Although I suspected it may have been invented by a sutler to cover the flavor of less than well preserved meat...
To what end? If it is ganky it will make you sick, and you'll likely huck it up anyway. That has not changed in the last couple hundred years.
I will never understand that idea - That somehow the means of preservation has changed so much. Yes, we have modern nitrites... But powdered celery does the same thing. Bacon and summer sausage is much the same.
What hasn't changed is that if the meat has turned, you throw it out.
