The Deadly Job of Royal Food Taster

[@TastingHistory]

Sign up for the upcoming newsletter for more Tasting History! Its at the bottom of this link - www.tastinghistory.com

[@morrius0757]

If you have issues with mushroom texture they make mushroom powder now, you can add it to soups, stews and sauces.

[@TastingHistory]

@@morrius0757 yep. My dad would take dried mushrooms, grind them, and add that to dishes.

[@Katze5335]

@@TastingHistorylove you max!!! 😃

[@jasongoodwin1269]

😂

[@hypnotherapy69]

Fun fact: In a rat colony the "taster" is one of the most protected incase of a threat beacuse he/she is used to try the food they find if it´s a new source. They let that individual investigate and eat some of the food the rest wait and see if they get sick/die if not they all eat.(maby part of the inspiration for Rattatoullie?)

[@jazzycat8917]

"Allegedly, this is all alleged" Max I seriously doubt you are in danger of hearing from Aggripina's lawyers on this

[@Kruppt808]

You never know...... "Looks around wearily for the descendants of Roman Emperor family" 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@alaina244]

😂

[@HermitTcrab]

She'd find a way.

[@justincook844]

I wanted to like this comment but 444 seemed better than 445 😂

[@Marybaklava]

Better safe than sorry say I

[@GlennRanzig]

Oh, right. The poison. The poison for Kuzco, the poison chosen especially to kill Kuzco, Kuzco's poison.

[@rosameryrojas-delcerro1059]

Yes. That poison....

[@yerabbit]

unexpected Kronk

[@SerenDipInT]

Gotch ya covert

[@GlennRanzig]

@@rosameryrojas-delcerro1059 Got you covered!

[@djwheels66]

Best Comment Award!!!🥇

[@Brasc]

*Cleopatra:* Here Marc Antony, let this food taster/prisoner drink your wine instead. _~person dies~_ *Cleopatra:* PRANKED!

[@TastingHistory]

😂 exactly

[@Kratos364]

Cleopatra: I told you it was healthy, it's actually poison YOU GOT PUNKED!!!

[@OlEgSaS32]

You've been PATRA'D!!!

[@la_scrittice_vita]

​@@TastingHistoryAlmost certainly Octavian's propaganda.

[@dragonwitch27]

@@la_scrittice_vita Yes! Roman sources--most of which were written later--are heavily biased towards Cleopatra.

[@PurpleTurtle-t4q]

I love the delivery on "he didn't think she'd be crazy enough to wear poisonous flowers on her hair... but she was"

[@lauragrandgenett]

Lovage! I needed that for the Parthenian chicken recipe you shared. So i bought seeds on Amazon, planted them, 4 sprouted and I put them out in my herb garden. They grew fast, tall and strong and are a fantastic herb. I didn’t know they were perennial. The same 4 emerge every spring and become taller than me. They are well behaved, always coming up in the same locations and not creeping all over the garden. It’s now my favorite herb. The Parthenian chicken was fabulous. Thanks for teaching me so much.

[@creatinghanley]

That is dedication to the dish!

[@icecreamsandwich7522]

It's called leuștean in romanian, it's such a great flavor!

[@GeekmanCA]

"Very toxic relationship" - I see what you did there.

[@Enraged-Gecko]

Cleopatra wasn’t an ethnic Egyptian, but was a daughter of the Ptolemaic Dynasty… which was notoriously inbred. Ptolemy was a Greek general in Alexander the Great’s army and Egypt was given to him upon Alexander’s death. It was likely inbreeding that caused her to be batshit insane.

[@MazTheMeh16]

Erm acshually toxic and poisonous are 2 different things 🤓☝️

[@yukarilolz]

Did you... call yourself a nerd? ​@@MazTheMeh16

[@nrml76]

@@Enraged-Gecko Being rich, privilged and led to believe from a very young age that you are born superior also helps a lot in this regard.

[@geoffreyentwistle8176]

I'm upset with myself for missing this! 😂

[@georgemachappy]

I was waiting for Max to taste the mushrooms, collapse face first for the bit, and then see Jose walk through the background rubbing his hands and grinning.

[@daniwells4195]

That would've been so funny! 😂

[@katiegustafson6765]

Maybe that could be an April Fools Day joke!

[@sarahwatts7152]

Love this idea!

[@PhotonBeast]

Maybe next year! :)

[@cwfutureboy]

Jose would NEVER!

[@francescosirotti8178]

Ancient people: "food tasters are essential to avoid being poisoned!". Also ancient people: "Mercury? Yes, a great medicine!"

[@kaceyreed1284]

"Lead? Wonderful for my makeup!"

[@bjumorrisdatter904]

"Here, have a spoonful of this quick silver to cure syphilis. " The procedure was a success, but the patient died.

[@jackMeought-fr8vl]

Lead? Put it in the wine, obviously.

[@crumblemuffin1257]

​@@bjumorrisdatter904 you can't have syphilis if you are dead (☞ ᐛ )☞

[@pinkdoobie]

Pewter, the best material for serving dishes!

[@janetchennault4385]

I just made these mushrooms. Incredible. Between the honey/fishsauce combination and the complexity of the long pepper, it produced a wonderful taste that I had never had before. I served the mushrooms simply, on thin-sliced French bread, with a salad of tomatoes with basil and garlic in a vinaigrette.

