Investigating History’s Food Secrets

[@Havenwyck_Media]

It all looked really good to me. My dad, way back in the 1950's to early 1970s use to make a great tasting 'hash' with leftover venison roast, carrots, potato, onion, parsly, lard, plus salt and pepper. He said his dad made it, and his dad was born in 1875.

[@jamesellsworth9673]

Yup: that is a righteous hash! It would be a fine hunting camp dish.

[@billcarson6954]

Couldn’t help read this in Keanu Reeves voice 😏

[@GrimeyGut]

​@@billcarson6954lol why?

[@Lerrinus]

So nice to see Michael Dragoo again!

[@paulvontarsus729]

I agree. He has a nice calm and friendly manner.

[@greatquux]

DRAAAAGGOOOO!!!!

[@johnanon6938]

Its great to see Michael again, because he always has so much enthusiasm for the foods that I daresay it rivals Jon's interest in using nutmeg.

[@brick6347]

There's an idiom in the UK: make a hash of it. i.e. a mess. Hash being a jumble of mangled fragments. I always assumed hash the food was... well, that. a jumble. Dishes like 'bubble and squeak' comes to mind.

[@Beryllahawk]

This! My grandmother always talked about "hash" as the stew she made out of the leftovers of Sunday's roast beef. I always assumed the word meant "whatever you have on hand, chopped up and thrown together."

[@jeenkzk5919]

So now I wonder where “hash is out” comes from. Any thoughts? You know, in other words “figure it out”

[@zoewilkins2896]

@@jeenkzk5919I always thought that was “thrash it out”, rather than “hash it out”?

[@panderson9561]

The Amish have something similar they call Scrapple. It's just the left overs...scraps...all mixed together, with cornmeal and spices, molded into a loaf...almost like meatloaf...and they cut and fry it. When I first heard of it it sounded awful, but really isn't that bad.

[@Beryllahawk]

@@jeenkzk5919 I'm thinking perhaps the chopping part... as in, when you're taking an issue/task/question apart into its constituent pieces. I could always be wrong though!

[@vaylonkenadell]

Michael Dragoo is correct when he says that "stew" is not understood as a noun meaning a type of cooked dish until later. Per the Online Etymology Dictionary: "The meaning 'meat slowly boiled,' generally with vegetables, is recorded by 1756. The colloquial sense of 'state of agitation or worry' is by 1806." Thanks again for another wonderful video. Always good to see Michael Dragoo on!

[@mollygardens6646]

If you stew on it, a problem, you might make hash of it. Or mincemeat!

[@PulpParadise]

Thank you for that, @vaylonkenadell!

[@leedoss6905]

@@vaylonkenadell my dad always used the term stewed referring to anything simmered on the stove like okra. It was called stewed okra. I use the term to this day. He was born in 1914.

[@MrMarket1987]

That's so weird to me. At 37 I'm not exceptionally old, but I rarely heard stew in any context OTHER than to slowly boil meat.

[@madamedex5989]

I think you hit the nail on the head with "clean out the refrigerator." Frugality in the kitchen has always been paramount and this recipe seems to serve the purpose of using things up in a tasty way.

[@Poochie78]

man shut up

[@cjkoehler]

300 year old Sloppy Joes. Back when they were known as "untidy Joseph."

[@marilynmitchell2712]

Haha

[@hic_tus]

mind your language

[@RolloTonéBrownTown]

​@@hic_tusplease do not use such hard talk in the pretense of ladies

[@Bhargleyargle]

Keepeth thy unholy language out of min eares

[@janetprice85]

Now you may think I made this up but I had never heard of Sloppy Joe until we moved to Ohio when I was twelve from S.C. We had it once a week at school. We fell in love with them.

[@joejackson4202]

One of the most top tier channels on youtube.

