Lrds-Salt-Exp-art

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Lrds-Salt-Exp-art – 6/10/05

"Lordπs Salt Experiment" by Lady Hauviette dπAnjou.

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NOTICE -

This article was submitted to me by the author for inclusion in this set

of files, called Stefan's Florilegium.

These files are available on the Internet at:

http://www.florilegium.org

While the author will likely give permission for this work to be

reprinted in SCA type publications, please check with the author first

or check for any permissions granted at the end of this file.

Thank you,

Mark S. Harris

AKA: Stefan li Rous

stefan at florilegium.org

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"Lordπs Salt Experiment"

by Lady Hauviette dπAnjou

The source of these recipes are: The Icelandic Miscellany (15th C),

Danish Manuscript-Codex K (late 13thC)and Danish Manuscript-Codex Q (14th C). The translation is by Nanna Rognvaldardottir.

Recipe no. 6:

Icelandic manuscript:

Quomodo temperetur salsum dominorum et quam diu durabit. Geroforsnagla skal

taka. ok muskat cardemomium pipar. canel. ingifer. sitt jÊmn vÊge af hveriu.

utan canel. skal vera jafn þycktt vid alltt hitt annath ok svo micit steiktt

braud sem alltt þat er fyr er sagtt. ok skera þat alltt saman. ok mala með

stercku ediki. ok lata j legil. þat er þeirra sals ok um eitt misseri.*

*The scribe has erased "mi" from misseri and written "ar" (year)

instead.

How to make a sauce for lords and how many days it keeps. Take cloves and

nutmeg, cardamom, pepper, cinnamon, ginger, an equal weight of each, except

the cinnamon, which should be as much as all the others, and as much fried

bread as all the above, and cut it all together and crush it with strong

vinegar, and put in a cask. This is their sauce and is good for half a

year/one year.

Danish manuscript, Codex K:

Quomodo temperetur salsum dominorum et quam diu durat. Man skal takÊ g¯rfÊrs

naghlÊ. oc muscat. cardemomum. pipÊr. cinamomum thÊt Êr kaniÊl. oc ingifÊr.

allÊ iÊfn wÊghnÊ. tho swa at kaniÊl Êr Êm mykÊt sum allÊ hinÊ andrÊ. oc slyk

tu stekt br¯th sum allÊ hinÊ andrÊ. oc st¯t thÊm allÊ samÊn. oc malÊ mÊth

stÊrk ÊdykÊ oc latÊ .i. en leghÊl. ThÊt Êr hÊrrÊ salsÊ. oc Êr goth et halft

aar.

How to make a sauce for lords and how many days it keeps. Take cloves, and

nutmeg, cardamom, pepper, cinnamon, that is canel, and ginger, an equal

weight of each, but the cinnamon should be as much as all the other spices,

and also fried bread twice as much as all the rest. Crush it all together,

and grind with strong vinegar and put into a cask. This is lord¥s sauce

and is good for six months.

Danish manuscript, Codex Q:

MÊn sculÊ takÊ gÊrofÊrs naghlÊ, muscat pipÊr. oc ingifÊr. af hwÊr therÊ Êm

mykÊt af cinamomum. ÊssÊ the ÊrÊ allÊ samÊn. oc tysÊ ÊmmykÊt af hwith

br¯thÊ. stÊkt ÊssÊ thÊt Êr alt oc st¯thÊ thÊt samÊn mÊth Êddik. thennÊ

salsÊ haldÊ mÊn goth i eth halft aar i en lÊghlÊ.

Take cloves, nutmeg, pepper and ginger, an equal amount of each, and as much

cinnamon as all the others, and twice as much white bread, fried as it is

whole, and pound this together with vinegar. This keeps well for six months

in a cask.

Recipe no. 7

Icelandic manuscript:

Quomodo condiantur assature in salso supra dicto. Þat sem madur vill af

þessu salse hafa þa skal hann vella j ponnu vel a glodum branda lausum.

Sidan skal madur taka villi brad af hirti Êda ra. ok specka vel. ok

steikina. ok skerra þat vel brentt ok j þann tima sem salset er kalltt. þa

skal þetta þar slÊggiaz med. littlu salltti. þa ma liggia um þriar vikur.

Sva ma madur leinge verd veita. gÊs endur. ok adrar villibradir. ef hann

sker þÊr þunnar. þetta er betzta sals er herra menn hafa.

How to use the above sauce. Take what you want to use of this sauce and boil

it in a pan on hot embers without flame. Then take some game, hart or roe,

and lard it well, and roast it, and cut it well burned*, and when the sauce

is cold, then place the meat in it with a little salt. Then it can be kept

for three weeks. In this way geese, ducks and other game can be kept for a

long time, if cut thin. This is the best sauce that the lords have.

