blood-dishes-msg - 4/26/11

Use of blood in period foods. Recipes.

NOTE: See also these files: Blood-Soup-art, exotic-meats-msg, food-sources-msg, haggis-msg, sauces-msg, marrow-msg, sausages-msg, organ-meats-msg, puddings-msg, thickening-msg.

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NOTICE -

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I  have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

I  have done  a limited amount  of  editing. Messages having to do  with separate topics  were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the  message IDs  were removed to save space and remove clutter.

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Thank you,
    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1998 15:59:12 -0400
From: renfrow at skylands.net (Cindy Renfrow)
Subject: Re:  SC - Organ Meats

>While perusing my brand-new copy of The Medieval Kitchen I noticed a number of
>recipes where the sauce was thickened with liver.
>
>Has anyone tried this? How pervasive is the liver flavor? (Other organ meats
>are great, but I just don't like liver.) Is there any way to omit the liver
>and still get a reasonable result?
>
>Renata

Hello!  The flavor depends on what kind of liver you use & the proportion
to other ingredients.  Another period method of thickening sauces is using
boiled blood:  boil it till it coagulates, and (sometimes you then fry it,
and then) pass it through a strainer.  Then add the blood to your sauce.

Cindy/Sincgiefu
renfrow at skylands.net


Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1999 10:47:48 -0500 (EST)
From: Robin Carrollmann <harper at idt.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Christmas Dinner and Gifts

On Wed, 29 Dec 1999, Lurking Girl wrote:
> Vaguely related: does anyone have a
> suggestion on what to do with ~1 cup of goose blood?  It's gotta be
> good for something.

Disclaimer: I have never cooked a goose or any component thereof, and I am
far from my cookbooks right now.  However, a web search turned up a few
things.  Two are period German recipes, though they will do you no good
right now unless you still have the giblets of the goose:
http://www.best.com/~ddfr/Medieval/Cookbooks/Sabrina_Welserin.html
(recipes # 10 & 16)

Another is for a Polish soup made with goose blood:
http://www.acc.umu.se/~effie/rec.food.recipes/polish/czernina
Ooops... just noticed that it calls for broth made from the goose
gizzards, plus the gizzards themselves.  Maybe you could substitute duck
innards?

Brighid ni Chiarain


Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1999 21:44:00 EST
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: SC - Blood

parlei at algonet.se writes:
<<  Vaguely related: does anyone have a
 > suggestion on what to do with ~1 cup of goose blood?  It's gotta be
 > good for something.   >>

I posted this recipe a while back. I redacted it for the Weekend of Wisdom
feast, It was a huge success. The sauce is thickened with blood.

GEORGÉ BRUET (Parsley-laced Soup)
This dish was very well received with only one piece of chicken being uneaten
by a vegetarian. I had thought that the liver and blood might be a problem
but no one commented prior to service and there were only good things said
about the dish after service.
(from Le Manegier de Paris. Translation by Janet Hinson)
Redaction copyright 1999 L. J. Spencer, Jr.
Makes 8 servings.

ORIGINAL RECIPE: George Soup, Parsley-laced Soup. Take poultry cut into
quarters, veal, or whatever meat you wish cut into pieces, and put to boil
with bacon; and to one side have a pot, with, blood, finely minced onions
which you should cook or fry in it. Have also bread browned on the grill,
then moisten it with stock from your meat and wine, then grind ginger,
cinnamon, long pepper, saffron, clove and grain and the livers, and grind
them up so well that there is no need to sift them: and moisten with
verjuice, wine and vinegar. And when the spices are removed from the mortar,
grind your bread, and mix with what it was moistened with, and put it through
the sieve, and add spices and leafy parsley if you wish, all boiled with the
blood and the onions, and then fry your meat. And this soup should be brown
as blood and thick like 'soringe.'

Note that always you must grind the spices first; and with soups, you do not
sift the spices, and afterwards you grind and sieve the bread.

Note that this is only called parsley-laced soup when parsley is used, for as
one speaks of 'fringed with saffron,' in the same way one speaks of 'laced
with parsley'; and this is the manner in which cooks talk.

8 Chicken quarters
4 slices Bacon, diced
2 Chicken livers
2 Onions, finely minced
1 T. Cooking fat (e.g., lard)
1/2 cp. Blood
1 slice Bread, toasted dark
1/2 cp. Chicken stock
1/4 cp. Red Wine
1/4 tsp. Long pepper, ground
1/2 tsp. True cinnamon, ground
1/8 tsp. Cloves, ground
1 pinch Saffron, ground
1/4 tsp. Grains of Paradise, ground
1 T Verjuice
1 T Red wine
1 T Wine Vinegar
1/4 cp. Italian parsley (leaves only)
1/4 tsp. Black pepper, ground
1/4 cp. Lard

In a large pot, cover chicken and bacon with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce
heat to medium. Cook until chicken is tender but not falling apart or until
flesh turns white. Remove chicken from stock. Continue boiling the stock
until it is reduced by half.

In another pot, sauté onions in fat until transparent and tender. Whisk in
blood. Continue cooking on low.

Mash liver and put through a sieve.

