this recipe:
http://www.foodreference.com/html/maplebreadpudding.html

My personal winter favorite is cornmeal mush made in the double 
boiler! It comes out so smooth and lump free. 

Happy cooking!

Dudemom_2000

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