[@ashleighlecount]

When my daughter was little corned beef hash out of the can was one of her favorite foods. She called it cash

[@madtownluthier3325]

She knew it was straight MONEY

[@ashleighlecount]

@madtownluthier3325 good one 😁

[@joelwhite2830]

Make it out to Cash 😂

[@TheIllcaster]

She was entirely correct

[@ManDime222]

Mhhhmm still one of my favorites

[@robfut9954]

Given the fact that the first recipe specified “raw beef” in the title, I will assume most hash in the 1600’s was also done with leftover meat and to use raw meat as unusual enough that the author had to highlight the fact in the title

[@natebunn9664]

Yes I thought the same. Using the meaty trimmings after a butcher. Like an early ground beef recipe.

[@TisiphonesShadow]

In parts of the South, we have "Hash and Rice". It consists of finely-shredded cooked meat (usually pork) in a thickened mustard-based sauce served over rice.

[@erad67]

Not in my part of the South, but sounds interesting. I'd like to try that.

[@kevinbowen8192]

Now I preface this with the statement that the following meal was not homemade and kind of a “meal in a can” but Castleberry used to make a product called “Georgia Hash” that was sold in the south that sounds very similar. We also used to pour it over a bed of rice to have a simple, yet very delicious meal. I so wish they still made it.

[@gailsears2913]

Very interesting. The hash I usually make here in the southern US is leftover ham with potatoes and onions. A dry sort of mixture.

[@jamesellsworth9673]

That is a fine version! I am uncertain about what 'dry' means. For me, it might be a bit more ham-dripping and cream.

[@DM-kl4em]

My grandmother worked at a grocery store back in the 1950s. She had a customer come in, whose husband's favorite meal was hash. He was always comparing his wife's cooking unfavorably to his mother's, asking "Why can't you ever make hash as good as my mom's?" One day, she finally got so angry that she served him canned dog food without telling him. He said, to her shock, that it was the best hash he ever had. She was worried, because NOW she didn't know what she was supposed to do.

[@nannag5801]

😀😀

[@steveparker8723]

My parents made us kids hamburger hash when growing up. Simply, hamburger, onion,celery, potatoes, salt and pepper. Easy to make and very filling with a couple slices of buttered bread. I still make it now and then. Great memories.

[@shoshanafox727]

I made hamburger hash for my son. 😊

[@jnorth3341]

I remember eating that when I was a kid.

[@g33k37]

For Christmas, my grandparents would fix Vension hash. Which consisted of boiling a version hindquarter with onions and salt for 3 -4hours running it through a hand cranked meat grinder and then frying it super crispy in a large cast iron skillet. The result was this delicious crispy crunchy umami hash that went great on rice.

[@composthis]

that sounds AMAZING, wow. do you mind if I ask where you grew up?

[@MrTickleTrunk]

Every time I see Michael Dragoo's in a thumbnail I know it's going to be a good one. You guys bounce off each other so well.

[@SarahGreen523]

I can't believe (though, of course, I should have) that I just watched several styles of historical S.O.S being prepared. I've been making a similar dish for years. My mother's hash was a dry and flavorless dish. We called it Harsh.

[@jamesellsworth9673]

I can see why! I was lucky enough to have grandparents who knew how to put flavor into New England cookery.

[@mikeskelly2356]

My Gran was born in 1900, she had a hand crank meat grinder she used to make ground pork. She fried it in bacon fat and added the crumbled bacon to the mix along with Cumin, Mustard and S&P. It was served with a 'gravy' on Rye toast. She must have had 'secret' ingredients, because I've never been able to replicate those flavors. Maybe I'll try some pickle juice or chestnuts...

[@TacticalKiwi4862]

Awsome deep dive. This is one of the reason why I love the channel!

[@MsLeenite]

Thank you, Jon and Michael, that was very interesting. About chestnuts: my only association with them (apart from the Merry Christmas song) is the hot chestnut vendors on Central Park West (in NYC) near the Museum of Natural History. I grew up in Brooklyn, NY in the 1950's. In October and early November when the weather became crisp, the hot chestnut vendors would be tending their charcoal brazier carts near the park entrances, sending the wonderful aroma of roasting chestnuts into the cool air. A trip to the museum in late fall was special: it meant holding a warm little bag of chestnuts with their smoky fragrance, and enjoying their sweet flavor and chewy texture, while ogling the bright fall foliage of the park. Followed, of course, by dinosaurs! 🦕🦖🦕🦖 Good memories.

