Thanks again to Bright Cellars for sponsoring this video! Click here bit.ly/BrightCellarsTastingHistory3 to get 50% OFF your first 6-bottle box plus a BONUS bottle!
I believe they may be called "biskets" here because, from what I see, the recipe for prince biskets is relatively close (taking out the rose water and the caraway seeds) to that of spanish-style sponge cake, also known as "spanish bread" in a lot of languages, except mostly in Spanish, where they are called "bizcochos", and English, were they are lumped into the even more generic "sponge cakes". Leaving aside the amounts of the ingredients, which do vary a lot even inside Spain (and which technically makes pound cake a particularly straightforward variety of this dish), the main difference I see is that in the traditional spanish recipe, the egg whites are put aside, then whisked and added to the mix pefore beating everything together (in modern times this process is quite often skipped in favour of adding baking soda instead). And since I'm on this topic, I would suggest for this series a dish called "bica", which is a derivative of the spanish bizcocho, but salty. I know of at least two recipes, which means the concept is at least as loose as the main dish's: one wich involves salted cow tallow, while the other one involves soup stock.
Readers Discretion advised: In the Elizabethan era (Shakespeare's time) "hour" would have been spelled "hore" (phonetically identical to whore) rather than "our". Hence Shakespeare's wordplay in his play "As You Like It" : ’Tis but an hour ago since it was nine, And after one hour more ‘twill be eleven. And so from hour to hour we ripe and ripe, And then from hour to hour we rot and rot; And thereby hangs a tale.’ 😉
It makes sense. Caraway seeds are good for digestion and a natural breath freshener. Something you would probably have before you go on an Elizabethan datenight.
it is not only good for the breath! the point with digestion is essential. the reason is simple. the aristocracy tended to eat meat and a lot of fried and boiled stuff, regardless of whether it was made from fish, chicken or game and pork. There were no vegetables because vegetables were pork feed and peasant food from the aristocratic point of view. There were pastries only if there was plenty of butter and sugar in them. Anyone who ate this way got constipated then and now too! many nobles had problems with bowel movements in the toilet. So it is logical to use such digestive biscuits with a lot of caraway seeds.
I only associate the taste of caraway with rye bread and adding to cooked sauerkraut. I just tried some raw caraway seeds from my spice rack and I definitely can see it as a breath freshener. I prefer anise seeds for this purpose so maybe I'll try a variation of the Prince Bisket recipe using anise seeds.
And a staple in Aquavitae and Pultost . Boil up buttermilk or Kefir ,take the curdled cheese off into a strainer ,ad salt and caraway , if one want it dry ir wet ad more of the leftover liquid, excellent on bread,or part of dinner ,boiled potatoes ,butter ,salt on top . Store in a good container with airholes in the fridge . Old farmer ,Forrester/ lumberjack staple. Even bette with some aquavitae dripped in,make it posh add some Port or Sherry instead.( as done in finer households)
In the UK there was a famous legal case determining the difference between a cake and a biscuit - the infamous Jaffa Cake case. A biscuit is a baked item that goes soft when stale, whereas a cake is a baked item that goes hard when stale, was how it was decided. Max was entertaining and informative as ever. He will never go stale, sweet as he is. For some reason I always enjoy his "let's give a shot" moment. He rarely fails to say it.
I swear Max gets funnier every time, in all of his multiple incarnations. Would love to meet “trying to record while standing over the stove” Max next!
“But I’m not a complete masochist, so I did decide to pop open a bottle of wine from our sponsor…” Best transition to a sponsor I’ve seen, and I’ve watched Terrible Writing Advice.
That was a good transition into the sponsor. I like when UA-camr switch over to another persona to do sponsors. I don't know anything about TWA, but so far Baumgartner has the best segways into his sponsors.
@@CrazzyLaddy69 Baumgartner is realy good. Terrible Writing Advice(TWA) is in a very diffrent style. He's developed a whole running side story about the factions fighting over control of the sponsorship.
Dear Mr. Max, you influenced my hobbies more than I'd like to admit. Angry about the translation mess in naming of spices across the internet, I began to make my own spice dictionary. Mainly Latin (scientific botanics), English (most worldwide language), Czech (my country) and also Indian (even some spice-packs from India had bad translations on them), Arabic, Chinese or even Nahuatl if needed etc. Way more difficult than I ever imagined. Now I am about 200 species of plants used for cooking worldwide, some of them everyone knows, some of them are pretty local and specific to different areas. And you are one of the reasons I am doing that, your "devil's dung" in Parthian Chicken episode reminded me that my grand-grandmother knew the spice "čertovo lejno" (direcly translated devil's dung). Impressive how many of these were known in the past in the central Europe but not today. Thank you very much for your influence. There is much work to be done but I will gladly share this dictionary when it becomes suitable enough.
Wow I love that idea! I am obsessed with the idea of preserving things in writing for future humans to look back on! Hope to see your spice dictionary soon 😊
Waw, I do appreciate your work. I would like to read it. I have come across a lot of confusion in names too. Sometimes enhanced by Czech and Slovak false closeness when it comes to naming herbs and seasonings.
I love that because Zweiback in my girlfriend's family is a type of bread you tear and dip in warm melted butter. It's a family recipe and a specific construction so that it's easy to tear, soak, and enjoy
@@Your-Least-Favorite-Stranger Apparently Zweiback is the German equivalent of the Biscuit because my late Grandmother's version was very similar to an Italian Biscotti which is very different from what you are describing.
Good Lord, on the "unfortunately-shaped beard" I almost choked. Max (both the table one and the couch one), you're just amazingly good at all this. Oh, and I'm glad my expectations to meet hardtack again were not disappointed! :)
Fun linguistics fact: in modern Dutch we still call cookies ‘koekjes’, but that refers to any and all cookie-like baked confectioneries up to and including biscuits. Or ‘biskwietjes’ as we call them in terrible Dutch phonetic spelling.