[@starlet5350]

This sounds heavenly❤

[@eirikmellesdal]

I love the small little Pokèmon that always decorates the background of the vids. So classy

[@EdenAlchemist]

I love playing 'spot the Pokemon' in his videos.

[@brookechang4942]

To be fair, Claudius wasn't WRONG about Nero.

[@charleskroeger5735]

That was only 'fiction' by Robert Graves. I am sure he suspected, but they were always suspicious but that doesn't save them. According to Graves' I Claudius, Augustus, a man who knew someone was trying to poison him, and took every precaution, was outsmarted by (once again :-) a woman with ambitions for her son was more clever and diabolical than himself. Then they got Tiberius. That's like saying, 'Then we got Nixon' isn't it?

[@alexanderaugustus]

Claudius should have trusted his guts way earlier but here we are. It does make for some cool history.

[@tintinismybelgian]

Nero had a difficult childhood, and we should balance judgment with understanding.

[@charleskroeger5735]

@@tintinismybelgian how would you know what kind of childhood Nero had? If you enjoy conjecture, then I would say that Nero and Kim jong il had similar childhoods. We know Nero and his mother were close.

[@tintinismybelgian]

@@charleskroeger5735 I don't have firsthand knowledge of Nero's childhood, but "The Evil Emperors Song" from HH is funny. /watch?v=qWwAC9dOTCE

[@SlaytheSquire]

“So to make strychnine, what you’ll need is…”

[@TastingHistory]

😂

[@jkl9984]

It's also surprisingly easy to make such a poison.

[@mushroomsamba82]

FBI would like to know your location

[@halpen]

😂

[@HappyExtheist]

😅

[@vane909090]

I read that royal food tasters were treated quite well by their rulers. Makes sense, you don't want to piss off the man who has direct access to your food just before the king.

[@drdoofenshootz7]

Probably not a good idea to make him a eunuch, in that case.

[@notamoose231]

I wonder what their life expectancy was like. If they were treated well, and everyone knew the lord had a food taster, they might not even bother poisoning him. Could be a decent gig considering average life expectancy.

[@nerfherder4284]

Being made a Eunuch was usually a punishment, but then they could only have certain jobs. The eunuch class and wife (wives) of the rulers were always in a struggle for power.

[@Victoriaghh]

​@notamoose231 Average life expectancies were around 70s-80s once they were over 18. The statistics are skewed because of a large percentage of infant deaths, causing the average to drastically drop.

[@nomisunrider6472]

@@nerfherder4284 Depends on the culture. In most, it was a punishment, but in some, key court positions were only available to eunuchs because it was thought that they wouldn’t be as corrupt since they couldn’t establish a dynasty. The many eunuchs that managed to be corrupt anyway and the toxic masculinity of considering them effeminate and thus inferior to “real” men is why the “evil scheming eunuch” is a trope. As for Halotus, we don’t know why he was a eunuch, but it’s unlikely to have been his own choice and they might have forced him to be castrated for this exact position. No wonder he was a bit bitter about it.

[@GorilieVR]

17:37 solution to unpleasant mushroom texture: fill the bottom of a pan with a layer of water and simmer the mushrooms for 20 minutes or until the water fully evaporates, then add a bit of olive oil with salt to taste and saute until golden brown. Perfect mushrooms every time 🍄☺️🤌

[@megabigblur]

I got this idea from a Techniquely with Lan Lam video! She pointed out that a number of vegetables benefit from being simmered for a bit to get the water out before you try to brown them.

[@lemonflavouredquark]

“Squeak when I bite into them” That’s not mushrooms, that’s mice.

[@WeddingVegetables]

Just what I thought! And it's easy to tell the difference as mushrooms generally don't run away when you try to eat them.

[@Kruppt808]

Dormice stuffed with pork, mushrooms and garlic

[@Marybaklava]

Yeah, they eat those too.....😅

[@JaneAustenAteMyCat]

Well, they were a delicacy back then, so six of one, half a dozen of the other

[@Drivestort]

I had read a story of a figure who was served wine that passed the food taster, but was too warm, so he requested cold water to cool his wine down and it turned out the water was poisoned instead.

[@JohnDoe-vm5rb]

Britannicus.

[@cianmoriarty7345]

They did some crazy shit like paint poison on figs on the tree and put poison on just one side of a knife used to cut up a roast bird. The poisoner eating the other half of the bird gave the victim a false sense of security.

[@TheHej2]

I have always wondered how many cooks were killed for trying to poison the king, because the food tasters were allergic to something in the food, like peanuts

[@AC-ni4gt]

Or maybe something else like pepper.

[@lipov7083]

Also how many food tasters were executed because the king was allegric to something they weren't.

[@z4ri905]

Not even allergies. Imagine if the king couldn't handle his spicy food and starting kneeling over, coughing his lungs out. Poor cooks would probably starting sweating bullets.