[@katherinegood7509]

I wasn't aware of the "canned hash" concept until I was well into my adult years. Growing up, we'd make hash with leftover pork roast with gravy made from the drippings. Add in potatoes and then depending what was on hand onions and/or mushrooms and done. It was a way to extend the leftover meat into a filling meal.

[@connyalbers6032]

The second version I still make it with onions also in it. Served with red cabbage and potatoes. In Holland it's called "hachee". 😁

[@MC-810]

Happy Sunday everyone.

[@HyggeState]

I always love an appearance by Michael!

[@tlg8547]

FYI I watched a video a few months ago where a couple from another country made a dish and they chopped raw meat by hand adding some fat then mixed with rice , vegetables , whole CHESTNUT, and I think chopped dry apricot. Then they stuffed it in a large squash and baked in a clay oven. Very interesting. I believe the channel is Far Away Village Family

[@marilynmitchell2712]

We call that stuffed squash in my house.

[@yuyunull]

Chestnut is a versatile nut, it can add texture while also complimenting sweet and savoury flavours, so I've found. That sounds delicious!

[@DM-kl4em]

Yep. Hash is basically meat, some vegetables, and a starch to soak up the extra gravy so nothing goes to waste. Potatoes are the obvious choice, but rice also breaks down to a starchy consistency if you boil it long enough. If you grow it, it's also easier to grind rice into flour than to remove the hulls ftom the individual rice kernels. It all comes down to meat being expensive/hard to get, and wanting to get the most out of it for your money. It's been that way for centuries, and it will be for centuries more.

[@DudeAugusto]

200+ year old recipes for poo on a shingle sounds so fun! this channel i come back to time after time and it just brings such joy. Thank you to all who work to make this. It is much appreciated.

[@cedricathlan9399]

In French cooking, both in France and in Quebec where I'm from, "hachis" (our word for "hash") still means everything from a watery stew with a fine dice of vegetables and meat to a thick gravy of minced meat to even a mashed potato-covered spiced minced meat in nothing but it's own juices. You ask five different households and you will get 5 different answers most likely. So still kind of confusing to this day, but in the same essence as 300 years ago: reusing already cooked meat, throw in whatever you have, make a dish out of it and waste nothing, not even the driest of toughest piece of meat.

[@ehowiehowie7850]

When I get sick of pasta or chilli with mince I make savoury mince , with onions (sort of like mince in gravy) with some veg & gravy powder with water in frying pan /flavour it with herbs with garlic / paprika sometimes mixed herbs/onion powder & serve it with mash or microwave rice. It is just a different dinner. As mince is cheap ...I didn't know I was doing a hash lol...

[@Candyohh]

My great grandfather used to make a hash with raccoon backstrap, onions, mushrooms, cooked into a gravy and served over home fries with eggs.

[@joeyzanne9063]

In Spain they have a soup made with Chestnuts (Punchero de Castanas) The chestnuts are gathered peeled dried and stored for winter to be cooked with beans or chickpeas in a punchero or stew

[@dmr6640]

Wonderful video. Love Michael and his insights to food making.

[@michaeleschner7062]

Eatable Chestnuts were used at times when potatoes had not been discovered. After potatoes found their way into cuisine they became a cheap and ready available ingredient. To thicken the broth blanching and chopping the chestnuts was common today minced potatoes or little cubes of potatoes are used instead. Ground potatoes are also helpful for this purpose. Nowadays potato or corn starch are commonly used in the kitchen. Bone broth: To my knowledge bone broth is usually made from marrowbones. The are split in half in length or sliced prior to cooking. Thanks a lot for this instructive video.

[@chewher4171]

The videos are soothing. I come to the channel to escape for just a moment and transport myself back in time. It fills my mind with wonder. God Bless America.

[@sheilam4964]

Thx guys for filming this and sharing it with us.