- and in modern German 'Biskuit' refers to pretty much anything between a cookie and a sponge cake - it essentially means 'not flaky pastry'. We've got the word 'Zwieback', too, which actually means 'double bake' and still refers to exactly what it says! it is shaped like ordinary bread, but is already sliced before the second baking.
@@chanpreetkaur2176 Yes, very similar. There is less actually difference between most regional food in Europe than people think when you boil down the recipes. Only so many ways to make food and most Europeans had the same ingredients. My personal favorite example are pancakes: just flour, egg, and milk fried in on a flat heating surface. Everyone has them, but everyone insists their pancakes are literally beyond comparison with others because they have some regional twist that clearly makes them "different." Apart from some regions having different access to grains, a pancake is a pancake, irrespective of how thin you make it (crepes) or use rye instead of wheat or what-have-you.
I would not be surprised if the American "cookie" (instead of British "biscuit") came from the Dutch of New Amsterdam (AKA New York City) and not as a reaction against England as Max suggested.
Tasting History DVD extras come to life! :D Fun fact: sometimes in those old recipes when they say "stir by hand" they literally mean by hand. Your body heat affecting the ingredients was part of the process.
They actually have the same ingredients as regular marshmallows (corn syrup, gelatin) but are made with less water, making them crisp and shelf stable!
I found this channel quite a while after it started, so when I was getting to the older videos I was surprised at how short they were. Honestly these videos could be like an hour long and I would still watch them lol.
Well the shorter episodes were something prominent with a lot of the older episode, but I think what made people say that the first episode format needed to change was just the fact that he didn't taste it. I still find every episode very very interesting, but I can understand why people wouldn't be too happy about not tasting it.
I mean I agree that the episodes could be an hour and I would happily watch. Although the blue eyes are adorable. My daughter, grandkid and my mom have blue eyes. Unfortunately mine are green, like my dad. 😂
As a French speaker and recovering linguist: hour, honour, honest, and heir are all directly borrowed from French and are never pronounced with an H; herb and history are pronounced with an H or not according to your regional dialect; and a short list of conservative regional dialects still pronounce human without the H. There's others, but these are the big ones.
@@vinnytube1001 Not to mention the city of Useton in Texas! When I worked at DFW for a couple of years, it always amused me when Houston was pronounced with the leading ‘h’.
What a cast of characters in this episode. You got... Max at the table, Max on the couch, Jaime on the counter, José in the other room, and Cersei just wishing she was alone in the house. 😆
I'm glad you've become so comfortable in front of the camera. The informality is much more engaging! This episode, I LOVED the cut to chase Jamie off the counter- such a typical place to find one's cat! Thank you for redoing Prince Biscuits; now we know what that was all about!
I read "The Lost Episode of Tasting History: Prince Biskets" as "The Last Episode of Tasting History: Prince Biskets", and instantly felt sad. Rushed over here to know what happened only to realize that I just read the title wrong. Never felt soo happy to be in the wrong xD
I was waiting for the hard tack "clonk clonk" when you mentioned sailors. It came a little later than I anticipated, but it was worth it. I love a good "clonk clonk" clip.
I agree with you on how to improve the texture: whisk the eggs and sugar together until you can write short words on the surface with the runoff from the whisk and _then_ gently fold in the rosewater, flour and caraway seeds.
@@ellenrice19 I’d still whisk the eggs and sugar white and fluffy (preferably _not_ with a hand whisk) before adding the flour and optional baking powder.
This just shows how far you've come Max. Oh that cheese episode... Now to ensure this can last for future generations...like some petrification beam hits for some...odd reason. Who knows?!
The hardtack clip makes me laugh every time, especially when I'm not expecting, but also when I've watched an episode several times. Favourite running joke ever!!!
The caraway seeds (or anisette, in the other author's revised version) may have been intended as a breath freshener. (I believe I've read of seeds being used for that purpose in other historic recipes, at least.)
I remember going to Indian restaurants in New York that offered a small dish of seeds (actually, doing a bit of Googling and I think it was fennel and anise) after the meal to freshen the breath.
I made Persian cookies a few years back that were basically shortbread with a serious load of cardamom in them. A last tidbit at the end of the meal to sweeten the breath and possibly the burps as well.
I don't know why, but for some reason, I feel like the best episodes are when Max says, "That's really weird...." Sometimes good, sometimes bad, but always a trace of something passed. What a great episode, with a kittybomb to start. Thank you!
Oh my gosh Max, this is the funniest episode I've ever seen of Tasting History. Throughout this whole video I was trying to stifle a giggle. Congratulations for giving me a 15 minute long stomach cramp. I love you and your videos.
Oh, I remember making these for my medieval history class at college! My professor hosted a medieval feast/potluck at her house at the end of the semester and then had us each choose from a list of medieval recipes. The recipe I used called for anise seeds instead of caraway, which worried me because I don't like the taste of black licorice, but they ended up coming out quite delightful!
Back when iTunes was still worth using, I put out ringtones under the moniker "Jansen's Quality Ringing Tones for Portable Cellular Telephonic Devices"
Thank you, Max, for combining 2 of my favorite things cooking and history! I love your videos they are so fun and informative. I just wish some of my high school history teachers could have made history as fun as you do...I probably would have gotten better grades... maybe... so knows lol
The hour long stirring makes sense for a baked item using no artificial leaveners. To me (a non professional home cook) it sounds like you're beating a ton of air into something that you're simultaneously beating protein networks into with the gluten and egg proteins alongside the sugar to aid in the binding. It sounds similar to the process of how I make eggnog really frothy, by beating my eggs and sugar together until they are fluffy and a very pale yellow. It also is akin to anything with a meringue as its base leavener, like macarons or angel food cake.
