A perpetual stew, also known as forever soup, hunter’s pot, or hunter’s stew, is a pot into which foodstuffs are placed and cooked, continuously. The pot is never or rarely emptied all the way, and ingredients and liquid are replenished as necessary. Such foods can continue cooking for decades or longer if properly maintained. The concept is often a common element in descriptions of medieval inns.
Foods prepared in a perpetual stew have been described as being flavorful due to the manner in which the ingredients blend together. Various ingredients can be used in a perpetual stew such as root vegetables, tubers (potatoes, yams, etc.), and various meats.
Right? It sounds delicious. Not sure how that would fly with modern health and safety rules, though. The Wikipedia entry says a New York restaurant did one for ~8 months, so it must be possible somehow.
Needs to be kept above 70degC so heating could be costly. Other than that it’s safer than refridgeration as that only slows growth whereas keeping it hot prevents any growth at all.
Better: Above 60°C pasteurizes the contents so killing all bacteria.
Technically pasteurization is met by holding the food over a specific temperature for a specific time, so over 63-65°C for 30 minutes, or 100°C for 12 seconds.
Normal pasteurization is very similar to cooking in times and temperature, and so pasteurization cooks both the food, altering texture, appearance and taste, and the bacteria.
UHT means ultra high temperature pasteurisation, which heats, eg, milk well over 100°C for only a couple of seconds and immediately cools it, minimizing the alteration of the milk.
So, by keeping the stew over 70°C, the stew is completely food safe.
In a comment a few minutes after yours, fellow lemmy buttPickle posted this:
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/11/03/772030934/soups-on-and-on-thai-beef-noodle-brew-has-been-simmering-for-45-years
45 years
I saw that, and I also vaguely remember reading that in the past. So I guess it was less TIL and more “today I remembered” lol.