[@davebeat]

I'm from the UK, a small town called Whitehaven with close connections to US history during the 1700s. My grandma used to make corned beef hash, I'm not sure how far her recipe went back, but her has was layered a bit like a shepherds pie. She'd have a layer of tinned corned beef mashed up with some diced onion and then a layer of mashed potatoes on top combed with a fork and then baked. It was very much a working class dinner, only 3 cheap ingredients, but it was delicious especially with a bit of ketchup or some brown sauce (HP).

[@mikeks8181]

For me growing up?! A Hash was a Nice way of taking the leftovers and Making a Meal! Im 58 now and Still do It! Thank You for Sharing This!

[@olddawgdreaming5715]

Thanks for sharing with us. It's great to see someone break down the OLD recipes into something that everyone MIGHT be able to understand. Keep up the great work you two have done and write a cookbook that someone can understand with the amounts and temps ( low medium high ect ) that are not hard to figure out and it will make learning to cook alot more enjoyable. Thank you and keep up the great work and videos. Fred.

[@CounterNerd]

An episode featuring Dragoo is an episode I'm sure to watch.

[@billcarson6954]

Love your vids, and great to see Michael again! Small note, I wish you’d bring back some ending music. I loved the button at the end of the videos, some B-Roll and nice music, nothing too long; always left me feeling good after watching. Keep up the amazing work! And thank you.

[@Morale_Booster]

That thumbnail is perfect!! Whoever took that photo nailed it

[@jam1087]

Thanks!

[@shannonolivas9524]

Always good to see Michael again. Takes me back to when we first met him and those Scotch eggs.

[@Kite403]

Both versions looked really good! I've been learning to enjoy hash more lately and I would gladly try those versions :D

[@mrsfolkartist76]

Didn't you notice how much the early recipe resembles Wimpy's / Sloppy Joes? Jon's recipe reminds me of open-faced roast beef sandwiches which they still make today with a side of mashed potatoes .

[@wendyreynolds2261]

I've made A Fine Hash of Beef at Little Expense from one of Townsends calendars at rendezvous and at home. It's easy, and tasty. Now I want the recipe that John demonstrated because it looks divine!

[@David_Kyte]

I love Michael Dragoo and his "John has been exhausting me with Nutmeg one-liners for 3 straight hours" type of Straight-man Delivery. I feel like he hasn't been in any Townsends stuff lately, good to have him back.

[@AndrewBowles-p5r]

We make a hash here in Virginia where you grind everything that goes into it, meat, vegetables everything. It’s similar tasting to Brunswick stew just really fine. I was always told everything was ground so you couldn’t tell what you were eating

[@metalnut92]

I was surprised that you both expected a hash to have a more gravy-like consistency (like Jon's dish). I'm from northern England, and here a 'hash' would almost always refer to a relatively dry dish of fried chopped meat (corned beef most likely), potatoes and onions. It's the sort of thing you might dress with ketchup or worcestershire sauce on the table, and Michael's earlier recipe looks closer to what I'd expect. Maybe the US/UK hashes have diverged over time?

[@andreweden9405]

I'm not sure that they meant for you to just throw the pickles right into it like that!😃😂 Plus, "pickles" at that time referred to much more than just pickled cucumbers. It could imply various kinds of pickled vegetables.

[@cearachonaill8149]

I loved this idea of taking a similar receipt from two time periods and comparing them!! I am a culinary historian by hobby. My favorite cookery book (Forme of Cury) was written in 1396 for King Richard ll by his cooks. There is a receipt called Commodore, I read it over and over many times and it never made sense. Once I started to translate it to modern English, did it begin to make sense. The darn things are gently fried, not baked….. Fig Newtons!! Delicious.

[@chrishand9324]

Yay! More townsends cooking! I love these videos ! :)

[@theoddball3850]

The etymology of words and their evolution over time is probably really helpful trying to figure out what they were thinking. Hash, way back, meant "to chop" I think, since it comes from the French word for hatchet.