Meringue is a bit different. Dont use yolks with that unless you add them in later. If any amount of oil or yolk gets in your meringue before its fully whipped, you better just start over, bc it will literally never whip properly
Hey Max, have you ever heard of "The First Ladies' Cookbook"? It's a cookbook filled with some of the presidents' favorite dishes as cooked by their ladies. It's fascinating, especially some of the early recipes. I love scrolling through that book, and I think you would love the recipes and the history!
Love the hardtack cut to, makes me laugh every time. I think it would be really cool to see an episode on Macaroni. I wish there was an outtake what happened off camera, be like " Jose pour me some more wine, I stirred this for an hour, and the texture is like stale Lucky Charms marshmallow I need to drown my sorrows.
Thereafter, Richard Platt was probably described by his peers as "ballsy". More fortuitous then, that the English nickname for someone called Richard is 'Dick'. I bet they laughed for days.
Love you, that hard tack clap of biscuits never fails to make me laugh. Your humor makes your videos. Please keep up the amazing great content and humor. You need to be on the food network or the history Channel or both.
BTW, careaway seeds are widely used in Slovak cooking today. From bread, soups, mains to baked goods (usually not sweet though). I am sure I can say it about Central European cooking too.
Love that you redid the Prince Biskets episode, that is true dedication. Seeing you make an Elizabethan recipe, which you explained with your delightful wit, charm, erudition and good looks, reminded me of a favorite film, and I realized that you now look like Errol Flynn in "The Private Lives of Elizabeth & Essex" with Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland. Your beard improved the episode and transformed you into a matinee idol, a swashbuckling, biscuit beating movie star! Cheers!
You do not get carried away with caraway. You buy it by the pound. Rye and onion bread spread with blackberry jam is only good if the rye has caraway. You add it to carrot casserole, it goes wellwith roasted onion. And, it's excellent in biscuits, cookies and cakes, served with tea. Yeah, I like caraway.
I have never before seen a recipe where the beating took longer than the baking. It's also possible that we adapted koekje into cookie because the spice koekjes (speculoos/speculaas) were used pretty widely as a thickener.
In old books like Mrs Beeton' s often batters for cakes were beaten for an hour. Before electric ir mechanical mixers this was the only way. They also had kitchen maids to do this
Thank you for mentioning Lady Fettiplace! I played her at SoCal's Renaissance Faire in the 80s and made a lot of her recipes for the St. Ives luncheon (which is called Dinner in her time)
I love that each episode gets better and better, and that you revisit the older episodes. I also love that you support other UA-camrs. The Hardtack Clack never fails to make me cackle!!
Yeah, I wasn't expecting it to turn out like mallow bits! (the freeze dried texture marshmallows) but perhaps that density is why it was termed a biskut rather than a typical bread or cake?
Me: See’s notice for Tasting History. Me: Drops everything to watch it. God I just can’t get enough of this channel. Like damn, sometimes I can’t get over how much I enjoy this channel and how thankful I am for finding it!
The lost episode! Had to click immediately! You do manage to pack 8n a lot of history (and great historical images) in a short amount of time. Love this channel Max!
fun fact: in Poland we have a snack called suchary bieszczadzkie, which is basically hardtack with loads of caraway seeds in it 😂 I think it's meant for people going on long treks in the mountains (bieszczadzkie means from the Bieszczady mountains).
I've made this recipe before and found it kinda meh. But then I swapped out the rosewater and caraway for orange essence and crushed pistachios and added a bit of baking powder. Much tastier!
Any video that includes your signature move (the "knock knock" of hardtack) is always a delight (even if the recipe got carried away by the caraway). Thanks, Max!
😆😆 Every SINGLE time!! The "Hard Tack Clip"!! Everytime they use it, it's just the perfect punctuation, a complete description and explanation in just one quick second!! Its just the best!! Love you Max!! Thank you so much for the laugh, def needed that tonight!!
I'm excited to see the knights next week! Also looking forward to seeing that episode on macaroni whenever you get around to it. The hard tack cutaway really caught me off guard this week and I laughed pretty hard at it. Thanks for the videos Max they're always a joy.
So much fun stuff going on in this one, Max! Starting with that cat, then the incredible picture of the process to obtain sugar…and I have to tell you after seeing every episode you’ve ever shared…that I will forever flash back to you doing the ‘tap-tap’ with the hard tack ANY time I hear the words Sea Biscuit or Hard Tack. BTW, sugared caraway seeds (of all things) were occasionally dropped one-by-one into a child’s lap during church a long, long ago to help them stay quiet!
As a person who has eaten the stale marshmallows in the Lucky Charms cereal I appreciate your description. Thank you for another fun and informative episode. :) God bless you.
I would tune in just for the history, or just for the historical recipes. You offer the best of both. I’m really glad you were able to put up this episode but with all your skillz. I’ve hoped for it since it was discussed on Max & Jose!
😂😂😂😂 Max, you are wonderful! I adore your attitude about the comments! It’s so refreshing that you don’t let the negative ones get to you. Thank you for teaching us all so many life lessons in only 15 minutes.
I'm so glad you gave the recipe equivalents for large AND medium eggs! WinCo sells these flats of, what, 24 eggs for a really good price? But they're *medium* and most recipes call for LARGE!!
Max is amazing with presenting the sponsors. Like I love wine and everything and was going to skip past it... then bamo, mixing bowl couch max comes into play. Well played. They're lucky to sponsor you, says I
Always glad to find lost biscuits in the back of my pantry. So, doubly glad to find the lost episode of Prince Biscuits. As always, the history was fascinating. Thanks!
Can I just say I love your videos and watching them makes me feel so homey and comfortable I think it's just your demeanor and background it looks like a beautiful home that you instantly walk into and feel safe and comfortable. Thank you for all you Max!!!!
Thanks again to Bright Cellars for sponsoring this video! Click here bit.ly/BrightCellarsTastingHistory3 to get 50% OFF your first 6-bottle box plus a BONUS bottle!