Mash parsley.

Moisten bread in * cp. of stock and * cp. red wine.
Moisten long pepper, cinnamon, cloves, saffron, grains of paradise and black
pepper in 1 T red wine, verjuice and vinegar.

Mash bread mixture and force through a strainer.

Mix liver into onion mixture. Mix blood into liver mixture, stirring
continuously. Add parsley.  Mix in bread mixture and spice mixture. Simmer,
stirring continuously for 5 min.

Brown chicken in lard.

Serve chicken with sauce poured over top.

Ras


Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 08:44:25 +0200
From: "Cindy M. Renfrow" <cindy at thousandeggs.com>
Subject: SC - blood

<snip>
>Uh, ok, in Indonesia and the Philippines blood is often collected
>from animals when they are slaughtered and included in the cooking
>of>>certain >dishes, for example, in Pilipino dinaguan and Batak saksang.
>Do we have many European recipes from "SCA period" that include blood
>as an ingredient in dishes besides "blood sausage"?

>Anahita

Hello!  Yes, there are some, such as this one for Fylettys en Galentyne.
Blood (fried or collected as pan drippings) was also used as a coloring
agent to make dishes dark in color.

Harleian MS. 279 - Potage Dyvers
xvj. Fylettys en Galentyne.  Take fayre porke, [th]e fore quarter, an take
of [th]e skyne; an put [th]e porke on a fayre spete, an rost it half y-now;
[th]an take it of, an smyte it in fayre pecys, & caste it on a fayre potte;
[th]an take oynonys, and schrede hem, an pele hem (an pyle hem nowt to
smale), an frye in a panne of fayre grece; [th]an caste hem in [th]e potte
to [th]e porke; [th]an take gode broth of moton or of beef, an caste
[th]er-to, an [th]an caste [th]er-to pouder pepyr, canel, clowys, an macys,
an let hem boyle wyl to-gederys; [th]an tak fayre brede, an vynegre, an
stepe [th]e brede with [th]e same brothe, an strayne it on blode, with ale,
or ellys sawnderys, and salt, an lat hym boyle y-now, an serue it forth.


Rose (Liber Cure Cocorum, p. 13.)
Take flour of ryse, as whyte as sylke,  And hit welle, with almond mylke;
Boyle hit tyl hit be chargyd, [th]enne  Take braune of capone or elle of henne;
Loke [th]ou grynd hit wondur smalle,  And sithen [th]ou charge hit with alle;
Coloure with alkenet, sawnder, or ellys with blode,  Fors hit with clowes
or macys gode; Seson hit with sugur grete plentÈ,  [th]is is a rose, as
kokes tell me.

[Take flour of rice, as white as silk,
And heat it well, with almond milk;
Boil it till it is thick, then
Take flesh of capon or else of hen;
Look that you grind it very small,
And then you thicken it with all;
Color with alkanet, saunders, or else
With blood, Season it with cloves or maces good; Season it with sugar in
great plenty, this is a rose, as cooks tell me.]

Cindy Renfrow
Author and Publisher of "Take a Thousand Eggs or More" and "A Sip Through Time"
http://www.thousandeggs.com


Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 07:04:18 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - blood from slaughter houses (was OT Vegetarian Vampires (was   Absint...

Etain1263 at aol.com wrote:
> What I want to know is this:  how do they keep the stuff from clotting?  And
> when they freeze it...doesn't it hemolyze all of the rbcs?
> 
> Etain

I'm not sure, although I'm sure it's possible to keep it from clotting.
One partially effective method from period involves the use of a bit of
vinegar to reduce clotting. You'll still probably get some but they can
be strained out.

Adamantius


Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 11:16:43 EDT
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - blood from slaughter houses (was OT Vegetarian Vampires (was  Absint...

Etain1263 at aol.com writes:
<< how do they keep the stuff from clotting?  >>

The clot is the part that gets roasted  or is used as thickening. Clotting is 
a good thing. :-)

Ras


Date: Sun, 14 May 2000 01:15:50 -0000
From: "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nanna_R=F6gnvaldard=F3ttir?=" <nannar at isholf.is>
Subject: Re: SC - blood from slaughter houses (was OT Vegetarian Vampires (was  Absint...

Etain1263 at aol.com wrote:
> What I want to know is this:  how do they keep the stuff from clotting?

You stir it while it is cooling down, then it doesn’t clot.

In my teens I once worked in a slaughterhouse for a couple of weeks. There
was an old woman there whose sole job was to stir the blood with a large
wooden stick. She got sick one day and none of us girls wanted to take her
job -not because we had any aversions to handling blood, but it was
definitely the most boring job in the house.

Nanna


Date: Mon, 15 May 2000 23:14:27 -0600
From: Jeanne Schweiger <jeannes1401 at juno.com>
Subject: SC - Artemisian Champion comments and blood soup recipe 

Greetings from Casamira Jawjalny, O.L. 
from Loch Salann, Artemisia

At this weekend's Artemisian A&S competition I entered Polish  Black 
Soup - Czarnina -  made with blood.  The Loch Salann Cook's Guild was
given the "opportunity" to slaughter 3 geese, and I saved the blood just
to make Czarnina.  