[@kimfleury]

Thank you for that! I'd honestly guessed that "hash" just meant throwing a bunch of things together. I should've known better because hash browned potatoes are finely chopped potatoes. But then again, I was only familiar with hash browns that include everything in the refrigerator plus the kitchen sink 😂

[@jjpetunia3981]

Great job as always! Love this idea of comparing the recipes this way. Thanks for all of the research, effort, and great videography.

[@michiganmafia]

The recipe Jon makes with the roux kinda reminds me of how I like to do my Beef Stroganoff, using pre cooked meat I simmer it in beef broth and worchestershire sauce, in a pan with garlic and onions

[@KevinTerry-d5n]

Ahhh, an episode with Michael. Live your channel John, but an episode with Michael Is always special. The man just ads an extra something to comfort/relaxing cooking. All the best to everyone at Townsend and sons.

[@lesliewells-ig5dl]

My dad taught me to eat canned corned beef with applesauce and I still eat it that way. So good---the cold sweet applesauce with the hot, salty hash! Yum!!

[@AnasRecipesofc]

What a fascinating video! The research on hash was super informative and demystified many concepts I had about the dish. I loved the detailed approach and the way you presented the findings. Congratulations on your innovative and educational content! ❤❤

[@debbralehrman5957]

I always looked at it as a "Budget stretcher". Thanks Guys👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 As I was watching it brought to memory the first Townsends video I watched was with Michael. Great introduction. 🤗💕💕

[@angieh.527]

Another great video! I really enjoyed watching your experiments! Thanks for sharing with us. 😊

[@StephenW1SKC]

Excellent!!! I enjoyed seeing you guys together.

[@anulfadventures]

When I was a kid, the left over bits of the Sunday roast went through a hand-cranked meat grinder near the end of the week. It probably was covered in gravy, I can't remember, and we called it Hash. My wife's Hash from when she grew up is totally different. No meat grinder involved.

[@angelite711]

Best hash I ever made was leftover venison roast, potato, some onion and garlic, salt and a bit of broth, fried then simmered. Thicken and it goes for gravy, too. I would say blanched chestnuts were put in boiling water and then in cool water, instead of roasted in the coals, but mincing goes with hash. ❤❤

[@karynstouffer3562]

The 18th Century recipe sounds like it would taste similar to a rouladen (sp?). Tangy-savory.

[@HerbertTwack]

Using left over Sunday roast beef (or lamb) warmed up in left over gravy on fried bread, sounds like a perfect accompaniment to a pint of real ale

[@mollygardens6646]

I just think of hash as chopped up leftovers, mainly meat and potatoes plus onions, carrots, and herbs. Add beets get red flannel hash.

[@BBB_bbb_BBB]

The hash Townsend made I've pretty well made before. His description of just take whatever is in the fridge is what I've done when I'm trying to clear out leftovers and past the use by date sauces I have. It's always good, but it's nothing I'd brag about. Just slop that I quickly whip up.

[@FlyTyer1948]

Hash is a tasty & thrifty way to use leftovers. Spicy hash is wonderful with lots of ground black pepper mandatory. Although I prefer drier versions, but that gravy version on toast looks really yummy.

[@jd9119]

I don't know about your household, but in mine, when we have a roast (doesn't matter if it's pork or beef), there is never any leftovers.

[@romaliop]

@@jd9119 Having more than enough meat in order to have leave some for the next day's meal may actually have been done on purpose, especially in the past when convenient and fast food options weren't as readily available as today.

[@jd9119]

@@romaliop That might be the case, but come on. You have a good roast on the table, everybody is going to grab more slices until that roast is gone. Back in the 17th and 18th centuries, most people really didn't eat dinners like we typically have. Their big meal of the day would be at work. And they'd usually eat something pretty light when they got home.

[@FlyTyer1948]

@@jd9119:-)

[@frenchfriar]

Y'all both definitely made a hash out of this one! Both of them actually sound very good, and a lot different to the kind of hash I would make today, with basically cold diced cubes of beef and potatoes, warmed over together. Canned hash is something entirely different. This was a fun and interesting episode!