You also look damn good with a nicely trimmed beard!
Not that you look bad with out one, but you’re so much more distinct with one.
I believe they may be called "biskets" here because, from what I see, the recipe for prince biskets is relatively close (taking out the rose water and the caraway seeds) to that of spanish-style sponge cake, also known as "spanish bread" in a lot of languages, except mostly in Spanish, where they are called "bizcochos", and English, were they are lumped into the even more generic "sponge cakes". Leaving aside the amounts of the ingredients, which do vary a lot even inside Spain (and which technically makes pound cake a particularly straightforward variety of this dish), the main difference I see is that in the traditional spanish recipe, the egg whites are put aside, then whisked and added to the mix pefore beating everything together (in modern times this process is quite often skipped in favour of adding baking soda instead).
And since I'm on this topic, I would suggest for this series a dish called "bica", which is a derivative of the spanish bizcocho, but salty. I know of at least two recipes, which means the concept is at least as loose as the main dish's: one wich involves salted cow tallow, while the other one involves soup stock.
Readers Discretion advised:
In the Elizabethan era (Shakespeare's time) "hour" would have been spelled "hore" (phonetically identical to whore) rather than "our".
Hence Shakespeare's wordplay in his play "As You Like It" :
’Tis but an hour ago since it was nine,
And after one hour more ‘twill be eleven.
And so from hour to hour we ripe and ripe,
And then from hour to hour we rot and rot;
And thereby hangs a tale.’
😉
guess you could say this recipe got a bit carawayed
I’ve been with you since 1000 subs, and it’s been amazing to watch your channel grow and get the recognition it deserves.
The clip of Max clapping his hard tack biscuits together never fails to make me smile.
I think it’s even a GIF at this point xD
Clap those biscuits 🧇🧇
*CLACK CLACK*
Lol every time.
Don't forget the look of sheer incredulity on his face as he clacks those dry-bois together. The look completes the scene.
Man. This Max-on-the-couch-character is really cool. Totally different from the usual Max-at-the-table
Completely different 🤣
I fear the day we'll meet "Max of the basement"
And distinct from Max at the Bar too.
I think we need a mustachioed, parallel universe, evil Max, á la Star Trek, the original series.
I'd like to see Max at the Jaime
It makes sense. Caraway seeds are good for digestion and a natural breath freshener. Something you would probably have before you go on an Elizabethan datenight.
Good point! And they so do freshen breath.
it is not only good for the breath! the point with digestion is essential. the reason is simple. the aristocracy tended to eat meat and a lot of fried and boiled stuff, regardless of whether it was made from fish, chicken or game and pork. There were no vegetables because vegetables were pork feed and peasant food from the aristocratic point of view. There were pastries only if there was plenty of butter and sugar in them. Anyone who ate this way got constipated then and now too! many nobles had problems with bowel movements in the toilet. So it is logical to use such digestive biscuits with a lot of caraway seeds.
I only associate the taste of caraway with rye bread and adding to cooked sauerkraut. I just tried some raw caraway seeds from my spice rack and I definitely can see it as a breath freshener. I prefer anise seeds for this purpose so maybe I'll try a variation of the Prince Bisket recipe using anise seeds.
And a staple in Aquavitae and Pultost . Boil up buttermilk or Kefir ,take the curdled cheese off into a strainer ,ad salt and caraway , if one want it dry ir wet ad more of the leftover liquid, excellent on bread,or part of dinner ,boiled potatoes ,butter ,salt on top .
Store in a good container with airholes in the fridge . Old farmer ,Forrester/ lumberjack staple. Even bette with some aquavitae dripped in,make it posh add some Port or Sherry instead.( as done in finer households)
@@waylinar I’m not sure where you got that information from. I cook a lot of Medieval and early Renaissance food- and there *are* a lot of vegetables.
I call cat treats 'biscuits' and through this whole episode my cat kept meowing at the screen every time you said 'biskets'.
I hope you gave them some or your a monster
@meepsicle3396 - I call them "Kitty Cookies" - I better say away of Dutch-inspiring episodes.
Lol
😂
He’s GOT A BISCUIT
In the UK there was a famous legal case determining the difference between a cake and a biscuit - the infamous Jaffa Cake case. A biscuit is a baked item that goes soft when stale, whereas a cake is a baked item that goes hard when stale, was how it was decided. Max was entertaining and informative as ever. He will never go stale, sweet as he is. For some reason I always enjoy his "let's give a shot" moment. He rarely fails to say it.
"Nobody would put that much caraway in anything!"
*german laughter in the distance*
I live in Germany but I'm Hungarian-Jewish. All the three of my ethnicities are laughing loud. :D
As a German, I won't even let caraway seeds into my kitchen! Disgusting stuff.
@@Nemshee It's like with lovage - you love it or hate it, there's nothing in between.
British laughter muffled by a mouthful of caraway cake.
I hate lovage. A small amount can ruin a good meal.
@@Nemshee I love the stuff. Then you don't eat Obazda, do you?
9:55 I KNEW IT. The moment I saw "bisket" in the title, I was WAITING for that footage from the hardtack episode, and I wasn't disappointed.
How could I not
*CLACK CLACK*
Every time he uses that clip, I bust out laughing. It can't be helped. It's such a classic.
@@TastingHistory Max, an apron or shirt with you making the "Clack Clack" would sell out immediately. Every Tastorian would get one.
@@oopsgingermoment My parents have only seen his Guacamole and Bumbo episode and even they got a chuckle out of the hard tack gag, it hits just right
I swear Max gets funnier every time, in all of his multiple incarnations. Would love to meet “trying to record while standing over the stove” Max next!
... Max has me trained. Any time he mentions "hard tack" I do the **tap tap** in time with him automatically now. I hope I'm not alone in that lol
Lol u are not
yup, its a pavlovian responce now "hard tack"==== CLACK CLACK!
Glory Amen!
ME TOO!!!