I had eaten Czarnina as a kid, but didn't ever think I'd make it.  The
recipe I have is the family recipe from 1895.  I didn't find an original
recipe.  It wasn't in any of my resources, although in "Food and Drink in
Medieval Poland - Rediscovering a Cuisine of the Past"
Maria Dembinska refers to it as being made in period.

If anyone wants the recipe, I'll send it privately.

Casamira


Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2000 15:14:19 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Celtic recipes

pat fee wrote: 
> On this topic.  A friend just returned from Irland and was discribing the
> food she encountered.  She said that they offered "blood pudding," both dark
> and white, and some  other kind of saussage. Is ther a recipe for these or
> any documentation for our period.  I thought it might not have changed much.
> I want to do this for part of a "breakfast" for a up coming estates meeting
> for another group.

There's a recipe for boudins noir or blood sausages in Le Menagier de
Paris, but it's more like a modern French recipe, as I recall, without
any cereal filler/stabilizer. Gervase Markham's "The English Housewife"
(1615 C.E.) contains recipes for black and white puddings, as does
Kenelm Digby's Closet Opened (1669 C.E.), which are closer to modern
black puddings found in the British Isles, usually with a starchy
product like rice or breadcrumbs in the mix.

White puddings don't contain blood, by the way, they just contain
everything else black puddings do, with the _exception_ of blood.

Adamantius


Date: Sun, 29 Oct 2000 17:12:00 +0100 (MET)
From: UlfR <parlei-sc at algonet.se>
Subject: SC - Malaches (FoC 159)

Malaches (Forme of Cury) 

159 Malaches. Take blode of swyne, floure, & larde idysed, salt & mele;
do hit togedre. Bake hyt in a trappe wyt wyte gres.

8 dl pigs blood
3-4 dl flour (mixed wheat and rye)
75 g butter (I was out of lard)
salt

I mixed the blood, the flour, salt, and most of the butter (diced). I
poured it into a greased deep tin in an 200 C oven, for 75 minutes, with
a foil cover. By that time a knife point came out fairly clean, and the
internal temperature was 75 C.

The result is slightly dry, bland but not bad at all. I suspect that if
I used some fat source that did not "go into solution" completely the
dryness might be solved. Alteantively I could melt the butter before
mixing it in, but That Is Not Supported By The Original Recipie, so I
couldn't do that.

Those better at middle english than me can probably answer the question
of if it would have been better to make a pie crust.

Looking at a modern cookbook for black-pudding I see that the recipe has
changed, but the FoC version is clearly an ancestor. It was much less
dense than what is sold as black pudding in Sweden today; it was more
like a soft cake than anything else. It also tended to burn to the
sides of the tin (the modern recipie uses a water bath).

For lunch tomorrow I'll fry some up (in slices), not supported by the
recipie either, but that is SOP with black pudding nowadays. 

Who was it that needed black food? This is it... you can even tell them
what it is made of and _still_ get a reaction. Or make it in muffin tins
for Halloween.

/UlfR

P.S. 	1 dl = 1/10 litre (3-4 dl is thus 1.5 cups or so)
	200 C is pretty close to 400 F
	75 g is 2.5 oz
- -- 
Par Leijonhufvud                                      parlei at algonet.se


Date: Sun, 29 Oct 2000 20:35:36 -0500
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Malaches (FoC 159)

UlfR wrote:
> Malaches (Forme of Cury)
> 
> 159 Malaches. Take blode of swyne, floure, & larde idysed, salt & mele;
> do hit togedre. Bake hyt in a trappe wyt wyte gres.
> 
> 8 dl pigs blood
> 3-4 dl flour (mixed wheat and rye)
> 75 g butter (I was out of lard)
> salt
> 
> I mixed the blood, the flour, salt, and most of the butter (diced). I
> poured it into a greased deep tin in an 200 C oven, for 75 minutes, with
> a foil cover. By that time a knife point came out fairly clean, and the
> internal temperature was 75 C.
> 
> The result is slightly dry, bland but not bad at all. I suspect that if
> I used some fat source that did not "go into solution" completely the
> dryness might be solved. Alteantively I could melt the butter before
> mixing it in, but That Is Not Supported By The Original Recipie, so I
> couldn't do that.

Note that two fat sources are mentioned in the recipe, and this could be
a source of confusion, and not including both of them could be the
source of your dryness (that and a native Scandinavian wit...). It calls
for lard, for which a decent substitute is bacon or fresh pork belly or
back fat, even soaked salt fatback, and then white grease, for which a
good substitute or source is lard ; ) . The former is to enrich the
finished food and moisten it in the mouth as well as in cooking; it
melts as it cooks, like the fat in a sausage, but the fatty tissue
remains after cooking. The latter is a shortening, whose purpose is to
lighten the texture of the curdled blood, like the olive oil or butter
you sometimes stir into polenta. It keeps it smooth and soft.
 
> Those better at middle english than me can probably answer the question
> of if it would have been better to make a pie crust.