[@rickhand8228]

My grandparents were born in the last decade of the nineteenth century so our family’s hash is probably derived from them and their parents, grandparents,etc. Our hash was eaten on Sunday evening and was prepared from the beef roast that we had after church. The noon meal was beef roast(usually chuck roast), made in the oven in the roaster with potatoes and carrots, seasoned with salt and pepper. Gravy was made after “taking up” the meat and vegetables. In the evening the gravy was reheated while the meat and vegetables were being cubed, then added to the gravy after which Mom ( or Grandma, depending on where we were) would announce that supper was ready!

[@sizer99]

Always nice to see a guest appearance with Michael!

[@jimkunkle2669]

John's recipe is similar to a meal my parents made when I was growing up. It is simple. Brown some ground beef, throw in condensed mushroom soup as a gravy, and serve it over toast. One of my childhood favorites.

[@paladin252]

what John made is basically what my mom and grandparents in Maine would call Fricassee. after thanksgiving lunch, we would shred the turkey, mix with gravy and put on a sandwich or on a bed of mash potatoes as turkey Fricassee.

[@noordos]

I’d like to see a video about how churches made communion bread before gas and electric stoves. Was it made days in advance? Was it made the morning of? Was the baker involved?

[@Objective-Observer]

Oh, I like the sound of Mr. Dragoo's hash, and if he had taken the time, it would have had more of a gravy... but timing is an issue while filming. I'm not crazy about tart flavors with my meat.

[@StrandedLifeform]

The one that Townsend made looks more like a leftover pot roast without the veggies. The other one looks more like I would expect with hash from a can, although I'm sure it tastes ten times better than today's canned hash.

[@debjordan4399]

Hash, my mother used to prepare it to use left over roast beef, usually pot roast, with potatoes and onions, maybe some carrots. Of course I did that to when my kids were young. To this day hash is one of my favorite foods. Oh, btw, the potatoes were cut in pretty large chunks, not the tiny little diced potatoes in the can of hash. Stew is almost the same but definitely has large chunks of carrots and tomatoes and it is thickened with flour.

[@jatpack3]

*_The original meaning of the word hash was "to hack, chop into small pieces" from the French hacher, from Old French hache meaning axe. It often had culinary use, a hash being a chopped up mixture of things, most notably the dish hash browns, made of shredded potatoes. The expression to make hash out of sth/sbd, means to ruin sth/sbd and this follows logically from chop into small pieces_* From the internet

[@1TakoyakiStore]

I really loved this different "comparative culinary archeology" episode! I bet Max Miller wishes he could've joined you both for this one!

[@Grandwigg]

In my family (South Carolina), we have a beef hash with chives potatoes, minced beef and onion are show cooked over many hours. I wish I knew the full recipe.

[@trudymaenza9672]

Those two versions of hash is sure different then hash today😊

[@baronarcanus9111]

It's good to be a detective. In particular, my approach involves looking for commonalities across many sources, rather than just one or a few. In my view, that which is common from many sources must be regarded as true.

[@joannegreco3985]

The older hash was one similar to the one my great grandmother made and passed the recipie down to my grandmother and my mother. My great grandmother passed on 40 some years ago at just a couple months before her 100th birthday. We were lucky enough to have 5 generations on my maternal side living until my mom passed a few years ago. We are now down to 4 with me being the great grandmother now.

[@angrylittlespider4593]

Is it possible that the minced beef hash was simply understood to be served with gravy, and that's why there was no mention of it? I find these attempts to interpret historic recipes to be fascinating... especially their uses of seasoning combinations we now think of as unusual.

[@toryistatertot5394]

Two things. 1) I love we don't get chewing sounds. I prefer videos where you don't. 2) I'm so jealous of you guys who can eat onions. I'm allergic and while they smell good and sometimes taste good to me they sure do ruin my day. Wonderful video as always!

[@Burning_Dwarf]

A fellow sufferer, they ruin my day too. You get the throat/face symptoms, the intestinal or a lovely combo? I get a mild anaphalaxys

[@toryistatertot5394]

@@Burning_Dwarf I get a horrid combo. Can't breathe and need meds just to cut them. Once digested I get a lovely rash all through the mouth and throat and then stomach cramps follow. :(

[@Burning_Dwarf]

@@toryistatertot5394 ouch!