“It is undeniable that oreos are the king of cookies”
*Chocolate Chip Cookies:* “Am I joke to you?”
I'll eat both 😋
Yes, chocolate chip cookies are a joke and belong at the bottommost rung of the cookie ladder.
@@squiresam
You are not only wrong, you are a liar
@@squiresam Did you have a traumatic experience related to chocolate chip cookies as a youth?
For the first time,I must disagree with Max.
I cannot stand Oreos.
"Carried away with caraway". This. This is the content I signed up for. Oh and the food, and history...and wonderful creators, oh and CATS!
🤣 I do love a pun
@@TastingHistory and we love you for it 🥰
@@SimuLord They still need a ginger munchkin cat named Tyrion!
Please Max, PLEASE never stop using that Hard-tack clip whenever it's mentioned. Absoloutely makes my week seeing that.
It’s good for a chuckle every time 😊
*CLACK CLACK*
@@GiselleMF i appreciate your dedication
@@alisaurus4224 I have to go back and check for more mentions of hardtack *CLACK CLACK* 🤣
No matter how much it appears itll never get old
“But I’m not a complete masochist, so I did decide to pop open a bottle of wine from our sponsor…” Best transition to a sponsor I’ve seen, and I’ve watched Terrible Writing Advice.
Not a Ragusea fan?
TWA is less a transition and more an on going series revolving on stealing the sponsor.
@@Tinil0 I think they might have recommended one or the other to me because I was watching it.
I would love to see them do a joint video.
That was a good transition into the sponsor. I like when UA-camr switch over to another persona to do sponsors.
I don't know anything about TWA, but so far Baumgartner has the best segways into his sponsors.
@@CrazzyLaddy69 Baumgartner is realy good. Terrible Writing Advice(TWA) is in a very diffrent style. He's developed a whole running side story about the factions fighting over control of the sponsorship.
The hot iron reminds me of an old dad joke.
"You know it's possible to drink lava?"
"Really "
"Yes, but you can only do it once."
🤣🤣
I’m about to start keeping count of how many times Max brings back the hard tack smack. It never fails to boost my serotonin levels.
Prince Biskets: To follow king cake, be accompanied by princess cake and offered alongside Earl Grey.
....God dang it now that sounds like what I need right about now.
Don't forget the ladyfingers! 😋
And the Richmond maids of honour
Mmmm, king cake!
Please don't ever stop playing that clip of the hard tack
Second this. Tap tap.
I’ll use it for all time 🤣
*CLACK CLACK*
Dear Mr. Max, you influenced my hobbies more than I'd like to admit. Angry about the translation mess in naming of spices across the internet, I began to make my own spice dictionary. Mainly Latin (scientific botanics), English (most worldwide language), Czech (my country) and also Indian (even some spice-packs from India had bad translations on them), Arabic, Chinese or even Nahuatl if needed etc. Way more difficult than I ever imagined. Now I am about 200 species of plants used for cooking worldwide, some of them everyone knows, some of them are pretty local and specific to different areas. And you are one of the reasons I am doing that, your "devil's dung" in Parthian Chicken episode reminded me that my grand-grandmother knew the spice "čertovo lejno" (direcly translated devil's dung). Impressive how many of these were known in the past in the central Europe but not today. Thank you very much for your influence. There is much work to be done but I will gladly share this dictionary when it becomes suitable enough.
This sounds FASCINATING. I would love to read it some day.
Hi! Is this ready to share yet? I'd be happy to help you build a simple free website for it, I'd use it for sure!
Mind posting it soon?
Wow I love that idea! I am obsessed with the idea of preserving things in writing for future humans to look back on! Hope to see your spice dictionary soon 😊
Waw, I do appreciate your work. I would like to read it. I have come across a lot of confusion in names too. Sometimes enhanced by Czech and Slovak false closeness when it comes to naming herbs and seasonings.
I see a potential spin-off: "Fixing History" where Max "fixes" recipes like this. He can fix the roaste heart by replacing it with ribeye.
Roasted heart should be wrapped in col fat
I'm imagining him like Babish saying "This is good, but I think we can do better."
i think he has enough alternative videos lets not work the guy to death! hes are good histroy hombody!
@jeremyguyton800 - Ann Reardon has that covered with in the baking milieu.
I think fixing history would be a great series with max as a host for sure 😊
The cutaway of max smacking those biscuits makes me smile every time
My late grandma used to bake “Zwieback” which is a German version Biscotti and literally means the same. It took me years to put two and two together.
You mean it took you years to put zwei and bis together? ;)
@@MrVovansim We can shut down that expression; we've found the perfect use.
@@MrVovansim Oh my, that's just the perfect pun. Bravo!
I love that because Zweiback in my girlfriend's family is a type of bread you tear and dip in warm melted butter.
It's a family recipe and a specific construction so that it's easy to tear, soak, and enjoy
@@Your-Least-Favorite-Stranger Apparently Zweiback is the German equivalent of the Biscuit because my late Grandmother's version was very similar to an Italian Biscotti which is very different from what you are describing.
Good Lord, on the "unfortunately-shaped beard" I almost choked. Max (both the table one and the couch one), you're just amazingly good at all this.
Oh, and I'm glad my expectations to meet hardtack again were not disappointed! :)
🤣 but am I wrong? That beard is indecent.
*CLACK CLACK*
@@TastingHistory I was making the same comment, inside my mind, in the moment you said it in the video LOL
I was wondering if it was going to be pointed out when I first saw that beard....
I had to play it over. I was laughing too much!!!
Fun linguistics fact: in modern Dutch we still call cookies ‘koekjes’, but that refers to any and all cookie-like baked confectioneries up to and including biscuits. Or ‘biskwietjes’ as we call them in terrible Dutch phonetic spelling.