The original says "brentt", burned, but that is probably an error - the

Danish text has "brethÊ", broad, thick.

Danish, Codex K:

Quomodo condiantur assature in salso supradicto.

ThavÊr man wil af hÊnnÊ hauÊ. tha skal man wÊllÊ hÊnnÊ wÊl .i. en pannÊ ofnÊ

hetÊ gl¯thÊr utÊn brandÊ. oc skal man takÊ brathÊ af hiort ÊllÊr ra. wÊl

spÊkkÊth oc stekÊ them wÊl. oc skÊrÊ them wÊl brethÊ. oc thÊn timÊ thÊn

salsÊ Êr kald tha skal wildbrath .i. lÊggÊs mÊth litÊlt salt oc thÊt ma

lygge thre ukÊ. Swa mughÊ man haldÊ goth hiortÊ brath. giÊs oc ÊndÊr. of

man skÊR them thiokkÊ. thÊttÊ Êr the bÊstÊ salsÊ thÊr herrÊmÊn hauÊ.

How to make use of the above sauce. When you want to use some of it, then

boil it well in a pan on hot embers without flame. And take a steak of hart

or deer, well larded, and cut into thick slices. And when the sauce is cold,

then place the game in it with a little salt and it can be kept there for

three weeks. In this way one can preserve steaks of hart, geese and ducks,

if cut thick. This is the best sauce that the lords have.

Danish, Codex Q:

WilÊ mÊn syltÊ thÊr nokÊt i. tha latÊ thÊt wÊllÊ. oc sithÊn thÊt Êr full

kalt tha skulÊ mÊn stÊkt wild brath kalt hiort ra. gaas. Êth annÊn wild

bradh. skorÊth i stykki lÊggÊ thÊrÊ i mÊth lit salt. thÊn sylt mughÊ mÊn

g¯mÊ thre vkÊ.

If you want to pickle something in it, then let it boil, and when it is

quite cold, then place in it fried game, cold hart, roe, geese or other

game, cut into pieces and placed in the sauce with a little salt. This

can be kept for three weeks.

My Recipe Recreation

In approaching this recipe I wanted to make a large enough quantity that

I could use it as a "shelf item" and have the combined ingredients to

keep on hand for future use. As such I began with a fair quantity of

Cinnamon Zeylanicum (the recipe specifies canel) and using a metric

scale for accuracy, I weighed out the Cinnamon first to obtain the total

weight that all of the other spices should be combined. The recipes ask

for "an equal amount of each, but the cinnamon should be as much as all

the rest". In this my dilemma was should my measurements be mass or

volume. I chose mass and my reasoning is that most recipes are a

prescription in their origin (see the definition of "recipe") and as

such the ingredients would have been obtained in weighted amounts. The

volume of say ground nutmeg Vs cloves is substantially different and as

such only weight would give me equal amounts of each. My justification

for using grams in my experiment was that the scale I have is electronic

and can convert to either metric or imperial, however when using ounces

the scale can be out by as much a .2 of an ounce, but would only be out

by 1gm at the most. I have converted the quantities for those who do not

have access to a metric measurement, but would suggest that when buying

the ingredients that you simply buy in said quantities instead of trying

to determine the quantities in dry measure. This will ensure fresh

spices are used which may be instrumental in the preservative aspect of

this recipe although there is argument that the spices used in the

middle ages would have had a diminished strength due to the time spent

in travel and the adulteration by middle men. Finally, I have rounded

off the measurement to imperial since 1 ounce is equal to 28.35 grams

and my quantities of the spices were only 31g (greater than an ounce by

2.65 grams).

Base ingredients: combine the following dry ingredients and use 1 cup to

3.5 cups vinegar per recipe

Cloves 31g or 1 ounce Ginger 31g or 1 ounce

Nutmeg 31g or 1 ounce Pepper 31g or 1 ounce

Cardamom 31g or 1 ounce Cinnamon 186g or 5 ounces

Pepper 31g or 1 ounce

Bread crumbs 372g or 1.37 lb. (22 ounces)

Red Wine Vinegar 3.5 cups

1.5 LB of venison steak (I preferred a roast, but steak was all that was

available)

2 TB lard

1 tsp. salt

Method;

Grind the spices and combine with the bread crumbs. Using a pestle,

grind the dry ingredients together to ensure the crumbs are well

inundated with the spices. Add the vinegar and further mash the contents

of the bowl.

Pour the spice/bread crumb/vinegar combination into a sauce pan and

place over low heat. Stirring regularly, bring to a full boil for 1.5 to

2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool thoroughly.