Well, rather than ask why you changed the recipe (egads!), I can say
that the dish is probably better cooked in a pie crust, or perhaps baked
in a bain-marie, literally a "blood pudding"... the texture is smoother
and presumably moister. Plus, you get to inflict it on people who aren't
expecting it ; ). "What's this? More weird food? No? Only pie? Thank
goodness! About time!"
 
> Looking at a modern cookbook for black-pudding I see that the recipe has
> changed, but the FoC version is clearly an ancestor. It was much less
> dense than what is sold as black pudding in Sweden today; it was more
> like a soft cake than anything else. It also tended to burn to the
> sides of the tin (the modern recipie uses a water bath).

Oh, definitely, just as fronchemoyle seems to be an ancestor of the
white pudding. And then, of course, there are "white malaches" without
blood... I'd say the modern recipe I'm familiar with hasn't changed
hugely, at least not the UK-type or French types I've seen. The most
obvious changes seem to me to be that you'd be using fresh soft bread
crumbs instead of flour, and that this recipe doesn't seem to call for
any spices. Pepper, cloves, and perhaps nutmeg would be a great asset
here. But then, of course, we don't want to deliberately change recipes
to meet expectations ;  ).
 
> For lunch tomorrow I'll fry some up (in slices), not supported by the
> recipie either, but that is SOP with black pudding nowadays.

Hmmm. This poses an interesting question, one which may even deserve its
own thread and/or new subject header. Here goes:

How many documented, primary-source recipes can you (the collective you)
think of that specifically address the question of leftovers, or even
dishes that are based on other, previously cooked dishes? For example,
there's a recipe in Le Menagier that speaks of taking cold beef and
(IIRC) reheating it in slices with a sauce of vinegar and chopped
parsley (again, I _think_ that's what it says), and this is supposed to
be good for serving unexpected guests for a quick supper: as in, when
somebody bangs on your door in the middle of the night and you don't
want to simply send them away. How many examples of this kind of
recycled food strategy can people think of? It might go a ways toward
explaining the attitudes of medieval people toward leftovers, which
might explain why there aren't any instructions for reheating malaches.
On the other hand, if this is a feast dish, it may be one of those
things that got given to the poor as alms. Mmmmmm! Malaches!

Adamantius


From: "Weems, Lora" <Lora.Weems at ssa.gov>
To: "'sca-cooks at ansteorra.org'" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2001 11:14:57 -0600
Subject: [Sca-cooks] RE: substitute for blood

You can use blood sausages (Blutwurst) as a blood substitute,
although sometimes those are just as hard to come by.

And what about the blood that comes >with< liver? you know,
in the plastic cups of chicken liver, or the containers of
pork/lamb/calf liver at the grocery store?

Or should you use species-specific blood, f'rinstance beef blood
for beef recipes?

Leofwynn


Date: Mon, 09 Aug 2004 10:36:53 -0700
From: Susan Fox-Davis <selene at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Cooking with blood?
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

> I am curious as to how to cook with blood. I am researching a Greek  
> dish called melas zomos, black broth also known as blood soup. All I  
> have been able to uncover is the ingredients, pork cooked in it's own  
> blood and seasoned with salt and vinegar. What precautions do I need  
> to take, in what proportions to I mix the ingredients, and is there  
> any ingredients that seem to be missing? Any leads into this mystery  
> will be helpful.
>
> Nakos
> "kaythiarain" <kaythiarain at yahoo.com>

Some interesting correspondence may be found at:

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Notes & Queries
http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/1/7/0/11707/11707-h/11707-h.htm

A perusal of "greek black broth recipe" seems to imply that the stuff
was nutritious but horrible and nobody has had any really good reason to
redact a recipe.   I do find pork blood in Chinese and Korean grocery
stores.  This really does sound revolting, this coming from someone who
actually does like black pudding too.

Selene Colfox
selene at earthlink.net


Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2004 10:57:44 -0700 (PDT)
From: Christiane <christianetrue at earthlink.net>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: black broth
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org

I am curious as to how to cook with blood. I am researching a Greek dish called melas zomos, black broth also known as blood soup. All I have been able to uncover is the ingredients, pork cooked in it's own blood and seasoned with   salt and vinegar. What precautions do I need to take, in what proportions to I mix the ingredients, and is there any ingredients that seem to be missing? Any leads into   this mystery will be helpful.

Nakos
  "kaythiarain" <kaythiarain at yahoo.com>
=================================================

And I thought I was nuts to want to recreate Florence's cibreo!

At least cibreo has been a celebrated dish (Caterina de' Medici adored  
it). The joke about melas zomos in ancient times was that the Spartans  
would rather die than endure a lifetime of eating this soup. It must  
taste pretty damn bad; peasants are too practical to give up something  
nutritious. I can find several recipes for cibreo, but no one has  
bothered to even try to preserve at least a variation of melas zomos.

