Text 2371, 109 rader
Skriven 2006-06-21 11:41:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av JOAN MACDIARMID
Ärende: garlic repost 771
=========================
 Area: 193 
  Msg#: 3                                            Date: 07 Jun 106  08:47:14
  From: Michael Loo                                  
    To: Joan Macdiarmid                              
  Subj: garlic fries 771

 JM> lest they become competitors. A lecture I attended years
 JM> ago mentioned chemical analysis of the woods in a very
 JM> limited sampling of the finest historical instruments.
 JM> It suggested the woods used for construction had been
 JM> "pickled" before being carved, with various acids, bases
 JM> and salts, to alter the cellular structure of the woods,
 JM> thus altering their resonance responses.

That must have been the Nagyvary guy I was complaining about.
He has had numerous theories about wood treatments, sequentially,
and has shown little or no shame when abandoning one for the
next. The ones I recall are: ground up chitin in the varnish;
soaking the wood in various solutions; having the timber dragged
up the river from Slovenia or someplace and sitting in brackish
water for some time; and ground up garnets and other precious
jewels in the varnish. Another theory is the "tap tone test,"
where the patriarch of a family went out into the forest and
hit the living trees, listening to the resonance and marking
the trees whose lumber would make good instruments, a generation
down the line: this one was particularly loony and I am not sure
whether it was one of Nagyvary's or not.

  The traces of
 JM> chemicals could be analyzed, but the particular methods
 JM> of treating the woods had not been deducted yet. Those
 JM> methods died with the masters.

[whispering] A lot of it is hype. There was a blind taste test,
if you will, held back in the '70s or '80s at MIT Kresge
Auditorium, where great old master instruments were played
next to famous modern maker instruments. The consensus was
that after the first few rows, it was difficult to tell which
was which. Sure, there were differences in sound, but these
were not consistent between old and new, and in fact the
preferences were not consistent between old and new. The
audience of this test was made up of professional musicians
and makers as well as amateurs. It had an effect not unlike
the famous French wine tasting of about the same era where a
Sterling (I think) Cabernet as well as various other California
wines beat the pants off the Bordeaux growths: there was initial
outrage and disbelief, followed by re-tests with the same
results, followed by both camps continuing to believe whatever
they believed to begin with - the old guard asserting that their
favorites were the best, notwithstanding evidence to the
contrary, and the upstarts considering the results to be a
justification of their efforts.

 JM> In general, the concept of publishing science results
 JM> rather than hiding them as select "lore" is what allowed
 JM> many scientific fields to grow and prosper.

That's true. In fact, the Guild and the Violin Society that
I referred to in previous posts do share information among
themselves: the former in a closed whispery sort of way, as
guilds always do, the latter more openly. The fact remains
that nobody has managed to substantially alter the shape of
the instrument with any kind of good effect. I have seen and
played on some of the most outlandish excuses for violins and
violas, and so far I've always returned to the basics - the
shape developed in the late 16th-early 17th century and
perfected by the Stradivari and Guarneri families, the wood
spruce on top and maple for the rest of the body, the varnish
a fairly ordinary recipe with jealously guarded variations.

An interesting topic and worthy of much thought ... but to be
atoned for by a delicious and appropriate recipe ...

BLACK MAGIC CAKE
cat: dessert, chocolate
servings: 10 to 12

2 c sugar
1 3/4 c all-purpose flour
3/4 c Hershey's Cocoa
2 ts baking soda
1 ts baking powder
1 ts salt
2 eggs
1 c buttermilk or sour milk*
1 c strong black coffee or
- 2 ts powdered instant coffee plus
- 1 c boiling water
1/2 c vegetable oil
1 ts vanilla extract

Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour two 9-inch round
baking pans or one 13x9x2-inch baking pan. In large bowl, stir together
sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add eggs,
buttermilk, coffee, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of electric mixer
2 minutes (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to
35 minutes for round pans, 35 to 40 minutes for rectangular pan or until
wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove
from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost as desired. 10 to 12
servings.

* To sour milk: Use 1 tablespoon white vinegar plus milk to equal 1 cup.

Hershey's is a registered trademark of Hershey Foods Corporation. Recipe
may be reprinted courtesy of the Hershey Kitchens.

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