Hamburgers, Mac ‘n’ cheese, and Pot Roast. For good or bad, America has created its cuisine which
is both appetizing and affordable for most people. However, the same cuisine had its Precambrian
expanse when the cooks did too many experiments with the food and most of them were quite long,
wide swings and misses. Today at Nutty History let's go back to the 18th century to find out
what crazy, nutty dishes formed American food. Who doesn’t love Ham and Bacon? These two pork
products can be categorized as America’s national food but have you ever wondered what about the
rest of the pig? Apparently, our ancestors were quite thoughtful about not wasting any food.
Introducing… Pork Scraps! Yes, you guessed it right. The scraps of pork were typically
parts of the pig that we throw away and consider non-edible, but for the 18th century Americans,
nothing was forbidden when it comes to food. Organs, tails, feet? They would gobble it all!
Pork Scraps was a dish that consisted of scraps of pork cooked with cornmeal.
It was quite popular in mid-Atlantic colonies and surprisingly the dish has survived the passage
of time. You might dismiss the notion of eating pig’s organs and tail as a necessity of the time
but the dish still exists! Pork Scraps is a favored dish in mid-Atlantic states and somehow
California as well in present times. But now it goes by the name of Scrapple. So, if you ever
had that and wondered “huh, this dish has more texture than most pork dishes”, now you know why!
Who would eat beaver? Uh… Ok we kinda walked right into that one, huh? Euphemism aside, beavers are
amazing and quite industrial animals. We know that they use their sturdy tail like a tool
to build their dens and dams but eating that tail isn’t the first thought that will cross your mind.
As the fur trade boomed during the 18th century, beaver meat became a popular game for the frontier
hunters. It's hard to blame those fur hunters as Beaver were indeed furry and provided a good
and easy source of protein out in the wild. On another note, who’s keeping track of protein
out in the wild? Surprisingly, some people do eat Beaver Tail today but in no circumstances
would prefer it over other foods. Containing a lot of fat, beaver tail is food eaten out of
necessity by voyagers and trappers. Squirrels were also considered a delicious meal among frontiers
but these bushy-tailed rodents weren’t new to the menu. Squirrels were part of the European diet
even in the middle ages and their descendants continued eating them even after migration.
Commonly, squirrels were singed, gutted, tied up, and roasted. But some fancy cooks liked to
make pastries and pies out of them as well. And just to make it weirder, the squirrel pie was
served with a wild duck sauce. Sounds delicious, doesn’t it? And if you think that is the wildest
pie the 18th century had to offer, just keep watching to find out what we have next. Who
remembers eels being a prominent gag in old-time cartoons, especially Popeye the Sailor man?
Eh, no one? Guess we are getting too old for you all huh? But as much the thought of eating
a slippery, slithery half fish and the half snake-like creature, which electrocutes you like
Pikachu might repulse you, Eels were a common kitchen ingredient in the eighteenth century.
The colonials of New England states loved to make pies out of them.
Shockingly, no pun intended there, the eels were caught using traps using lobsters as baits. Today,
lobsters are considered a luxury and an expensive meal, but back then lobsters weren’t so high
on the seafood menu. Lobsters were, in fact, considered the food of the low-class workers,
freed slaves, prisoners, and of course eels. Even though eels were eaten in many ways back then,
the pie was a fan favorite for some reason. Smoked eels, is understandable to a degree, but eel pie?
All we can hope is that it never ever makes a return.
No, no! that title card you just read wasn’t a typo! You might be thinking
we are going to talk about some very early version or iteration of the tomato ketchup.
But if ketchup and Ketchup were related, tomato ketchup would prefer English
Katchup was a distant cousin that nobody talks about in the family. In all seriousness,
English Ketchup still sounded like a progressive sauce on paper. Sources say that the recipe of
this sauce was inspired by an Asian sauce which makes you wonder why they would call it English.
The ingredients include mushrooms, walnuts, anchovies, and oysters, a weird combination
that should come with cautionary advice to not try at home. I mean, who thought this was a good idea?
A lot of us have been a fan of Ninja Turtles in our childhood and would have dreamed about
having them join us at a dinner table. But would you prefer to have them “on” the dinner table?
Seems like eighteenth-century people were fans of the turtles too but not in a similar way.
Turtle soup was a popular dish among the posh and wealthy colonials and the rich at the other
side of the pond, that is, Britain and France shared the opinion. Traditional turtle soup was
cooked in lots of butter and wine, making it a very heavy dish perfect for lunch and dinner.
Even today, snapper turtle soup is an established part of the Philadelphia cuisine, but beware as
ignorance in what turtle you use to make soup can give you food poisoning or worse, salmonella.
Ever heard of Roti Sans Pariel? No? How about that one weird Turkey you once tried on a trippy
thanksgiving dinner that you still regret. Yes, we are talking about Turducken, Turkey stuffed
with a duck stuffed with a chicken. Now imagine the same awful dish but with SEVENTEEN layers of
birds inside it. This awful Russian doll version of birdception had to be made with an exact order
of birds. Starting from the inside, it went like this: Warbler, bunting, lark, thrush, quail,
lapwing, plover, partridge, woodcock, teal, guinea fowl, duck, chicken,
pheasant, goose, turkey, and lastly, the giant bustard. Whew… that’s a lot of birds!
Now you all know the Frankenstein story. A crazy scientist tried to sew up parts of various dead
bodies to create his own pet monster. The novel by English author Mary Shelley was written in the
early 19th century and maybe this 18th-century dish could have served as inspiration. In
mythology, cockatrice is an abomination of a monster that has the head of a rooster,
wings of a bat, body of a pig, and tail of a lizard. The cooks of the 18th century decided
to emulate this mythical beast by sewing the top half of a boiled rooster to the bottom half of
a suckling pig and then the creation would be stuffed and roasted. Certainly, the inventor
of this not so appetizing dish didn’t care why they shouldn’t when they could. The dish had a
slightly different name from its mythological counterpart and was called Cockentrice.
Let’s just feel relieved that they left out the wings of a bat and a tail of a lizard.
Certain honorable mentions must be made before we end this appetizing video with a list of desserts.
Cocks’ ale was an ale brewed with a crushed boiled rooster. Badgers were used as pork’s
substitute. And obviously the most popular ones, roasted male sheep’s genitalia, and roasted cat.
One of the most desirable and expensive desserts of the 18th century was Chocolate Mixed with
Ambergris. What’s Ambergris, you may ask? It was an expensive and elite ‘additive’ people
added to their dishes in the 18th century. This is quite interesting as this substance, ambergris,
looked like a stone, felt like wax, and smelled like marine feces. Why, you ask, did it have such
a peculiar odor? Well, because Ambergris was, in fact, dried vomit of a whale. And for some reason,
18th century Americans found the combination of vomit of a sea mammal and chocolate quite rich
and delicious. I think I threw up in my mouth a little. Ughh… And those who could not afford this
lavish delight resorted to having a calf’s foot for their after-meal sweetness. Because what could
be tastier than a cow’s offspring’s feet? Calf’s foot jelly was created by the gelatin that would
appear when boiling the hoof. Originally, it was believed that calf's foot jelly was good to heal
sick people. Thankfully, medicine came along and calf's foot jelly was long gone from the menu.
However, if you enjoy eating Jell-O today, you are eating gelatin derived from boiling various
animal’s bones and skins. How willing are you to try these amazing 18th-century food trends?
And do you think we missed any other interesting one? Tell us in the comments
and do not forget to like and share the video. Oh and thanks for watching Nutty History.