Gianotta


Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2004 14:03:09 -0400
From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius"
	<adamantius.magister at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Cooking with blood?
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

> I am curious as to how to cook with blood. I am researching a Greek
> dish called melas zomos, black broth also known as blood soup. All I
> have been able to uncover is the ingredients, pork cooked in it's
> own blood and seasoned with salt and vinegar. What precautions do I
> need to take, in what proportions to I mix the ingredients, and is
> there any ingredients that seem to be missing? Any leads into this
> mystery will be helpful.
>
> Nakos
>  "kaythiarain" <kaythiarain at yahoo.com>

You might check here:  
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/Blood-Soup-art.html

The link is to an article in Stefan's Florilegium on the making of a
Polish [I think] blood soup. It seems more complicated than the
description of the Greek dish mentioned above, but it needs to be
borne in mind that this isn't merely Greek food, it's Spartan food.
"With a name like Fluckers, you know it's got to be really great
blood soup!"

Also, while the ingredients in the Spartan version appear to be a lot
simpler, the rules for cooking with blood are more or less universal:
mixing with some vinegar appears to be extremely common in many blood
usages (to discourage clotting), and you don't want it to boil hard,
or it'll curdle into a mess I can only describe as nicely seasoned
scabs and plasma.

It seems to me what you'd do is cut up and simmer your meat in water
or possibly wine, until you have a rich broth with meat in it, then
add your blood-and-vinegar-mixture (seems like a proportion,
generally, of four parts blood to one part vinegar or thereabouts)
off the heat, place back on the heat and stir until the mixture
thickens slightly, but doesn't boil. Basically like thickening with
egg yolks. Id sneak in a little chopped marjoram and some pepper,
along with my salt, but then I'm not a Spartan.

Adamantius, who likes a good blood sausage but finds soups like this
a little too rich...


Date: Mon, 09 Aug 2004 14:11:54 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Cooking with blood?
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

http://www.foodsubs.com/MeatcureSausage.html talks about
the blood sausages so one can identify which include blood.
Asian markets are said to carry it in cans, so I presume that
going through the manufacturing process takes care of some of
the concerns about raw blood products.
I found one long Ag or USDA paper
the file http://www.fftc.agnet.org/library/data/eb/eb515/eb515.pdf.
that addressed the use of blood products in foods.
It's too long to copy so read it there or download it.
There's been some concerns regarding the use of blood as regards
BSE or mad cow.
the file http://www.fftc.agnet.org/library/data/eb/eb515/eb515.pdf.

One can search this using the terms USDA and blood sausages or
puddings and turn up more of these sorts of papers.

Johnnae llyn Lewis


Date: Mon,  9 Aug 2004 13:41:40 -0500
From: "ysabeau" <ysabeau at mail.ev1.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Cooking with blood?
To: Cooks within the SCA  <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

My father and my grandmother used to make a Polish blood soup. It
was made with either chicken or duck blood. I wish I'd paid more
attention to how they did it. I just know that it was important
that the blood be as fresh as possible. My main memory of it was
my father cutting off the heads of the chickens (and maybe a duck)
and watching them run around headless while I screamed. I had to
opportunity to try it again as an adult on a visit to Poland and
didn't like it then either. I remember the soup being very salty
with that iron tinge and not very good. It didn't look appetizing
either with shades grey to black mixed with noodles. I'd ask them,
but they both died last year and I guess the family recipe went
with them...but I honestly don't think THAT recipe was a big loss.

I don't know if that would help with your greek blood soup recipe
or not...maybe you can contact a butcher to get the pork blood.

Ysabeau


Date: Sun, 05 Aug 2007 20:59:44 -0400
From: Suey <lordhunt at gmail.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Pantry products - Morcilla
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org

Phil Troy wrote:
". . . my wife and I discovered yesterday that the local South American
bakery . . .We went in and pointed at objects that looked interesting. .
.the most terrifying thing was the morcilla, which is a blood sausage,
here made with rice, pork -- meat and blood, that is, and seasoned,
apparently with cloves. . ."

     Wait a minute here! In Spain I sacrifice five pigs every year at  the
end of January instead of San Martin as the climate is warmer. A family
comes from Monroy en Estremadura to do that but I am there to watch
every killing. I do not participate in the blood part as it is an art.
When the dagger severs the pig's heart the slaughterer's mother and his
wife alternate holding buckets to catch the spray of the blood which
spouts out of the aorta. When a bucket contains enough blood she takes a
stick and beats it for a time while the other woman replaces her
catching more blood. The first then she takes a new bucket and replaces
the other women to catch more blood until no more blood comes out. This
beating process is necessary to prevent the blood from coagulating
unlike that of a sheep.

     When our sheep are slaughtered in southern Chile traditionally we
use is the same process as in Monroy, Spain all of which date back to
the Middle Ages. We put a pan under the sheep's neck as the slaughter
slits the neck. Mind you the art of killing is that with as little pain
possible and hitting the right parts to make it super fast.

     In that of the pig, I find morcilla making an art. First for the
difficulty of the blood and then because we have individual recipes in
each household. I don't like blood sausage from Burgos made with rice. I
like that of Leon with onion. I have never had cloves in my morcilla.We
use black pepper, mace etc. not cayenne because I do not admit new world
products or techniques.