[@BasedPhilosophyMom]

They probably checked you for allergies etc. before you could get the job. That's my guess. 😂

[@sharidavenport5283]

@@BasedPhilosophyMom - And how long ago was this happening? 🤔 Was "testing for allergies" even a "thing" back then? Would they even know what that was, or how to do it? Certainly the preparation or the use of proper or even effective medical instruments, or the preparing of the materials needed to do an allergy testing regimen was completely beyond them at that point.... They still had little to no knowledge regarding contamination, germs, infections, even postpartum infections - I seriously doubt they had any notion of the cause and effect relationship of allergies at that point. They were still BLEEDING🩸people as a form of treatment, for goodness sakes! 😳

[@wrexvincent]

My house has a royal food taster! Yeah guess you could say we are very affluent but he works pro bono and just showed up at the house one day. He sleeps in a box in the kitchen and tests our food for poisons- mostly meat and dairy dishes. So far no one has been poisoned so he is really good! Okay so hes a cat and he beats me up for a taste of whats on my plate but, I mean, I HAVENT been poisoned yet so his batting average is excellent

[@dippedoreoes]

I think it's sweet how your voice got super tender when you gave the anecdote about Jose and the hand of the king.

[@Lohengrin1850]

3:08 that impression was spot-on, great job! Also loved the Shroomish in the background for this episode's Pokemon. Great video as always

[@neptune6852]

I think we’re all a bit of royal food testers when our spouse is eating something you should have ordered.

[@sheenachristina2385]

Especially dessert.

[@karenroot450]

I love this comment 🤣

[@galetalon3133]

Nah, I'm a "Stay on your plate, I'm concentrating on mine" kinda guy.

[@galetalon3133]

Nah, I'm a "Stay on your plate, I'm concentrating on mine" kinda guy.

[@merrittanimation7721]

Agrippina: I don't want any mushrooms (Later) Agrippina: Can I try some of your mushrooms? Claudius: Sure. Halotus: (My empress, those are the mushrooms you told me to poison)

[@QwertiusMaximus]

I love how garum is stored in a fish-shaped bottle.

[@michaelpettersson4919]

You will be hard pressed to find a roman dish that get ruined by adding garum to it. It was almost literary everywhere.

[@EvilDoresh]

@@michaelpettersson4919 Everything is better with garum

[@GogiRegion]

@@michaelpettersson4919I believe it! In Southeast Asia where fish sauce is still a staple, it’s used in so much that it’s even used in desserts to make things like salted caramel with a savory hint.

[@groofay]

"I'm not paranoid of being poisoned, so I don't need a food taster" Jose must have been relieved to hear that

[@DIEGhostfish]

I mean, that's one less excuse to steal food.

[@colinferguson7400]

Max, I also didn't like mushrooms until about 3 years ago. I think you'll like them more if you saute them until they're crispy.

[@elmartell5724]

Fun Fact: mushrooms have that texture Max dislikes because they're made of chitin- the same stuff that seafood shells and insect exoskeleton are made of; all of which is an excellent example of how mushrooms are more closely related to animals than plants 🤗 No, I am not very popular at parties.

[@lilykatmoon4508]

Delicious, delicious exoskeleton 🤤

[@theburningtoastmonsterofur7028]

"No, I am not very popular at parties" Me too buddy

[@Auriorium]

There is a old Slovenian deli meat commercial, where a food taster is task by a lord to taste the food brought to him, it was so good that the food taster faked death so he could eat the entire thing. Man I love old commercials. Actually found it on youtube, the name of the video is: Kraljeve mesnine - Dvorni preizkuševalec.

[@marmotarchivist]

Amazing😂

[@Taolan8472]

There was a commercial for an american meat company that copied that script, but I can't find it online and cant remember the brand.

[@hcheng02]

@Taolan8472 I think it was for pork. Not any brand but just pork meat in general. "Pork: The Other White Meat."

[@SquidBilly]

Kraljeve mesnine- dvorni preizkuševalec

[@lindsayinman8852]

​@@hcheng02pork rules

[@KristenCardinale]

“You’re still fired.” Gave me an actual LOL and caught me off guard. I nearly spit out my coffee 😂

[@benjamintillema3572]

11:32

[@AngelicHarmony00]

Uncle Iroh would be in some strange AU a royal tea taste tester! "Delectable tea... or deadly poison?" [drinks it anyway]

[@satori2890]

Gotta love Iroh

[@chriscormac231]

Poison...*thud*

[@LyraAurora]

​@@chriscormac231 Cue the Gaang investigating Iroh's death with the help of...Iroh's spirit. 😂

[@LPdedicated]

"You. Didn't." 😮‍💨 "I did. And it wasn't." 🤢

[@fanusobscurus]

So... Maomao

[@pierre6625]

Hello Max, my wife and I just love following you on KZbin. You obviously put a lot of research in the content of every historical stories you present to us. You are honest when you taste the recipes you make. For example, it was obvious in this segment that you do not fancy mushrooms. But you tried them anyway. Always very interesting to listen to the food and how they came about. Hats off to you. Best Regards from Canada.

[@annathornton5215]

I showed my husband “I, Claudius” a few weeks ago, and he was beyond excited as soon as you said Emperor Claudius

[@josephd.5524]

Terry Pratchett's Lord Vetinari had an excellent method for warding off would-be poisoners: Make yourself so valuable to all the players in the game of power that anyone knocking you off would be immediately set upon by everyone else for ruining the game. Then eat whatever you like.

[@DanielCoffey67]

Yes but "whatever you like" for Vetenari tended to be water, dry toast and the odd egg white!

[@christineh14]

I love Vetinari- such a great character.

[@ruthbennett7563]

GNU Sir Terry ❤

[@weldonwin]

Also, make the dungeons in your palace not only very secure, but also extremely comfortable, so when someone overthrows you in a palace coup, you will be safe and comfy while waiting for the counter-coup to put you back into power.

