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The Lighter Side of Steampunk
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#1
Anatomical / Re: An Abomination: Is America...
Last post by J. Wilhelm - Today at 02:08:25 PMQuote from: Sir Henry on Today at 07:53:28 AMNext in the series of Lovekraftian culinary delights: American Chocolate
I hadn't thought of processed cheese being Steampunk (to be honest I hadn't thought of processed cheese at all in a few decades) but it does seem to have just the right mixture of horror, history, absurdity and whimsy. And horror, stomach-churning horror.1
It is easy to assume that adulterating foods to hold more water (or air) so they are cheaper to produce was a 20th century development, but as with so many things, it turns out to just be 'improvements' on Victorian ethiclessness. Ho hum.
1 The first time I saw the cover of Jean-Paul Sartre's 'Nausea' I assumed that it was a Dutch/German edition of a book about the North Sea.
Well, it's not all bad, to be perfectly honest. I think milk chocolate turned out well (clearly a Victorian and European invention), as well as condensed and evaporated milk.
Have you ever tried to make hot chocolate with coarse ground, unmilled unfiltered and unemulsified cacao nibs? It's an awful lot of work for just a cup of hot chocolate. Even the traditional Mexican/Spanish chocolate, the first hot chocolate that ever was, is emulsified nowadays, though they still leave the cocoa and cinnamon fibers in it for authenticity (you find a little grit to chew at the end of your cup).
#2
Anatomical / Re: An Abomination: Is America...
Last post by Sir Henry - Today at 07:53:28 AMNext in the series of Lovekraftian culinary delights: American Chocolate
I hadn't thought of processed cheese being Steampunk (to be honest I hadn't thought of processed cheese at all in a few decades) but it does seem to have just the right mixture of horror, history, absurdity and whimsy. And horror, stomach-churning horror.1
It is easy to assume that adulterating foods to hold more water (or air) so they are cheaper to produce was a 20th century development, but as with so many things, it turns out to just be 'improvements' on Victorian ethiclessness. Ho hum.
1 The first time I saw the cover of Jean-Paul Sartre's 'Nausea' I assumed that it was a Dutch/German edition of a book about the North Sea.
I hadn't thought of processed cheese being Steampunk (to be honest I hadn't thought of processed cheese at all in a few decades) but it does seem to have just the right mixture of horror, history, absurdity and whimsy. And horror, stomach-churning horror.1
It is easy to assume that adulterating foods to hold more water (or air) so they are cheaper to produce was a 20th century development, but as with so many things, it turns out to just be 'improvements' on Victorian ethiclessness. Ho hum.
1 The first time I saw the cover of Jean-Paul Sartre's 'Nausea' I assumed that it was a Dutch/German edition of a book about the North Sea.
#3
Off Topic / Re: GAAAAAHHHHHH Mk.VI: The Re...
Last post by Sir Henry - Today at 07:38:08 AMQuote from: LukeHogbin on April 27, 2024, 03:47:43 PMHad a seizure on the night between Thursday and Friday and I'm still trying to recover from it. Blah.I hope you're recovering well.
But don't let it happen again, it's just not on.
#4
Tactile / Re: That 'big project' I've be...
Last post by Sir Henry - Today at 07:32:00 AMI've always loved the shape of the doorways like your neighbour's. Not very practical, but distinctive and eye-catching.
#5
Anatomical / An Abomination: Is American Ch...
Last post by J. Wilhelm - Today at 01:49:49 AMThis forum has been relatively quiet and controversial free for so long, that I thought I'd rattle the cage a bit. So today I'm going to write about...
WOT?!? It cannot be! All the humanity! The Horror! What is that abomination doing in this section??
Now, now, don't panic; the good news is that Kraft American Cheese *just missed* entry into the Victorian Foods list...
The bad news is that it so very narrowly missed it that it still qualifies for the Steampunk Era, being a solidly Edwardian product.