     For me our "sacrifice of our pigs" is not disgusting. It is
traditionally the survival of the fittest, our way of being able to eat
during winter months - it is his life or mine which at times can be is
scary. One year a friend sent me some of  black hooves that had mated
and had produced from Huelva - the most delicious porkys in Spain. My
slaughter man said he was afraid. Parent animals are much more dangerous
than those that have not mated. He continued that any of them could
escape and bite off the calf of his leg as the biggest weighed over a
ton.  The calf of his leg is three times bigger than my thigh!

      A female escaped, I don't know how I scrabbled up the to the roof
of our barbecue area where we do the slaughtering. The pig knocked down
one of our strongest wire fences and ran to the river. Finally our men
lassoed her on the bank and furiously brought her back to the
slaughtering table. I stayed on the roof until she was dead I was so
scared.

     On my pantry list I cautiously wrote "pork products" because I
personally participate in the preparation of all others during the
slaughter. Its a back breaking two day project after which we celebrate
with 250 guests on the third day who I receive with dishpan hands filled
with knife cuts and pin pricks. Yes, I like my chorizo and all that but
for me the best is the morcilla for it lasts only a short time and is
made with such loving hands. Morcilla is caviar for me.

Suey


Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2009 18:37:32 -0500
From: ranvaig at columbus.rr.com
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Sauce made with blood
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org

I'm doing some research on the sauce from Rumpolt called "Ein Pfeffer", which is made with blood.  I'm looking for other sauce recipes with blood, especially German recipes, but I'd be interested in others as well.  I'm aware of blood sausage, but I'm only looking for sauce recipes using fresh blood.  I found the following recipes from Welserin.

Ranvaig

Welserin 10 To make goose giblets

Take goose blood, take the feet, wings, stomach and neck and boil them in half water and half wine. Grate rye bread, fry it in fat, add to it also the blood from a goose and wine and some of broth in which the goose was cooked, sugar, ginger, pepper, cinnamon, cloves and let the peppersauce cook for a long while, as much as three hours. Then brown a few onions in fat and add the fat to the peppersauce, and when you would serve it sprinkle ginger thereon.

Welserin 16

Afterwards take the goose blood, cook in it the feet, neck and wings with wine and water. Grate rye bread, fry it in fat, add to the mixture and season it well. Then prepare it as follows: Take toasted Semmel and strain them with wine through a cloth, likewise the broth in which the goose was cooked. Then finely chop onions with bacon, let them roast together, put fat into it and season it well.

Welserin 19 Jugged hare

Take the hare, rinse the blood with wine and vinegar into a clean vessel, then chop the hare in pieces. Cook the front part in the blood. Take wine or water and stir it, until it is mixed with the blood, so that the blood does not clump. Take rye bread that is finely grated, fry it in fat and put it into the jugged hare. Season it well. You can also chop the lungs and the liver into pieces and roast them with the rye bread and put them into the jugged hare.


Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2009 01:14:31 +0100
From: Ana Vald?s <agora158 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sauce made with blood
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

In Sweden we have something called "Svart soppa", which is a broth or a soup
or a sauce, depending of the thickness. It's eaten only a month on the year,
November, in the aniversary of Saint Martin. The feast is called "M?rten
G?s" (M?rten is the Swedish name of Martin) and its based on the goose. The
goose is eaten in different servings, the innards, the meat and a lot of
side dishes. Traditionally is eaten in the southern part of Sweden, Sk?ne.
The soup/sauce/brooth is made with the fresh blood of the goose, some
starch, white and black peppar, plommon, apples and cognac or brandy. They
use as species cinammon, ginger and clove.

Ana


Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:53:02 -0500
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sauce made with blood
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

There are a number of blood recipes in Le Menagier, including a hare 
cooked in its blood.

Johnnae


Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2009 20:40:21 -0500
From: "Jim and Andi Houston" <jimandandi at cox.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sauce made with blood
To: "'Cooks within the SCA'" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

There are several recipes in Menagier of Paris and Du Fait de Cuisine that
use blood in sauces. I soooo want to give one of these a try, but where
would one buy blood?

Madhavi


Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:18:24 -0500
From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius1 at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sauce made with blood
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

On Feb 2, 2009, at 6:37 PM, ranvaig at columbus.rr.com wrote:
<<< I'm doing some research on the sauce from Rumpolt called "Ein  
Pfeffer", which is made with blood.  I'm looking for other sauce  
recipes with blood, especially German recipes, but I'd be interested  
in others as well.  I'm aware of blood sausage, but I'm only looking  
for sauce recipes using fresh blood.  I found the following recipes  
from Welserin. >>>

In addition to the Le Menagier recipes Johnnae mentions, I seem to  
recall a number of English pottages that are essentially meat in  
sauce, in which blood is featured in the sauce. Most of the civy/cyuey  
recipes (in which onions appear to be the essential ingredient, and  
the probable source of the name) include blood. Civeys are still  
served today in France, and blood is now considered the  
distinguishing, essential ingredient, more so even than onion.

Various dishes under the heading of "chaudun" also frequently include  
blood. As with civeys, another ingredient (cooked, chopped or  
pulverized innards, such as sieved liver or other giblet-like parts)  
is usually regarded as "the without whom none" -- IOW, without which  
it is not a chaudun -- but blood is still almost always included.

