Tasting Victory: The 20 Best Tasting History Recipes

Presenter / Channel

• Max Miller — “Tasting History” (YouTube)
• This countdown is framed as his “top 20 best savory recipes” based on dishes he’s made again or would make again.

Ingredients & Quantities

• No specific ingredient lists or measurements are provided in the subtitles for most recipes.
• Only qualitative ingredient details are mentioned (examples):
  • Garum / asafoetida
  • Sherry
  • Butter
  • Mushrooms (often only for flavor)
  • Figs preserved in honey
  • Other major components; no quantities

Step-by-Step Methods (Timings/Temps/Technique Cues)

• The subtitles include technique notes, but rarely actual step-by-step instructions with timings or temperatures.

#20 Classic Parthian Chicken

• Highlight: first time cooking with garum and asafoetida
• Asafoetida note: smells like rancid garlic before cooking, but becomes “wonderfully garlicky” once cooked
• Garum + asafoetida together create a surprising combined flavor

#19 Texas Chili

• Emphasis: simple and balanced heat (“hot, but not too hot”)
• No method steps provided

#18 Salmi de Perdrix (Dining in a Dinosaur)

• Sauce complexity drives the dish
• Sauce includes:
  • Mushrooms (used for flavor, not texture)
  • Sherry and lots of butter
• Subtitles describe the overall dish as complex
• Mentions a more complicated modern version that takes days (not made)

#17 French Onion Soup (1651)

• Key concept: slow-cooked onions
• Notes:
  • Includes milk; he says it “doesn’t mix in well,” but taste is still excellent
• No detailed temperature/timing instructions given

#16 Massaman Curry

• Notes: very complex and spice-heavy, filling the house with aroma
• No actual cooking steps/times provided
• Practical approach: he doesn’t remake it often; he orders Thai food instead

#15 Mrouzia / Moroccan (Tagine) — Lamb & Prunes

• Cooked in a tagine (cone-shaped vessel)
• Technique effects described:
  • Moist/tender interior because “no liquid gets out” (steam-bath effect)
  • Crispy edges outside, with “nicely burnt” caramelized/browned prunes or outer bits

#14 Coronation Chicken

• Served cold (“don’t heat it up”)
• Method cue: boiled chicken (historical version); later versions often aren’t boiled
• Taste cues:
  • Sweet + curry notes
  • Creamy sauce, less sweet than modern versions

#13 King Tut’s Duck

• “Cheat”: no original ancient Egyptian recipe survives; reconstructed from ingredients found in King Tut’s tomb
• Sauce highlight:
  • Likely includes figs preserved in honey
  • Also includes wine and other savory ingredients
• Emphasis: sauce “shines through”

#12 Scappi’s Ribs

• Chef credits Scappi’s clear instructions and reliability
• Dish concept:
  • Onions well cooked
  • Sauce described as a somewhat sweet early proto-barbecue sauce
• No exact cooking steps/times provided

#11 Paprika Hendel / Chicken Paprikash

• Chef predicts it will taste great from smell before tasting, then confirms after tasting
• Flavor/ingredient emphasis (qualitative):
  • Hungarian paprika-forward profile
  • “Lots of spice” without being “hot spicy” in the modern sense

#10 Irish Stew

• Key outcome:
  • Not liquidy; very little liquid
  • Meat/potatoes/carrots absorb liquid and become soft/mushy
• No temperature or timing instructions provided

#9 Poulet sauté au duc de Bourgogne (Michelin Episode)

• Claimed to be simpler than expected despite Michelin reputation
• Technique outcome:
  • Very alcoholic but not overwhelming—alcohol “burns left,” leaving liquor flavor
• Serving concept: sauce on chicken

#8 Transylvanian Beef w/ Garlic Harvester Sauce

• Essentially pot roast + distinctive sauce
• Sauce described as vinegary and garlicky (not unpleasantly garlicky)
• Sauce includes eggs, which can split/scramble easily (“tricky to make”)
• Chef mentions getting it right once; later attempts weren’t as successful

#7 Sloppy Joes

• Historical source reference: from a school cookbook (USDA), used in schools (70s–90s)
• Taste cues:
  • Sweet (almost so sweet he wonders if it belongs in “sweet,” but he keeps it savory since it’s meat)
• Quantity cue:
  • Intended for a very large batch (he says “calls for 100,” though exact meaning isn’t fully clarified)

