Let's Cook on Perpetual Stew
Summary
Hosts Ben and Noel explore the history of perpetual stew, a dish simmered continuously in medieval taverns to utilize cheap, leftover ingredients. They discuss how the Black Death and resulting famine elevated stew’s importance, allowing surviving peasants to gain bargaining power against the aristocracy. The episode also connects this culinary tradition to the Lizzie Borden case, noting that a poorly handled pot of mutton stew may have contributed to the victims’ illness before their murders. Finally, the hosts highlight modern examples of long-simmering stews in Japan and Thailand, emphas…
Topics discussed
Intro, producer shout-out, and autumn/soup weather
Defining perpetual stew and its history
Sanity, legality, and the Lizzie Borden teaser
Fantasy tavern tropes vs. historical inns
Hospitality stories and the 'stone soup' trope
Differentiating alehouses, taverns, and inns
Feudal system and the peasant diet
Using leftovers and beer as a stew base
Ingredients by class and wartime meat sources
Efficiency of perpetual stew and modern parallels
Medieval climate, plague, and food shortages
Stew as survival and the shift in peasant power
Name puns and transition to Asian stews
Oldest perpetual stews in Japan and Thailand
Food safety science and temperature requirements
Lizzie Borden: correcting the nursery rhyme
Borden family tensions and social context
The ice box, mutton stew, and food poisoning
The murders, acquittal, and Lizzie's legacy
Outro, credits, and final food thoughts
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