- and in modern German 'Biskuit' refers to pretty much anything between a cookie and a sponge cake - it essentially means 'not flaky pastry'. We've got the word 'Zwieback', too, which actually means 'double bake' and still refers to exactly what it says! it is shaped like ordinary bread, but is already sliced before the second baking.
@@nicholasmorris3416 like biscotti?
@@chanpreetkaur2176 Yes, very similar. There is less actually difference between most regional food in Europe than people think when you boil down the recipes. Only so many ways to make food and most Europeans had the same ingredients. My personal favorite example are pancakes: just flour, egg, and milk fried in on a flat heating surface. Everyone has them, but everyone insists their pancakes are literally beyond comparison with others because they have some regional twist that clearly makes them "different." Apart from some regions having different access to grains, a pancake is a pancake, irrespective of how thin you make it (crepes) or use rye instead of wheat or what-have-you.
I would not be surprised if the American "cookie" (instead of British "biscuit") came from the Dutch of New Amsterdam (AKA New York City) and not as a reaction against England as Max suggested.
@@nicholasmorris3416 Of course, I now realise that toast is a biscuit.
Tasting History DVD extras come to life! :D Fun fact: sometimes in those old recipes when they say "stir by hand" they literally mean by hand. Your body heat affecting the ingredients was part of the process.
The stale “marshmallow” in Lucky charms, are in fact tiny meringues.
Which actually makes that cereal
really inexpensive!!
They actually have the same ingredients as regular marshmallows (corn syrup, gelatin) but are made with less water, making them crisp and shelf stable!
I found this channel quite a while after it started, so when I was getting to the older videos I was surprised at how short they were. Honestly these videos could be like an hour long and I would still watch them lol.
I’ll need some help if they get that long 🤣
Well the shorter episodes were something prominent with a lot of the older episode, but I think what made people say that the first episode format needed to change was just the fact that he didn't taste it. I still find every episode very very interesting, but I can understand why people wouldn't be too happy about not tasting it.
I agree. I found it early and for that I’m grateful though,. My partner always insists that his eyes can’t be that blue lol
Agreed
I mean I agree that the episodes could be an hour and I would happily watch. Although the blue eyes are adorable. My daughter, grandkid and my mom have blue eyes. Unfortunately mine are green, like my dad. 😂
As a French speaker and recovering linguist: hour, honour, honest, and heir are all directly borrowed from French and are never pronounced with an H; herb and history are pronounced with an H or not according to your regional dialect; and a short list of conservative regional dialects still pronounce human without the H. There's others, but these are the big ones.
It's funny because we Americans actually say it the correct way. The British changed their minds in the 19th century.
Can verify, have a friend that says YUman. (East Coast Mid-Atlantic Dialect)
@@vinnytube1001 Not to mention the city of Useton in Texas! When I worked at DFW for a couple of years, it always amused me when Houston was pronounced with the leading ‘h’.
@@vinnytube1001 Am also East Coast Mid-Atlantic and my Mum says that way. I had no idea it was a regional thing.
@@lll9107 That's odd, you don't look like you're writing in French.
I love it when you can slip in that hilarious hard-tack moment - “clack clack!” ! Your Wit and wisdom always bring me cheer! Another fantastic video!
That hard tack clip will never outstay it's welcome and I am so happy we still find uses for it.
What a cast of characters in this episode. You got... Max at the table, Max on the couch, Jaime on the counter, José in the other room, and Cersei just wishing she was alone in the house. 😆
I'm glad you've become so comfortable in front of the camera. The informality is much more engaging! This episode, I LOVED the cut to chase Jamie off the counter- such a typical place to find one's cat! Thank you for redoing Prince Biscuits; now we know what that was all about!
I love how that one hardtack clip comes up almost in every video and it's still unexpected and hilarious.
I read "The Lost Episode of Tasting History: Prince Biskets" as "The Last Episode of Tasting History: Prince Biskets", and instantly felt sad. Rushed over here to know what happened only to realize that I just read the title wrong. Never felt soo happy to be in the wrong xD
Noooo. Definitely not 😁
😂. What a scare!
Same
As soon as I heard that biscuit came from the term "twice baked" I knew the hardtack clip was coming, which added anticipation to the delight.
I was waiting for the hard tack "clonk clonk" when you mentioned sailors. It came a little later than I anticipated, but it was worth it. I love a good "clonk clonk" clip.
I agree with you on how to improve the texture: whisk the eggs and sugar together until you can write short words on the surface with the runoff from the whisk and _then_ gently fold in the rosewater, flour and caraway seeds.
Agreed! Like a genoise sponge, but without any butter.
Or you could throw caution to the wind, say "who cares about historical accuracy" and add a teaspoon of baking soda...🤣🤣
@@ellenrice19
I’d still whisk the eggs and sugar white and fluffy (preferably _not_ with a hand whisk) before adding the flour and optional baking powder.
Ooooh how wonderfully romantic! Tirelessly whisk in the love and write magic enchantments into the dough itself when baking for your beloved!
@@aryahavinfun5682
You’re generally limited to about three letters, so unless your beloved is named Ole you’re unlikely to write their name.
I laughed WAY to hard at the flashback to the hard tack. I even rewound it and watched it again so I could laugh again.
*CLACK CLACK*
This just shows how far you've come Max. Oh that cheese episode... Now to ensure this can last for future generations...like some petrification beam hits for some...odd reason. Who knows?!
He's really come a long way
The hardtack clip makes me laugh every time, especially when I'm not expecting, but also when I've watched an episode several times. Favourite running joke ever!!!
comparing it to lucky charms actually makes me want to try it. I actually really like the psuedo-crunch that lucky charms have.
The caraway seeds (or anisette, in the other author's revised version) may have been intended as a breath freshener. (I believe I've read of seeds being used for that purpose in other historic recipes, at least.)
I remember going to Indian restaurants in New York that offered a small dish of seeds (actually, doing a bit of Googling and I think it was fennel and anise) after the meal to freshen the breath.