#6 Beef with Béarnaise (Titanic / Escoffier)

• Complex historical build:
  • Beef served with chateau potatoes
  • Technique: “turning” potatoes into torpedo shapes, then frying in clarified butter
  • Potatoes result: crispy outside, soft inside (like French fries)
• Sauce note:
  • Escoffier’s béarnaise is more vinegary than modern versions
  • Vinegar complements the richness/heaviness better

#5 Minutal Matianum — Roman Pork with Apples

• Key ingredient: defrutum / sapa musta cotto (reduced grape must/syrup)
• Flavor cue:
  • Sweet syrup pairs especially well with garum, creating an uncommon modern-Western profile
• Mentions inclusion in a future/next cookbook (timing “about 9 months”), with no recipe steps

#4 Welsh Rarebit

• Method concept (high-level):
  • “Cheese on toast,” transformed by adding beer and mustard
• Texture/taste:
  • “Silky” cheese with “crunch” from toast

#3 Chef Boyardee Spaghetti (Homemade-Style)

• Chef calls it:
  • Easy and better than canned spaghetti sauce
• Sweet taste source:
  • Tomatoes and carrots slow cooked, with no sugar added
• Important variation mentioned:
  • The show version used mushrooms (recipe calls for them)
  • His normal re-make omits mushrooms; he says it’s “phenomenal” without them

#2 Pot Roast (Airline Food Episode)

• Technique cues:
  • Sear first with marrow bones
  • Then slow cook with vegetables and herbs
• Notes it wasn’t visually impressive, but tasted “first class”

#1 School Pizza

• Major technique curiosity:
  • Uses a “pourable dough” (he hadn’t made such dough before)
• Taste memory:
  • Strong nostalgia; compares it to the Ratatouille scene of childhood transport
• Safety/time details: none in subtitles

Chef Tips / Common Pitfalls Mentioned

• Garum & asafoetida
  • Smells can be misleading before cooking (asafoetida especially)
• Judging “will it work?” by smell
  • He confidently declares winners (e.g., chicken paprikash) before tasting
• Egg-based sauces (garlic harvester sauce)
  • Eggs can split/scramble easily
• Mushroom texture dislike
  • He can keep only mushroom flavor by controlling how they’re incorporated
  • For his personal re-make of Chef Boyardee spaghetti, he omits mushrooms
• Tagine cooking
  • Produces both tenderness and crisp/browned edges due to contained steam + browned exterior

Plating / Serving Suggestions

• Coronation Chicken
  • Explicitly served cold; “don’t heat it up”
• Other plating details: not provided in subtitles

Variations / Modern Alternatives (Concise)

• Salmi de Perdrix sauce
  • Modern version exists and is even more complicated, taking days (he didn’t do it)
• Coronation Chicken
  • Historical version (boiled chicken) is less sweet than many modern versions; later versions often aren’t boiled
• Welsh Rarebit
  • Adding beer + mustard is the key transformation vs plain cheese on toast
• Chef Boyardee Spaghetti
  • Show version includes mushrooms; off-show version omits them
• Béarnaise
  • Escoffier style is more vinegary than modern béarnaise

Honorable Mentions (Not Counted in the Top 20)

• Bierocks (Volga Germans)
  • Chef didn’t find an 18th/early 19th-century recipe; used one estimated 40–50 years old, so he doesn’t fully count it as “historic kitchen”
  • Mentions they’re “quite hot”
• Medfouna / tagine
  • He didn’t cook it himself; eaten in Morocco
  • Method described:
    • Meat + vegetables in bread, then buried under sand to cook in a covered sand bed
• Beurre blanc (from the Concorde episode)
  • Not counted as a full historical “meal component”
  • He raves about it (butters + onions)

Sources / Referenced Material (Within Subtitles)

• Escoffier (for Béarnaise style)
• Michelin episode (for the Burgundy-style chicken recipe)
• Dining in a Dinosaur (for Salmi de Perdrix)
• Titanic episode / Titanic first-class context (for béarnaise + potatoes)
• 1651 (source year stated for French onion soup)
• USDA school cookbook (for sloppy joes)
• Dracula references (for mentioning paprika-related dish context)
• Ancient Egyptian / King Tut tomb findings (for the duck reconstruction premise)