[@realhorrorshow8547]

Nanny Ogg's Cookbook. Almost guaranteed not to offend. There's some good stuff in there.

[@shredderly]

"As i try not to poison myself" I bet that's what Claudius said aswell.

[@BardovBacchus]

About 20 years ago, I was in the cast of a Renaissance Faire on the Wisconsin/Illinois border that was set in the time of Queen Elizabeth I. I played William Payne, a Yeoman of the Royal Guard. I would announce the nobles of the court and visiting dignitaries presented to her Majesty and would also be the Royal Food Taster. Good times, gud tymes

[@RadarLakeKosh]

Bristol?

[@BardovBacchus]

Indeed @@RadarLakeKosh

[@phatlaluke]

Love Bristol renaissance faire

[@juliam248]

Ha, I used to hang out at that Faire all summer long about the same time frame, I was friends with some of the vendors. So much fun, especially the drum jams.

[@janeeggleston9542]

Loved Bristol!

[@Dfathurr]

I love some of the technique to know poison from east asian monarchy (notable Chinese emperor or Korean kings). While they still employ food taster, Kings and Emperor provided with metal chopsticks, so that they can see by themselves if the food is poisoned or not. It mostly work on soups and stews though, so any roasted or baked food will be tasted by food tasters

[@kenzi006]

Just got your cookbook delivered today. I can practically hear your voice through the page, it's very well written! Your videos have been on repeat since my breakup a few weeks ago, they're so calm and comforting. And, they make me want to eat! ❤❤❤

[@TastingHistory]

Hope you enjoy it! Cook something

[@Dabednego]

Maimonides’ work on poison and toxicology was so well-regarded that some botanists refer to bitter almonds (known for their high cyanide content) as Maimonides nuts.

[@victorkreig6089]

what a cheeky joke

[@lisafish1449]

I see what you did there

[@aigledemasyaf]

Excellent.

[@stevenjean6060]

11/10. Take your upvote and go.

[@buzzaard7036]

Are they also called Deez Nutz?

[@karlez7664]

As an eastern european I asked myself "What mushrooms?" because here we're used to eat a lot of different types of forest mushrooms

[@WildWestSushi]

picking mushrooms is too a game similar to checking food for poison lol

[@francisdec1615]

Here in Sweden we always eat chanterells, if we can.

[@karlez7664]

@@francisdec1615 Those are delicious!

[@michaelpettersson4919]

​@@francisdec1615That is because they are delicious AND easy to recognise. Our mushrooms make up a deadly minefield after all. Most of us isn't experts on what is safe after all. I do noticed in an really old manuals several "edible" mushrooms required a safety procedure before they could be eaten. This is done by repeatedly heating the mushroons them in near boiling water throwing away the water each time.

[@flaviorossi9499]

In the case of Roman emperors it was probably either porcini mushrooms or Amanita Caesarea

[@JaxdoesArt]

If you don’t like mushrooms’ texture, try cooking them down even more. Undercooked mushrooms can be leathery or rubbery but properly cooked mushrooms, which are wilted and deep brown, are more tender

[@WildWinterberry]

I’m the opposite. Overcooked mushrooms are slimy

[@nidohime6233]

To me the thing I cannot stand from mushrooms is the smell.

[@amygleich]

Love love your videos! Must point out however, Mark Antony 83BC - 30 BC** not AD - that would’ve been an ancient ancient Roman! 😄

[@denasigman511]

I read a story once on Queen Catherine, Henry VIII's first wife. During the time when he was pushing her for a divorce, right after a poisoning attempt nearly killed her spiritual advisor, her ladies began noticing she would feed a small amount of the food on her plate to her dog before each meal. It was rumored the Boleyn family may have been responsible for the attempt and Catherine was fearful she would be the next target. Her daughter, Mary, may have also been poisoned during this time. Her ladies reported to Henry that his daughter was extremely ill, near death and he refused to allow Catherine to go be with her. There were many rumors that Anne was afraid Catherine would find out it was poison causing the illness

[@btottori]

If you've never seen the "I Claudius" mini-series from the BBC, you're really missing out; many familiar faces in the cast. It shows Augustus, first Roman Emperor, eating only fruit he picked himself from his own garden to avoid being poisoned, but dying from poison his wife Livia applied to the fruit on the tree.

[@cerealport2726]

yes, some great acting in that series. Notable actors too. Patrick Stewart, Brian Blessed, Derek Jacobi, others i cannot recall. hard to believe it was made in 1976. I feel old. It's based on the book of the same name by Robert Graves.

[@speedstrn]

Honey and garum sounds like the base for a SE asian recipe. Add some chicken, limes, cilantro and coconut milk, yum.

[@NateMylott]

Oh? Where would I find that recipe? Though I imagine you would use Asian fish sauce.

[@ngwoo]

These are kinda similar to the mushrooms served with steak at a lot of western steakhouses, too. Those have a glaze of Worchestershire sauce instead of garum and honey, but Worchestershire has both fish sauce and sugar in it. (Also tamarind, a common SE asian ingredient)

[@Mnnvint]

Not so strange, since there was contact! I've heard claims that fish sauces came to Asia from the Roman empire.