Try not to heave. Breathe calmly and slowly. Inhale, keep the air in, and slowly exhale. We'll get through this, I promise.
§§§
Furthermore, whether we like it or not, it turns out that American Cheese is still cheese, even if the United States' own Food and Drug Administration prohibits the product from being called cheese. The main distinction is the process of making said product. It's a modified cheese, but it actually starts as real cheese.
If you haven't fainted yet, like our friend next to me, then let me tell you that American Cheese wasn't the first processed cheese. The first processed cheese was a derivative of Emmentaler developed by Gerber.
By the way, Emmentaler style cheese is known as "Swiss Cheese" in the United States, and Emmentaler was the first type of cheese to be subjected to this process. That makes processed cheese a European invention, not American.
Alright, the rest of you can faint now. Just try not to mess-up the carpet too much.
But are you really shocked that processed cheese would be developed so close to the Victorian Era? When so many other 20th Century foods were invented by Victorian scientists? I guess this was the proverbial elephant in the room that We, the Steampunk, refused to see when we wrote about Steampunk food and derided that yellow substance! We never considered history!
So what is American Cheese you ask? You thought it was only made from milk solids and oil?
No, not exactly. The short answer is that the original Edwardian Era American Cheese is real Cheddar style cheese that has been treated with emulsifiers to allow it to combine with water. A lot more water than regular cheese would allow.
Emulsifiers are naturally occurring substances that are found in other foods and which were discovered by Victorian Era food scientists. Immediately these substances were employed in the processing of food, including chocolate, before the 20th Century. And the milk solids mentioned above are just dried milk that is added for flavour, and of course, that dried milk was also developed in the Victorian Era and it was incorporated into chocolate as well during that period.
Naturally, I'll have to issue a disclaimer, because parting from the point of the invention of American processed cheese, the food industry in the 20th Century greatly modified the original concept. But I'm talking about the classic Vicwardian method, rather than the contemporary industrial variations...
These two videos below explain what American Cheese is, how to make it, and how it came about.
AMERICAN CHEESE
WOT?!? It cannot be! All the humanity! The Horror! What is that abomination doing in this section??
Now, now, don't panic; the good news is that Kraft American Cheese *just missed* entry into the Victorian Foods list...
The bad news is that it so very narrowly missed it that it still qualifies for the Steampunk Era, being a solidly Edwardian product.
Try not to heave. Breathe calmly and slowly. Inhale, keep the air in, and slowly exhale. We'll get through this, I promise.
§§§
Furthermore, whether we like it or not, it turns out that American Cheese is still cheese, even if the United States' own Food and Drug Administration prohibits the product from being called cheese. The main distinction is the process of making said product. It's a modified cheese, but it actually starts as real cheese.
If you haven't fainted yet, like our friend next to me, then let me tell you that American Cheese wasn't the first processed cheese. The first processed cheese was a derivative of Emmentaler developed by Gerber.
By the way, Emmentaler style cheese is known as "Swiss Cheese" in the United States, and Emmentaler was the first type of cheese to be subjected to this process. That makes processed cheese a European invention, not American.
Alright, the rest of you can faint now. Just try not to mess-up the carpet too much.
But are you really shocked that processed cheese would be developed so close to the Victorian Era? When so many other 20th Century foods were invented by Victorian scientists? I guess this was the proverbial elephant in the room that We, the Steampunk, refused to see when we wrote about Steampunk food and derided that yellow substance! We never considered history!
So what is American Cheese you ask? You thought it was only made from milk solids and oil?
No, not exactly. The short answer is that the original Edwardian Era American Cheese is real Cheddar style cheese that has been treated with emulsifiers to allow it to combine with water. A lot more water than regular cheese would allow.