Adamantius


Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2009 21:26:36 -0500
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sauce made with blood
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

If you want to do English recipes, a quick search through EEBO-TCP
turns up blood mentioned in cookery books 229 times in 15 different
books. (These are just the cookbooks that are in the database and are 
available for keyword searching.)

They start with Dawson's GHJ, Partridge's WT and his TofCC and Dawson's 
GHJ Second part.
Then we skip into the 17th century with the Countess of Kent, Cooper, 
Queen's Closet Opened, and numerous volumes by Hannah Woolley.
There's 22 matches in Digby. Not all sauces but an interesting survey 
anyway.

Johnnae


Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2009 21:25:44 -0500
From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius1 at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sauce made with blood
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

On Feb 2, 2009, at 8:40 PM, Jim and Andi Houston wrote:
<<< I soooo want to give one of these a try, but where
would one buy blood? >>>

I know I've seen (as recently as a couple of weeks ago) frozen pint  
tubs of pig's and duck blood in some of the Chinese markets we frequent.

I have no idea what the target consumer uses pig's blood for, but I've  
seen cooked duck's blood, coagulated into a block that looks like milk- 
chocolate tofu, which then gets sliced or diced and cooked like tofu...

Adamantius


Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2009 17:39:11 +0000 (GMT)
From: emilio szabo <emilio_szabo at yahoo.it>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Sauce made with blood
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org

<< 
I'm doing some research on the sauce from Rumpolt called 
"Ein Pfeffer", which is made with blood.  I'm looking for other 
sauce recipes with blood, especially German recipes, ... >>

If you search for "Schwei?", "Schweiss" (the old word for blood) and similar forms in the German recipes on the web, you get a lot of hits.

Try a google search with "Schwei? site:www.uni-giessen.de/gloning" 

or "Schweiss site:www.uni-giessen.de/gloning"

However, you will have to sort out the items, where "schwei?" is a verb form meaning roast, heat. 

E.


Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2009 18:29:57 +0000 (GMT)
From: emilio szabo <emilio_szabo at yahoo.it>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Sauce made with blood
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org

This one is from 14th century Diuersa servicia (Hieatt and Butler, #9)

Haris in talbotays schul be hewe in gobettys al raw and
sodyn with al ?e blod. Nym bred, piper & ale & grynd togedere,
& temper it wy? ?e selue broth, & boyle it & salt it & serue
it for?e.

This is from Forme of cury (#145)

Sawse noyre for malard. Take brede and blode iboiled, 
and grynde it and drawe it thurgh a cloth with vyneger; do
?erto powdour of gynger and of peper, & ?e grece of the
maulard. Salt it; boile it wel and serue it forth.

E.


Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2009 10:30:14 -0800 (PST)
From: Lawrence Bayne <shonsu_78 at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sauce made with blood
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

I am not sure about being period, but I do know that the Basque people do/have used a "pancake" made of garlic, herbs, and dried blood, NOT as a sauce, but to enrich sauces, stews and the like. Heard about this at least 10-15 years ago.

Lothar


Date: Tue, 08 Mar 2011 07:43:38 -0500
From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius1 at verizon.net>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] period dishes to use blood in

On Mar 8, 2011, at 2:09 AM, Stefan li Rous wrote:
Talana commented:
<<< By the way, the last time I was in the Asian market, I saw little plastic containers of blood in the meat section.  Any idea what kind they might be? I don't read Chinese and couldn't find anyone to ask. >>>

Okay, probably a "city boy" question, but what is the texture of the blood when it is sold this way? Is it a dry cake? Or liquid? Or something in-between? I assume it clots, but I have no idea if it stays that way or whether it is ground up or other liquid is added to it or just what. I'm assuming that it needs to be kept refrigerated?
================

My experience with blood for sale in plastic tubs in Asian markets is that it's either pork (usually) or duck blood. Normally it is raw, _may_ have some mild anticoagulant like a bit of vinegar, added, but it is essentially still liquid. It can be used in Western recipes such as black puddings and civeys [basically a stew with the gravy thickened with blood, in more modern forms of the civey concept - originally coveys are called civeys because of the onions in the gravy, but nowadays this etymological link is not observed and the requisite onion is often left out]. Also used in various Asian soups, stews, and sausages. The first thing I think of when I think of Asian blood dishes is stews like dinuguan or some adobo variants.

You can also buy cooked blood (again, in my own experience, usually duck, if cooked, and less often, pork). It looks kind of like brown tofu and is sold in blocks, which you dice and add to dishes much like tofu. Same texture, too.

Adamantius


Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2011 08:36:35 -0500
From: Sharon Palmer <ranvaig at columbus.rr.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] period dishes to use blood in

<<< Just in case folks are wondering what to do with it, here are a few 
dishes period dishes that might use it. >>>

Rumpolt also has a large number of dishes with blood in the sauce.