[@IsaacMayerCreativeWorks]

Maimonides wrote a lot about food and I’d love if you did a Maimonides episode. His recipe for “what to eat if your constipated” (Mishneh Torah, Midot Adam 4:13) is: One who is young should eat boiled mulukhiyya seasoned with olive oil, fish sauce, and salt, without bread; or drink water boiled with spinach or cabbage with olive oil, fish sauce, and salt. One who is old should drink honey mixed with hot water in the morning, wait four hours, and eat his meal.

[@TastingHistory]

He does deserve a full episode

[@IsaacMayerCreativeWorks]

Midot Adam 4:8 - “In the summer one should eat cooling foods, not too seasoned, and use vinegar. In the rainy season one should eat warming foods, heavily seasoned, and eat a bit of mustard and fenugreek.”

[@Xiroi87]

@IsaacMayerCreativeWorks so gazpacho or salmorejo in summer. Makes sense an Andalusian would recommend that.

[@farmergiles1065]

From experience: honey in hot coffee can have the same effect.

[@D_A_D_]

Being someone's food taster is basically them saying "I trust you with my life, but if someone's trying to kill me, I'd rather have you die instead." How would you even take that?

[@RainbowFlowerCrow]

Another well put together video! I'm enjoying binge watching this new channel!

[@writerinrwanda]

In Rwanda, some people still shun drinking in bars unless the beer/soda is opened in front of you. Lot of paranoia around poison and suspicion about poisoning, especially over land disputes and inheritance.

[@Tuck-Shop]

Poison the glass then

[@MrVovansim]

Plenty of places like that. Not necessarily land disputes, but just about getting drugged and taken to an ATM for withdrawals, or worse.

[@Kymmee2100]

Too bad many college students aren't always this smart.

[@DaremKurosaki]

That's pretty common everywhere. Especially if you're a women, it's way to easy to get a spiked drink.

[@TinyScorpion44]

I was taught never to accept a drink if it wasn't opened or made in front of me by a bartender or server. It's a good way to lessen the chance of your drink being spiked

[@jongustafson3399]

I had the verify online to make sure mark Antony didn't actually live to the age of 113 lol. The Graphic says he was alive from 83BC to 30AD, he actually died in 30BC.

[@mikakestudios5891]

Ah. Yet more Roman slander against my gir,l Cleopatra.

[@slwrabbits]

those clunky CE vs BCE dates

[@BruceBoyde]

Hah, I saw that too. It's a tiny mistake, but it would have been hilarious if Antony lost but lived in exile until the middle of Tiberius' reign.

[@afakes4]

​@@slwrabbitshm what event could distinguish between common era and not common era

[@underpaidmook]

​@@afakes4Which is funny, because for removing religious references, they still use a religious event for determining BC and AD

[@mikearmstrong8483]

A common practice (so I've read) during the Roman era was for VIPs to drink from a hollowed rhinoceros horn. The horn is not material like the horns of other animals, but rather extremely tightly compressed hair. Since most poisons of that time were alkali based, the poison would cause the rhino horn to dissolve and suddenly the drinking goblet would fall apart, thereby warning the person about to imbibe. I think this may be the root of the myth that rhino horn has medicinal properties, a belief that rhinos would prefer to dispel.

[@michaelwarenycia7588]

Fascinating. I had no idea there actually was a legit use for those once...explains why they were so valuable

[@1midnightfish]

Oh WOW. Thank you, I had no idea!

[@nomisunrider6472]

Ironically, nowadays rhino horns are often poisoned or have radioactive material injected into them, so drinking from a rhino horn cup might be the last thing you’d ever do.

[@slwrabbits]

You might want to check on that - I think it's likely that people believed this about rhinoceros horn, but it would not be because their horns were made of keratin while those of other animals were not. Horns from regular cattle are also made of keratin, just like hair. Keratin is also notoriously difficult to dissolve.

[@nomisunrider6472]

@@slwrabbits I did a little research. Turns out that the story comes from a Persian belief that the cup would change color or bubble in the presence of poisons, which is possible depending on the poison and the horns’ composition (some have more or less keratin based on diet and location). Cow horns are a thin layer of keratin with a bone core while rhino horns are thick layers of keratin around a small mineral core, but my guess it was just that people rich enough to drink from rhino horns were more likely to be poisoned and drew up an equivalence.

[@sarahkramer8954]

Commending you on applying fresh insights into the history of food. Am addicted to this channel as a result.

[@PrecociousFriand]

Use of 'alleged' is smart if the possibility of time travel becomes a reality

[@enkilm]

Agrippina happened to be Claudius’ niece not just his wife!She got him to change an existing Roman law against Uncles marrying their Nieces under pain of death! It was pure lust I suppose as Agrippina was quite beautiful.

[@TastingHistory]

Yeah, it was a close knit family.

[@FinehomesofNewHampshire]

​@@TastingHistoryThe family tree is a wreath with royals.

[@ChaoticAphrodite]

The family tree was more a family bush.

[@cwfutureboy]

So _that's_ how it is in their family!

[@christinesteckel3390]

If your family tree does not fork, you might be a redneck. 😉

[@kennyrosenyc]

I can understand not liking mushrooms. But, most people don't cook them correctly. Mushrooms should be sautéed until all of the water evaporates, when cooked this way they have a very different texture than when they still have water inside. They tend to be more meaty.

[@NateMylott]

How do you avoid them burning and shriveling up like bacon?