I made Persian cookies a few years back that were basically shortbread with a serious load of cardamom in them. A last tidbit at the end of the meal to sweeten the breath and possibly the burps as well.
I don't know why, but for some reason, I feel like the best episodes are when Max says, "That's really weird...." Sometimes good, sometimes bad, but always a trace of something passed. What a great episode, with a kittybomb to start. Thank you!
This video had the best timing in the fact that it gave me a notification just as I clicked something else
Me first! Me first!
That hardtack insert gets me EVERY TIME.
Oh my gosh Max, this is the funniest episode I've ever seen of Tasting History. Throughout this whole video I was trying to stifle a giggle. Congratulations for giving me a 15 minute long stomach cramp. I love you and your videos.
Oh, I remember making these for my medieval history class at college! My professor hosted a medieval feast/potluck at her house at the end of the semester and then had us each choose from a list of medieval recipes. The recipe I used called for anise seeds instead of caraway, which worried me because I don't like the taste of black licorice, but they ended up coming out quite delightful!
Max on the Couch sounds like a cool guy. You should have him assist with some of the recipes, Max at the Table.
He’s too cool to help. He watches masterpiece theater and sips wine.
@@TastingHistory Plus after all that mixing he's going to have arms like Popeye.
@@TastingHistory You missed the inappropriate "Beating the flour" joke.
Might want add Max at the bar, so he doesn't feel left out.
All these responses 🤣🤣🤣
Back when iTunes was still worth using, I put out ringtones under the moniker "Jansen's Quality Ringing Tones for Portable Cellular Telephonic Devices"
ALWAYS love when UA-camrs call out other UA-camrs. It builds and develops the community as a whole!
Thank you, Max, for combining 2 of my favorite things cooking and history! I love your videos they are so fun and informative. I just wish some of my high school history teachers could have made history as fun as you do...I probably would have gotten better grades... maybe... so knows lol
The hour long stirring makes sense for a baked item using no artificial leaveners. To me (a non professional home cook) it sounds like you're beating a ton of air into something that you're simultaneously beating protein networks into with the gluten and egg proteins alongside the sugar to aid in the binding. It sounds similar to the process of how I make eggnog really frothy, by beating my eggs and sugar together until they are fluffy and a very pale yellow. It also is akin to anything with a meringue as its base leavener, like macarons or angel food cake.
Honestly, I was thinking similarly, though my brain went to pound cake rather than angel food.
Meringue is a bit different. Dont use yolks with that unless you add them in later. If any amount of oil or yolk gets in your meringue before its fully whipped, you better just start over, bc it will literally never whip properly
@@gabbyb9418 oh yeah I learned that real fast when I was a kiddo!
except that with wheat flour if you beat it enough the gluten gets tough instead. So over beating is not good.
I recommend that you don’t add the flour until you’ve beaten the eggs together to stop the gluten from making the biskets too bready.
Hey Max, have you ever heard of "The First Ladies' Cookbook"? It's a cookbook filled with some of the presidents' favorite dishes as cooked by their ladies. It's fascinating, especially some of the early recipes. I love scrolling through that book, and I think you would love the recipes and the history!
I have that book!!
@@victoriahoward8244 Awesome! It’s so much fun!
I think he's done some things from there before actually
0:37
Max always has the best scene from south park on queue.
As always, your humor adds such a delight to your videos. And I am always impressed with how you translate those ancient and midevil recipes.
Every time I see the hardtack clip, I instantly get happier and lough out loud. No matter where I am. It's the best little clip in the entire History.
Love the hardtack cut to, makes me laugh every time. I think it would be really cool to see an episode on Macaroni. I wish there was an outtake what happened off camera, be like " Jose pour me some more wine, I stirred this for an hour, and the texture is like stale Lucky Charms marshmallow I need to drown my sorrows.
Ahaha, Max actually had quite a bit of wine before this episode (Thank you Bright Cellars). He slurs a few words haha
Thereafter, Richard Platt was probably described by his peers as "ballsy". More fortuitous then, that the English nickname for someone called Richard is 'Dick'.
I bet they laughed for days.
Love you, that hard tack clap of biscuits never fails to make me laugh. Your humor makes your videos. Please keep up the amazing great content and humor. You need to be on the food network or the history Channel or both.
BTW, careaway seeds are widely used in Slovak cooking today. From bread, soups, mains to baked goods (usually not sweet though). I am sure I can say it about Central European cooking too.
Same in Hungary. They are essential to a great many dishes.
Love that you redid the Prince Biskets episode, that is true dedication. Seeing you make an Elizabethan recipe, which you explained with your delightful wit, charm, erudition and good looks, reminded me of a favorite film, and I realized that you now look like Errol Flynn in "The Private Lives of Elizabeth & Essex" with Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland. Your beard improved the episode and transformed you into a matinee idol, a swashbuckling, biscuit beating movie star! Cheers!
Opening UA-cam just as max posts a new video - perfect. A little biscuit of calm in a tin full of chaos. Delicious!
You do not get carried away with caraway. You buy it by the pound. Rye and onion bread spread with blackberry jam is only good if the rye has caraway. You add it to carrot casserole, it goes wellwith roasted onion. And, it's excellent in biscuits, cookies and cakes, served with tea. Yeah, I like caraway.
I'm with you, I buy it in bulk at my local Indian store.
12:25 "Nobody would put that much caraway in anything." Me: Hold my measuring cups...
I have never before seen a recipe where the beating took longer than the baking.
It's also possible that we adapted koekje into cookie because the spice koekjes (speculoos/speculaas) were used pretty widely as a thickener.
In old books like Mrs Beeton' s often batters for cakes were beaten for an hour. Before electric ir mechanical mixers this was the only way. They also had kitchen maids to do this
Thank you for mentioning Lady Fettiplace! I played her at SoCal's Renaissance Faire in the 80s and made a lot of her recipes for the St. Ives luncheon (which is called Dinner in her time)
"Those really stale marshmallows that are in Lucky Charms"
That part made me chuckle a bit too much!
