an operation familiar to all cooks, may have one or both of two purposes: to keep moist, and therefore tender, the surface of something being cooked; or to add more flavour, as when a piece of fish or meat has been in a marinade before being cooked, and is then basted with the marinade during the cooking process.
Where flavour is the aim, the use of herbs, e.g. a sprig of rosemary, to apply the liquid to the surface may be helpful. However, the best tool is a sort of syringe; but this seems to have been unavailable to cooks until the 20th century, spoons having been used previously.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