[@kennyrosenyc]

@@NateMylott That's pretty much the idea. Once all that water is gone, they're really shriveled up and not chewy at all. You have to be careful though, they will burn.

[@inkermoy]

Or you can throw them in a peppery sauce like Hardee's Mushroom and Swiss and call it a day! :D

[@yasmin7903]

I like them better when they are barely cooked.

[@Erewhon2024]

​@@yasmin7903Only a few mushrooms are really safe raw.

[@jordanhamann9123]

You should do a collab with Ann Reardon from How to Cook That channel!! She does these old dessert recipe videos every so often and I think the two of you would make for a great collaboration!

[@TastingHistory]

Love her! If I ever get to Australia.

[@AC-ni4gt]

@@TastingHistoryThat is a place and collab to save up for and communicate about. I'd love to see what you'd guys can do together.

[@GogiRegion]

@@TastingHistoryI have an idea! Since she has a degree in food science, it might be interesting to see you two work together to try and reverse engineer a historical recipe that is not fully complete, if that would be realistic.

[@swisski]

Just as a word to the wise: perhaps avoid any conversation including today’s topic, poisoned mushrooms, or duxelles and beef Wellington. 😉

[@megabigblur]

@@swisski For others who don't follow Australian news, there's an ongoing case in Australia where a person named Erin Patterson is being charged with murdering her ex-in-laws by serving them poison mushrooms.

[@MsLeenite]

Thank you for another thrilling adventure, Max. Guess I'm one of the lucky ones who likes both the flavor and texture of mushrooms.There was a restaurant in Brooklyn NY long ago, called Famous. They were a Kosher dairy restaurant which served egg and cheese dishes, but no meat or poultry. They excelled in their preparations of vegetables, roots and grains. They used mushrooms in many clever and creative ways, to substitute for meat in burgers, cutlets, etc. Their mushroom cutlet, with mushroom gravy, and 2 or 3 side dishes, was a real feast. Alas, you would not have liked the mushroom stuff, but I bet you'd have found a lot of savory dishes there to enjoy.

[@mrmadmaxalot]

@ 8:30 That gives "toxic relationship" a very literal meaning.

[@kaboom4679]

All mushrooms are edible . Some mushrooms are only edible , once .

[@terminallumbago6465]

They’re either edible, dead-ible, or off your head-ible.

[@NateMylott]

My mother was our food tester for Halloween candy when we were kids in the 80s. Back then there were so many urban legends about poisoned Halloween candy.

[@lisafish1449]

Ironic, that. For the most part, poisoned Halloween candy is an urban myth. However, there was one child who died after consuming a poisoned pixie stick. It was not contaminated by any of their neighbors, but by the father, who did it for insurance money.

[@terminallumbago6465]

There was actually one case. But actually it seems like a convenient excuse for parents to get their hands on some Halloween candy.

[@m.dilitto5488]

Mama just wanted your Reese's cups

[@farmergiles1065]

It was no myth. There was quite a rash of cases for a time. It was enough to put a damper on trick-or-treating ever since, and gave rise to the idea of the neighborhood party.

[@corey2232]

Oh Cleopatra was such a kidder! I'm sure that prisoner being murdered as a practical joke thought it was so clever! 😂

[@Murf181]

I think the prisoner had the last laugh

[@HermitTcrab]

I love the scene in I, Claudius when Empress Livia and Martina the poisoner are just casually discussing poisoning techniques. Over lunch. Then Martina complains of indigestion. And Livia has the gall to say "don't look at me".

[@maryclairetosques7551]

Hi Max, you might enjoy mushrooms more if they were chopped smaller and cooked longer. I don't like the texture either, so I slice them very thinly and cook most of the moisture out of them, until they're kinda chewy and a little crispy, which concentrates the flavor and gets rid of the rubberiness. I'm sure that technique would work with this recipe, which sounds delicious!

[@rosemather7130]

Oh Max....worldwide so many foragers die from mistaking poison mushrooms from edible ones. It's amazing how powerful and deadly a little fungus can be. So perhaps some tasters also died from some of these put in a dish. If they indulged in 'gold tops' they would be 'tripping' haha. I don't like mushrooms much either. I adore your Channel. Have been with you since around100k subscribers. Thankyou Max and Jose.

[@mowerds33]

Eating rooster poop as an antidote for poison sounds fowl!

[@j.munday7913]

Sounds like a shitty idea.

[@mwater_moon2865]

Bezoars, mineralized lumps of undigested food from goat stomachs, were considered a 100% antidote to poisons. Enough so they're still referenced in Harry Potter as a magical antidote.

[@acethememelorde4377]

Ba dum tss

[@sillybeeful]

So Max….are you going to take us on a wee tour of your splendid new kitchen? Thank you for another intriguing episode of Tasting History

[@NostalgiaChan]

I so appreciate the mention of specifically not liking the texture of mushrooms. I absolutely adore the flavor that mushrooms impart, but man is it a rare day that I find mushrooms that don't feel unpleasant to bite into.

[@kittyprydekissme]

I'm the same way. I find the best way to get the good mushroom flavour without biting into them is to use dried mushrooms shredded into a powder, or you can use big pieces of fresh mushroom that you can easily fish out of the sauce once you cook it.

[@ernestop6501]

The amount of research needed for each episode must be mind boggling and yet you make it fascinating how easily you bring it to life in presentation.