Another great video! Tasting History recipes and history facts are the highlights of my week 😀
🥰
"They too got carried away with caraway". Ha, love that!
I love that each episode gets better and better, and that you revisit the older episodes. I also love that you support other UA-camrs.
The Hardtack Clack never fails to make me cackle!!
I remember a recipe from Townsends for something called "drop biscuits". It also requires whisking the batter for an hour.
1.6 million subscribers in two years….? Wow…that’s impressive sir! Congrats on going for it and living your dream!
Been a while since Max wasn't thrilled with how something turned out, good to see. :D I'm also pleased that Sir Platt spelled biscuit phonetically.
Yeah, I wasn't expecting it to turn out like mallow bits! (the freeze dried texture marshmallows) but perhaps that density is why it was termed a biskut rather than a typical bread or cake?
Me: See’s notice for Tasting History.
Me: Drops everything to watch it.
God I just can’t get enough of this channel. Like damn, sometimes I can’t get over how much I enjoy this channel and how thankful I am for finding it!
It's a guiltless pleasure
Thank you 🙏 Hope the nee job is still going well.
@@GiselleMF It really is.
@@TastingHistory No problem! It didn’t work out. That job wasn’t for me. They were very dishonest about some things so I’m back to the drawing board!
@@connorgolden4 been there. Onward and upward, my friend.
The lost episode! Had to click immediately! You do manage to pack 8n a lot of history (and great historical images) in a short amount of time. Love this channel Max!
fun fact: in Poland we have a snack called suchary bieszczadzkie, which is basically hardtack with loads of caraway seeds in it 😂 I think it's meant for people going on long treks in the mountains (bieszczadzkie means from the Bieszczady mountains).
I've made this recipe before and found it kinda meh. But then I swapped out the rosewater and caraway for orange essence and crushed pistachios and added a bit of baking powder. Much tastier!
Ah, that hard tack clip. Such a classic. I love it.
Any video that includes your signature move (the "knock knock" of hardtack) is always a delight (even if the recipe got carried away by the caraway). Thanks, Max!
Tasty History of Tasting History...
*inception intense music plays*
🤣
BWAAAAHHH
I just have to let you know my 4 month of son is in LOVE with your voice. Everytime I put on tasting history he coo's at you 😆
😆😆 Every SINGLE time!! The "Hard Tack Clip"!! Everytime they use it, it's just the perfect punctuation, a complete description and explanation in just one quick second!! Its just the best!! Love you Max!! Thank you so much for the laugh, def needed that tonight!!
I'm excited to see the knights next week! Also looking forward to seeing that episode on macaroni whenever you get around to it. The hard tack cutaway really caught me off guard this week and I laughed pretty hard at it. Thanks for the videos Max they're always a joy.
The last episode of Tasting History!?!?!?!?!
Ooooh... the LOST episode...
ok... heart attack stopped!
Breathe. Breathe.
I thought it was the last episode too, lol
Getting the new episode notification is the best thing about Tuesdays.
So much fun stuff going on in this one, Max! Starting with that cat, then the incredible picture of the process to obtain sugar…and I have to tell you after seeing every episode you’ve ever shared…that I will forever flash back to you doing the ‘tap-tap’ with the hard tack ANY time I hear the words Sea Biscuit or Hard Tack. BTW, sugared caraway seeds (of all things) were occasionally dropped one-by-one into a child’s lap during church a long, long ago to help them stay quiet!
As a person who has eaten the stale marshmallows in the Lucky Charms cereal I appreciate your description. Thank you for another fun and informative episode. :) God bless you.
Max, i actually want to thank you for using classical guitar music on your channel. Such a rare instrument to hear, what a pleasure !
I would tune in just for the history, or just for the historical recipes. You offer the best of both. I’m really glad you were able to put up this episode but with all your skillz. I’ve hoped for it since it was discussed on Max & Jose!
I appreciate your choice to use Nidoking as the background pokemon for the prince bisket episode 😄
Not joshing Max, but what about Nidorino? More a prince than a king…
😂😂😂😂 Max, you are wonderful! I adore your attitude about the comments! It’s so refreshing that you don’t let the negative ones get to you. Thank you for teaching us all so many life lessons in only 15 minutes.
I'm so glad you gave the recipe equivalents for large AND medium eggs! WinCo sells these flats of, what, 24 eggs for a really good price? But they're *medium* and most recipes call for LARGE!!
Eggs back then were probably smaller anyway.
"Prince Biskets" sounds like what Lindsay Graham would name his Pomeranian.
🤣 you win for the day 🏆
I laughed so hard, I choked on my tea! Thanks for the laugh. :D
That's funnier than it should be.
Max is amazing with presenting the sponsors. Like I love wine and everything and was going to skip past it... then bamo, mixing bowl couch max comes into play. Well played. They're lucky to sponsor you, says I
Always glad to find lost biscuits in the back of my pantry. So, doubly glad to find the lost episode of Prince Biscuits. As always, the history was fascinating. Thanks!
That was your best sponsor spot, loved that it was casual, honest, and direct, and also fit completely into the context of the video.
Can I just say I love your videos and watching them makes me feel so homey and comfortable I think it's just your demeanor and background it looks like a beautiful home that you instantly walk into and feel safe and comfortable. Thank you for all you Max!!!!
I'll never get over the hard tack gag.
*CLACK CLACK*
Clearly, neither will I 😂
lol, I don’t know what’s more carried away the seeds or the mixing for an hour.
I hope you’re arm and shoulder are doing ok.
Thank you, king. As much as I like the og footage, I love to see you remaking it and improving it.
The show has definitely evolved 😁
I love taking a break from chemistry homework and chilling out with Tasting History!
Cooking is chemistry, so you're good.