Historic Food Preservation - Potted Salmon

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[patriciatow]

When I was growing up on a farm, we didn't have a freezer so when we butchered a pig my grandfather would fry all the sausage, keep the grease from it, layer the cooked sausage in a stone crock, pour over the grease, layer by layer and top it off with a couple inches of grease, put the wood top on and we ate the sausage through the winter by removing one layer at a time.. it never went bad and no mold ever grew on it.

[marcireale]

My husband’s uncle made potted spiced pork until just a year before he died. He simmered pork roast with pickling spices until it was falling apart tender, drained it and removed any tendons and gristle. Then he ground it and packed it into a small-mouthed clay pot (which we now have) he poured hot lard on the meat until it was covered by about a half inch, and set a small plate on top.

Then he simmered it in a water bath for at least four hours. Let it cool, remove the plate and cover the top with a piece of greased heavy paper (he used a grocery sack) and tied it on with string.

He then tied twine around the neck of the jar and lowered it onto a ledge in the well, as they had no springhouse. (By the time I knew him, he had a refrigerator and kept his potted pork in the fridge.)

He would scrape back the lard, dig out some potted pork, and spread the lard back over the meat with a spoon. He ate it with saltines. He also fried it and ate it with sliced hard boiled eggs for breakfast. He would like only offer some to people he really liked, because it was laborious to make.

[stamasd]

Potting isn't dead. I learned from my grand-mother how to make potted sausages in lard with paprika. You cook the sausages in lard, pack them in a jar tightly and cover them up in the jar with the lard and paprika. Then you set them up in a cool place like a pantry. They keep for months, and actually get better with time. They get creamy, not quite spreadable but definitely soft. It's my favorite way to cook sausages.

[e.s.l]

This dude cooks, does IT work, builds canoes, ovens & and cabins, is a historian, ……. And is apparently also a potter.
He’s truly a modern interpretation of the time period he’s devoted his life to.

[jackstrubbe]

My Bavarian great grandmother also poured melted beeswax and paraffin over hers, once the butter/ghee had set. She had little triangular stilts to raise them and poured the melted wax over the entire. There were two shelves in her pantry for potted products, the lower one for waxed pots which had a longer shelf life. I became a ceramist because the process fascinated me.

[nissanztt]

My dude really does things completely authentic. Down to the flintstone pottery wheel.

[richtersrenestorm]

I need this man on my team in case of an apocolypse. With him we wont survive; we will thrive.

[BrigadierPickles]

Would you ever consider making 12 of them and seeing how they age over a year? You'd be able to create a 18th century best by date!

[rupertprawnworthy]

Potted shrimps are still a delicacy in the north west of England, it is made using tiny native brown shrimps traditionally caught around Morecombe bay and is made much like how you made the potted salmon here. It is always spiced with a little nutmeg and mace and is typically served on hot toast or as a sauce/garnish element over dover or lemon sole.

[johansmallberries]

It’s funny, I never realized how important potting was to food preservation and transport, but its prevalence explains why ceramics are always such an abundant thing found on archeological sites.

[HardcoreHector]

Mr. Townsend, your channel has served to not only renew my own interest in history, but has also become a go-to when I need to smile after a rough day. Cheers to you, and may you never stop enjoying what you do.

[d.r.monroe]

My Irish grandmother potted fish and seafood in general all the time. We always ate it. My husband's Sicilian family similarly did something like this with olive oil - he grew up with that.

[SVDBYTHBLD]

My aunt Elma and I got caught in a mudslide after a wild rainstorm and we made it to a run down camp near an embankment. This was in Minnehaha Minnesota and the year was 1974. My aunt was 78 at the time, but she was spry and she kept us moving when the mud would rise.

We found a family that had too, been cut off by the mudslide. We subsisted on POTTED SALMON for two weeks! We made it and my aunt, how I miss her, said she’d never harm a single little fishy again.

Great video as always!

[jcsfrancisco]

Nothing more soothing than seeing Jon make simple yet perfect clay pots from scratch. Reminds me that there's something beautiful in good, old-fashioned manual labor and artisanship. 💪💪💪💪💪

[RyllenKriel]

Hey, Jon is a wheel potter! I picked up that craft myself a long time ago. It's very gratifying to make your own dishes and beer mugs. Even my cat has his own special treat bowl.

[philaphobic]

Wow, Jon, you throw pots too?! That was a beautiful intro.

[LJAndrews]

So how many sprinkles of nutmeg do we need per pot Jon? Never change you beautiful soul.

[thedustofthefuture]

seeing john laugh after saying "woodcock" made me happier than it should have

[marthabenner]

My dad showed me this because I want to get into pottery for canning this summer. Thank you.

[bigpolski]

honestly one of my favorite channels out there. everything is just so useful. I used the potted beef method for venison and it was amazing. let it set 8 months and was still good.