[@jeff-crankyxer1931]

Reminds me of the movie Bananas and the scene where Woody Allen is having dinner with the dictator. His food taster tried his food and then struggles and he just tells Woody, "Maybe some poison. But that's ok I've been poisoned so many times I've developed an immunity."

[@2MuchPurple]

Such a funny movie! One of my favorites

[@LonesomeCowgirl]

😂😂😂

[@pirateyarn6331]

iocaine powder, perhaps? LOL

[@TheOnlyBongo]

3:56 "Or you can do as I'm gonna do and...make the food yourself." Actually makes me wonder, Max, were there any notable cases of someone with royal, noble, or ruling status circumnavigating the kitchen cooks and preparing dishes for themselves on the occasion? Or just liked to cook or bake in general? I'd be curious to know who enjoyed being in the kitchen recreationally and seeing what a dish they may have enjoyed would be.

[@alexandermashin5515]

Joseph Stalin was said to boil macaroni for himself on an electric hot plate in his study in his final years.

[@isabelled4871]

King Louis 15th of France enjoyed cooking for his guests at his "petits soûpers", intimate little dinners with only a few friends. I can't remember what he cooked though. Fancy omelets maybe. And I think he also invented some recipe.

[@shironerisilk]

@@isabelled4871I think I heard something about him inventing French onion soup (that one made with champagne and covered in cheese)

[@kaisa1476]

Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia (wife of Alexander III) enjoyed cooking but wasn't allowed to do it in imperial palaces because of strict etiquette. However, the emperor's family had a small fishing lodge in what is today southeastern Finland, where the court rules didn't apply and the empress could do the cooking.

[@lisahoshowsky4251]

I’ve always wondered this! Since it is a passion many people are born with it seems likely at some point a royal (or equal) person would enjoy pursuing it as a hobby if given the chance. Cool to see there’s already a few examples in the replies.

[@FishareFriendsNotFood972]

Honey and mushroom are a combo I had never thought of and sounds perfect, actually.

[@LoSeDplz]

Saying evaporated as soon as the lens fogged up was *chefs kiss*

[@ironlion45]

Sounds like a nice recipe, I'll have to give it a try. It'll be tough to beat fried in butter and garlic though.

[@la_scrittice_vita]

The practice of naming two heirs seems to have been a thing going back to Augustus. They did it _so many times,_ there was probably a strategic reason, like the two contenders watched and blocked each other, thus making Caesar feel safer?

[@royjohansen3730]

About the texture of mushrooms: Have you ever tried to fry them RIGHT down? (Medium to low heat, LONG time in the pan.) Season as you normally would (maybe a bit into the frying period so the spices don't burn). This will get rid of a lot of water, and, if done right, will turn the mushrooms almost crispy. Delicious!

[@Metalhammer1993]

Trick is though to not add any oil in the beginning. Would crank the heat up all the way though mushrooms don't burn so it's faster

[@royjohansen3730]

@@Metalhammer1993 Interesting and thanks! Definitely gonna try.

[@dianahowell3423]

"there's nothing more suspicious than frogsbreath, Sally!"

[@therealbuttsmcgee]

this comment got me cackling, thank you

[@Zelmel]

Max talking about mushrooms and it being texture hits so true to me. I like mushrooms as a duxelle in stuff or powdered or similar, but the texture of mushrooms when identifiable is so off-putting.

[@oonaghmarguerite6752]

Nothings beats a mess of fresh picked morels ! Panfried after an egg wash with a flour & cornmeal dusting. YUM

[@ArachCobra]

Nothing says healthy relationship like your lover giving you a chilling reminder that if they wanted you dead, no security measure known to man would be able to stop them.

[@MartijnFrazer]

Love that spoon, especially because it looks so much just like a normal modern spoon! We had a similar experience on holiday in Italy when we visited the Napels museum where they had stuff they dug up from Pompeii on display. Among the collection were a bunch of spoons and I swear to god we have exactly the same ones at home haha.

[@EvilDoresh]

You just can't improve perfection. Except with the spork.

[@PennyWoo-rr6io]

babe wake up new Tasting History with Max Miller just dropped

[@lucyshnyr5647]

6:52 It should be „83 BC - 30 BC“, because as it is now (83 BC - 30 AD) it would mean Mark Antony lived for 113 years.

[@IR_Baboon]

This is the first video I have watched on my new phone. It's got better definition that my old phone. It seriously looks like there a little mini Max Miller inside my phone.

[@vukkulvar9769]

If you want the mushroom flavor without the texture, you can always do a mushroom blended soup. For children, I did 50/50 minced meat and minced mushroom meatballs.

[@darylfaulkner4882]

My Lego castle now needs a food taster minifig.

[@FlymanMS]

Just pick a generic villager and put on his minifig a head that has cheerful and vomiting expression.

[@annacollier3207]

My children seem to think they are royal food tasters. Always suspicious of new foods 💀 but they they will try if the bribe is right.