Meanwhile, remove any fat from the venison and spread lard over the

surface. Place in an oven proof dish, into the oven at 350 degrees for

35 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Using a shallow covered dish, pour half of the cooled spice mixture into

it. Place the meat on top of this and then pour the remaining sauce over

the meat, making sure that it is well covered. Put the dish in a cool,

dry place (this dish is meant to be a preserved meat )and keep for up to

three weeks (although there are a few people who have kept it for

months and attest that it is perfectly safe I have yet to determine

that).

A Discussion:

The Codex K and Codex Q state that the amount of bread crumbs "fried

Bread" should be "twice as much as all the rest" as opposed to the

Icelandic Manuscript requiring "as much fried bread as all the others".

I chose to follow the earlier manuscripts and totaled the weight of all

spices and doubled it for the amount of bread crumbs.

The issue of "strong vinegar" was discussed on the SCA Cooks list and I

was advised to purchase a 7% vinegar that would be particularly strong

and seemed to fit the recipes requirement (it calls for "strong

vinegar"). However, I had been part of other discussions regarding

making your own vinegarπs as opposed to using commercially produced

varieties and an unscientific conclusion was reached that since

vinegarπs would have been used fairly soon after inception and having

been made using a suspected weaker "mother of vinegar" then the acidity

level would have been lower than what we have available as the average

vinegar today. As such, and considering I was unable to locate any

vinegarπs with an acidity level higher that 5%, I used a common red wine

vinegar with a 5% acidity level. Red Wine vinegar was chosen as the best

accompaniment to game. The quantity of dry ingredients to vinegar was 1

cup dry to 3.5 cups vinegar. Anything less than 3 cups of liquid

produced a gel like mass that was almost impossible to bring to a boil.

The added .5 cup was to ensure coverage of the meat in the dish and to

account for the thickening of the product during cooking.

I combined the dry ingredients in a medium sized metal bowl and ground

the ingredients together as much as was possible using a pestle . Taking

1 cup of the dry ingredients and pouring in 3.5 cups of vinegar I

mashed the contents further. This sauce was then slowly brought to boil

on low heat stirring regularly to prevent scorching. The recipe directs

you to "take what you want of this sauce and boil it in a pan on hot

embers without flame" hence, the temperature was kept at 3 on the dial

of an electric stove.

I was lucky to have venison available to me although not in a roast but

steaks. The lady who translated the recipes, states that the word

"stekae" actually means roast, not steak and is probably the root for

the English word for steak. Since the roast is then further cut into

"thick slices", I felt it sufficient to follow the spirit of the recipe

using pre-sliced roasts. Not using a roast may have an effect on the

texture of the meat in the end, since the centre and edges of the meat

would cook simultaneously as opposed to varying times. In order to

compensate to some degree I folded the steaks into a larger "piece" of

meat and roasted them as such. Upon initial tasting, we found the

venison to be on the dry side, as the sauce had yet to penetrate the

meat. The next trial will be 5 days post the construction of the dish.

A modern analysis of the spices used in this dish

According to The Complete New Herbal, by Richard Mabey, Penguin Books:

Cinnamon bark oil is antibacterial, inhibiting E.coli, Staphylococcus

aureus and thrush (Candida albicans)

Cloves are strongly antiseptic due to the high percent of phenols.

Black Pepper stimulates the taste buds and helps promote gastric

Secretions. In addition, I believe there is some research out there that

says it is also a preservative of foods.

The Complete Medicinal Herbal, Penelope Ody tells us that:

Nutmeg is carminative (relieves flatulence, digestive colic and gastric

discomfort), is a digestive stimulant and antispasmodic, prevents

vomiting, appetite stimulant, anti inflammatory and is used as

digestive remedy especially for food poisoning. Used in large doses

(7.5g or more in a single dose) is dangerous producing convulsions and

palpitations.

Cardamom is antispasmodic, carminative and a digestive stimulant.

Ginger is a circulatory stimulant, relaxes peripheral blood vessel,

promotes sweating, expectorant, prevents vomiting, antispasmodic,

carminative, antiseptic.

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Copyright 2000 by Channon Mondoux, 6924 Angling Road, Portage Mi 49024. <channonmondoux at yahoo.com>. Permission is granted for republication in SCA-related publications, provided the author is credited and receives a copy.

To view more of Channon Mondouxπs work go to her website: http://www.rencuisine.com">www.rencuisine.com or email her at: info at rencuisine.com

If this article is reprinted in a publication, I would appreciate a notice in

the publication that you found this article in the Florilegium. I would also

appreciate an email to myself, so that I can track which articles are being

reprinted. Thanks. -Stefan.