Emulsifiers are naturally occurring substances that are found in other foods and which were discovered by Victorian Era food scientists. Immediately these substances were employed in the processing of food, including chocolate, before the 20th Century. And the milk solids mentioned above are just dried milk that is added for flavour, and of course, that dried milk was also developed in the Victorian Era and it was incorporated into chocolate as well during that period.
Naturally, I'll have to issue a disclaimer, because parting from the point of the invention of American processed cheese, the food industry in the 20th Century greatly modified the original concept. But I'm talking about the classic Vicwardian method, rather than the contemporary industrial variations...
These two videos below explain what American Cheese is, how to make it, and how it came about.
The History of Processed Cheese and American Cheese
What is American Cheese?
#6
Tactile / Re: That 'big project' I've be...
Last post by James Harrison - Yesterday at 03:19:03 PMIt's Edwardian / immediate pre-WWI. Pretty standard British Stockbroker's Tudor / Arts and Crafts style really.
#7
United Kingdom / Re: UK Steampunks
Last post by Sorontar - Yesterday at 12:30:49 PMQuote from: Cheshire Cat on April 27, 2024, 01:43:13 PM<personally-identifying information deleted at OP's request>Welcome back. Old dogs and cats are always welcome.
From an Oldie Newbie, I'd just like to say hello to all from the past future
Looks like I'm the only one on this forum even though Cottonopolis is a mere 2 leagues north
#8
Tactile / Re: That 'big project' I've be...
Last post by Sorontar - Yesterday at 12:25:59 PMNow you have me interested in your neighbour's place across the road (not sure why I didn't notice it before). That seems to be fake Tudor above and Art Deco-ish below. How would you describe it?
Sorontar
Sorontar
#9
Tactile / Re: That 'big project' I've be...
Last post by James Harrison - April 27, 2024, 05:03:14 PMQuote from: James Harrison on December 03, 2023, 03:29:34 PMAnd onto the 2024 programme.
The first thing on the list is to finish off the window renewal programme. There are two windows still to be replaced - in the back bedroom, and the bathroom.
Ah, yes, the bathroom. I really, really don't like the existing bathroom suite, or bathroom layout. It's perfectly serviceable, but it's really not compatible with the rest of the house. The problem is that bathroom suites weren't really a thing in the Edwardian era. And the Victorian/ Edwardian 'style' ones available just strike me as variously still too modern, too twee, or just plain unconvincing.
This obviously is a part of the project that is not DIY-friendly. I don't have a timeframe for when this bit will get underway.I'm also going to have to have part of the sitting room replastered.(Wasn't needed)The radiator has started to pull away from the wall, and whilst I've shored it up with some pieces of wood, clearly that's not a long term solution. No, what is needed is for the radiator to be taken down and the crushed and crumbling plaster behind to be replaced. Perhaps that's a Summer job.Fixed without ripping the whole thing down and out.
Then I want the flashing around the chimneys to be renewed, and I also want flashing to be installed around the bay window roof.
Well, the bay window turned out needing a bit more than just some lead flashing.
The concrete/ cement joint detail around all of the roof edges - where it met the wall, where the roof hips met, under the bedroom window - all of that proved to be completely life expired. To the point in some places it had fallen away completely and the wonder wasn't that it was leaking, but that it wasn't leaking worse.
I wanted to keep the original tiles but lost that argument, for the sake of longevity that was probably for the best.
So this morning two guys turned up and I think we were all expecting it would be the work of a few hours to take the old tiles down and put the new battens/ tiles/ flashing on. Good joke, it was an all-day event with a lot of hammering, cussing and talk of 'I don't know how we're to get this bit in'. Nothing was square. Nothing was symmetrical. One side of the roof had a completely different geometry to the other. It took about eight hours to finish the thing.
That's how it was.
Much better.
#10
Off Topic / Re: GAAAAAHHHHHH Mk.VI: The Re...
Last post by LukeHogbin - April 27, 2024, 03:47:43 PMHad a seizure on the night between Thursday and Friday and I'm still trying to recover from it. Blah.