[@bjumorrisdatter904]

Eat your greens! 😂

[@xcom9x]

For the weird texture try hitting the mushrooms with the salty part of the recipe or a little actual table salt when you're first cooking em, then separately do the other ingredients. It'll draw out moisture and make them more crunchy & hopefully tolerable. Because they're not really plants they can't get wilted from this, but too much salt can still be a problem. They can decrease in size and concentrate in flavor tho, & may caramelize the ingredients you're putting in with them (so it's obviously gonna cook the fish sauce & change it, not just warm it). For this to work it has to boil off the water in the mushrooms and all other ingredients in the pan. How fine a cut would determine how crunchy they can get if you did this, 1/16th cap might be the way to go, 1/8th you could fry pretty good & still have juicy insides unless you spend more time. Probably test this without making any of the actual sauce to see if you can get the technique, or if it would just never be worth it lol

[@fuzzballzz36]

The Romans just loved their honey and pepper! I learned that originally from reading Petronius' Satyricon (half of Trimalchio's dishes seemed to be flavoured with honey and pepper) and when I was inspired by your videos to make ancient Roman dishes, I learned just how true that was!

[@EvilDoresh]

Honey was their go-to sweetener. Actual sugar had to be imported, and was usually only used for medical purposes.

[@hannahbrown2728]

Wasnt expecting a little christmas story reference. You can not turn down a triple dog dare.

[@ellenjampole1905]

The reference cracked me up. One of my favorite movies ever.

[@sheenachristina2385]

Identifying mushrooms is definitely not for the untrained. There are so many look-a-likes for good mushrooms, that you risk all sorts of GI issues or worse if not properly identified. Also- being food taster would be a crappy way to find out you have a food allergy.

[@TastingHistory]

I never thought of the food allergy aspect 😂

[@maggiee3601]

Now I am wondering how many dishes were assumed to be poisoned when the taster had an allergic reaction.

[@SingingSealRiana]

Friend of mine wrote a genuine poem about a foodtaster with lactose intollerance who gets all the cooks killed for trying to kill the king😅

[@SingingSealRiana]

​​@@TastingHistorywell you should 😅 It can get quite interesting

[@alexfarkas3881]

@@SingingSealRiana I would love to read that.

[@AaronMichaelLong]

Max, if I may recommend, it may be that you don't like *button* mushrooms. There are many other wild and hybrid varieties, with differing textures and flavors.

[@zinckensteel]

I'm with you when it comes to the standard boring agaricus bisporus - the white button mushroom. It's like thinking you don't like fish when all you've ever tasted is what comes out of a bag of frozen filets - and then one day you try a fresh pan-fried brook trout.. *mind blown* I completely love chanterelles, chicken of the woods, cauliflower, porcini, A. augustus, fresh shiitake (screw the dried stuff unless you're making broth), but I still dislike that wet-styrofoam consistency of button mushrooms.

[@ronybel15]

Food tasters were a regular thing also in the Asian royal courts. There's a contemporary novel/anime that revolves around a food taster in the Chinese palace, with a fun twist - she likes poison 😂 (the apothecary diaries if anyone's interested). Great video as usual, appreciate the reference of Maimonides - he had some interesting writings about food, health and exercises in the 12th century :)

[@EvilDoresh]

They got really creative when it came to outsmarting food tasters. Like the _Assassin's Teapot_ , which has two separate chambers for different fluids (usually regular tea and poisoned tea).

[@Chociewitka]

the Roman spoon is a "Swan spoon", a spoon adjusted for eating when laying down and eating from a bowl held up in the other hand

[@caseysilkwood47]

Always exciting getting that notification for a new Tasting History vid! LOVE the new-look kitchen btw!

[@YukiNeko-Neko]

Try using eggplants, zucchini, tofu, or carrots as an alternative to mushrooms. All would go very well with that honey sauce. Even chickpeas would work. Great Video, I always look forward to your work 👍👍

[@davehill4053]

The Medicis were rank amateurs when compared to the Borgias. Lucrecia (?) Borgia leaps to mind

[@ShaCaro]

Lucrezia. You got the pronunciation right though, going by your spelling.

[@CattyHomesteader79]

Lucrecia is Sephiroth's mom.

[@tinyetoile5503]

​@CattyHomesteader79 reminds me of the time I accidentally referred to Jehova's witnesses as "Jenova's witnesses"

[@TisHotMessHistory]

All blended families aren't as loving as the Brady Bunch.

[@pokemonfanrock1]

For anyone interested in a not-super-accurate-but-dope dramatization of Claudius' lives, I would highly recommend an old british TV show called I, Claudius. Derek Jacobi is Claudius and you have other great performances by Brian Blessed, a not-bald Patrick Steward, John Hurt, and many more. Its genuinely a brilliant show. Think game of thrones but real history with some cosmic horror elements in later episodes.

[@Lucius1958]

You could also read the original novels by Robert Graves.

[@dellaanniehughes4533]

In the TV version , it is implied that Claudius knew the mushrooms were poisoned, but ate them anyway.

[@karenkieffer3684]

Loved this show when it originally aired in the 70s, I think. Bought a remastered version on DVD so I could see it again. Wonderful show!

[@kimquinn7728]

​@Lucius1958 You could but you need the voices of Claudius, his mother, Augustus, Livia, so many iconic roles. Each perfected by the actors.

[@Jarastlad]

Hey Max, thanks again for the videos, they're always so nice to watch. And thanks for the Long Pepper. I've become a little bit roman myself with this spice, as I am infatuated with it and try to add it to all of my dishes ^^

[@robinsnest68]

So good to see you again Max!✌️❤️😁

[@commaJim]

I was just thinking about writing a story about food tasters, so this is perfectly timed!