[@gregphillips.1312]

Chestnuts can be used for sweet or savoury. I have a Stuffing in front of me made of Breadcrumbs, fresh Sage and Parsley, the Banana shaped Shallots, Garlic and Chestnuts. I'm about to Butterfly two Chicken Breasts which I will roll up with the aforementioned Stuffing inside, wrapped then in Streaky Bacon and you have a Classic Roulade.

[@kmoecub]

Agreed. I tend to think of chestnuts as being floral, neither savory or sweet.

[@cjohnson4342]

We'll be right over to get in on that meal!

[@zacharymoore9028]

Love the etymology of this episode. Well done.

[@TheMagnoliaWitch]

I just made cornbeef hash for dinner a few days ago (not that awful stuff in a can, but corned beef, russet potatoes, shallots and garlic) and so watching this was fascinating to see the differences time has wrought on our understanding of what constitutes a hash.

[@kylemwalker]

The hash I make is almost like a one-tray bake. Maybe diced smaller. 1/2 inch cubes instead of 1 inch cubes. Diced potatoes vegetables and some kind of meat, usually sausage, ham, or leftover steak, and then if it’s breakfast a fried egg on top or scrambled eggs right at the end. But the goal is to use leftovers or cheap ingredients. Usually pepper, onion, potatoes and meat.

[@themindstream]

I've cooked with barberries! I was working on a recipe from "A proper newe booke of cookerye" (1575) and that exact trio of "barberries, gooseberries or grapes" comes up multiple times in contemporary recipes. You can find them dried in middle-eastern groceries and they're very tart, reminiscent of cranberries. I can't easily get gooseberries where I am but I understand they're also tart. I believe modern seedless table grapes would be too sweet to be a direct substitution the way they were used then; I might try with some of the other grapes we can sometimes get in season in Upstate NY.

[@kmoecub]

One thought about Michael's interpretation of the recipe makes me want to consider combining it with part of how we eat hash today, use eggs. I would tend to think that adding an egg yolk or two would serve as a flavorful binder, taking care to not let it cook past being custardy.

[@MariaMartinez-researcher]

Are there contemporary sources mentioning people eating hash? Novels, diaries, letters, newspaper articles? Maybe there are descriptions of people using spoons vs. forks, complaining about it being too sloppy, or too dry, details that could help to precise what the recipe meant.

[@natebunn9664]

Hittin' the real hash rn. And enjoying some Townsends! Great video.

[@seamusmcbride2832]

always fun when Dragoo is there

[@janette2422]

this is the corner of KZbin I can come to and just sit. I love you guys.

[@Eric998765]

Has means several things to me. Canned corned beef hash like Michael was talking about, a breakfast made from sausage, onion, and sweet potato that I cook often, and one of my favorite foods of all time, "hash". That last one is a South Carolina special, where I was born a raised. Unlikely to find it anywhere out of the state, even more North Carolinas don't know about it. You basically take the left over pork from smoking a pig, add some organs, potatoes, and pickles and cook it down to the consistency of a blended up pot roast. Some people add or exchange the pork for ground beef. Pour over rice. If I eat out at a bbq restaurant I normally eat more hash than the bbq itself. I was not expecting John's recipe to have pickles, that must be the origin of the SC hash

[@Spyder2384]

Michael Dragoo is back! Yay!

[@y6cd3sdzHs1g]

This is a great video series idea! Suggest getting someone uninvolved in the cooking [like Lauren] to drop in at the end and taste test these things. That would provide a perspective of what it's like for the general viewer

[@DaveReece-uh3le]

You guys are making me very hungry! I'll have to attempt these hash recipes.

[@vchalmel]

I'm really used to have blanched then braised with butter and broth chestnuts as a gravy basis, I could totally see the chestnuts being exactly that and omitted details leading to a more pureed consistency for the first recipe.

[@chrismeandyou]

Townsends hashes out the secrets of Hash!