Ranvaig


Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2011 09:02:07 -0800
From: David Friedman <ddfr at daviddfriedman.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] period dishes to use blood in

Talana commented:
<<< By the way, the last time I was in the Asian market, I saw 
little plastic containers of blood in the meat section.  Any idea 
what kind they might be? I don't read Chinese and couldn't find 
anyone to ask. >>>

Okay, probably a "city boy" question, but what is the texture of the 
blood when it is sold this way? Is it a dry cake? Or liquid? Or 
something in-between? I assume it clots, but I have no idea if it 
stays that way or whether it is ground up or other liquid is added 
to it or just what. I'm assuming that it needs to be kept 
refrigerated?

Just in case folks are wondering what to do with it, here are a few 
dishes period dishes that might use it.
Blood-Soup-art (12K) 12/26/00 "Polish Black Soup - Czarnina" by 
Casamira Jawjalny, O.L.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/Blood-Soup-art.html
==============

Looking at that, it isn't a period dish. It's "an old family recipe 
attributed to Frances Wloszczynska,1895."

Doing a quick search for "blood" in our recipe collection:

Fylettes en Galentyne
 Two Fifteenth Century p. 8 (GOOD)

Take fair pork, the fore quarter, and take off the skin; and put the 
pork on a fair spit, and roast it half enough; then take it off and 
smite it in fair pieces, and cast it on a fair pot; then take onions 
and shred them and peel them, and not too small, and fry in a pan of 
fair grease; then cast them in the pot to the pork; then take good 
broth of mutton or of beef, and cast thereto, and cast thereto powder 
pepper, canel, cloves, and mace, and let them boil well together; 
then take fair bread, and vinegar, and steep the bread with the same 
broth, and strain it on blood, with ale, or else with saunders, and 
salt, and let them boil enough, and serve it forth.
---
Mete of Cypree
Curye on Inglysch p. 55 (Diuersa Cibaria no. 56)

Vor mete of Cypree. Vurst nim of alemauns, &  hwyte of heom one 
pertie, ah hwyte summe hole & _e o_ur do to grinden. So__en nim _e 
hole alemauns & corf heom to quartes; so__en nim fat bro_ & swete of 
porc o_ur of v_ur vlehs; tempre _in alemauns & so__en drauh out _i 
milke & so _e do hit in an veyre crouhe. So__en nim _e braun of 
chapouns o_ur of hennen o_ur of porc, & ef noed is let hakken, & 
so__en do in a morter _at hit beo wel igronden, & so__en nym hit & do 
hit to _e milke. So__en nim blod of cycchen o_ur of o_ur beste, & 
so__en grind hit & do hit to _e vlesche. So__en do _e crouhe to _e 
vure & seo_ hit wel; & so__en nym gode poudre of spices: gynger, 
kanel, maces, quibibes, and so zeo_ hit wi_ _ilke metee. So__en nim 
wyn & sucre & make me an stronge soupe. Do hit in _ilke to zeo_en. 
So__en nym flour of ris & do a quantite _at hit beo wel _ikke. So__en 
nim _in alemauns icoruen & frie heom wel in grece; so__en nim gynger 
& par yt wel & heuw hit. So__en nym _in alemauns yfried & _i gynger 
to _e dressur, & so do hit to _ilke mete, & so__en nym saffron & 
colore wel _i mete: & gef _at to gode men vor god mete & riche.

Version with modernized English: For meat of Cyprus. First take of 
almonds, & blanche of them one part, the white should be whole & the 
other do to grind. Then take the whole almonds & carve them to 
quarters; then take fat broth & suet of pork or of other flesh; 
temper thine almonds & then draw out thy milk & then do it in a fair 
crock. Then take the meat of capons or of hens or of pork, & if need 
is let it be hacked, & then do in a mortar that it be well ground, & 
then take it & do it to the milk. Then take blood of chicken or of 
other beast, & then grind it & do it to the flesh. Then do the crock 
to the fire & seethe it well; & then take good powder of spices: 
ginger, canel, maces, cubebs, and so seethe it with that meat. Then 
take wine & sugar & make me a strong soup. Do it in that to seethe. 
Then take flour of rice & do a quantity that it be well thick. Then 
take thine almonds carved & fry them well in grease; then take ginger 
& pare it well & hew it. Then take thine almonds yfried & thy ginger 
to the dresser, & so do it to this meat, & then take saffron & color 
well thy meat: & give that to good men for good meat & rich.
---
David Friedman
www.daviddfriedman.com
daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/


Date: Tue, 08 Mar 2011 14:23:25 -0500
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] period dishes to use blood in

Another easy way to identify recipes using blood, is to go to
the Cookbook Search function at medievalcookery.com

http://www.medievalcookery.com/search/search.html

and search under blood.
Lots of recipes in the Forme of Cury.
Several of the recipes in Das Kochbuch des Meisters Eberhard are really for
ingredients that chill or warm the blood, so they aren't applicable.
(Lentils are moderately hot and dry out and make much blood. If they  
are boiled with vinegar, they extinguish the inflammation of the  
blood. Those who eat much of them get dark eyes because they dry out  
the body so much. Avicenna says that they damage the stomach and cause  
gas and constipate.)
Blood was used as a coloring (as in Rose) and that appears in some of  
the recipes in the LCC too. Lots to explore anyway.

Johnnae

<the end>
Edited by Mark S. Harris	blood-dishes-msg	Page 19 of 19