Lrds-Salt-Exp-art - 6/10/05 "Lord's Salt Experiment" by Lady Hauviette d'Anjou. NOTE: See also the files: pickled-foods-msg, drying-foods-msg, stockfish-msg, campfood-msg, canning-msg, meat-smoked-msg, salt-msg, salt-comm-art. ************************************************************************ 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 Copyright to the contents of this file remains with the author. 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 ************************************************************************ "Lord's Salt Experiment" by Lady Hauviette d'Anjou 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 jæmn væge 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 takæ gørfærs naghlæ. oc muscat. cardemomum. pipær. cinamomum thæt ær kaniæl. oc ingifær. allæ iæfn wæghnæ. tho swa at kaniæl ær æm mykæt sum allæ hinæ andræ. oc slyk tu stekt brøth sum allæ hinæ andræ. oc støt thæm allæ samæn. oc malæ mæth stærk ædykæ oc latæ .i. en leghæl. Thæt ær hærræ salsæ. oc ær 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: Mæn sculæ takæ gærofærs naghlæ, muscat pipær. oc ingifær. af hwær theræ æm mykæt af cinamomum. æssæ the æræ allæ samæn. oc tysæ æmmykæt af hwith brøthæ. stækt æssæ thæt ær alt oc støthæ thæt samæn mæth æddik. thennæ salsæ haldæ mæn goth i eth halft aar i en læghlæ. 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 æda ra. ok specka vel. ok steikina. ok skerra þat vel brentt ok j þann tima sem salset er kalltt. þa skal þetta þar slæggiaz med. littlu salltti. þa ma liggia um þriar vikur. Sva ma madur leinge verd veita. gæs endur. ok adrar villibradir. ef hann sker þær 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 "brethæ", broad, thick. Danish, Codex K: Quomodo condiantur assature in salso supradicto. Thavær man wil af hænnæ hauæ. tha skal man wællæ hænnæ wæl .i. en pannæ ofnæ hetæ gløthær utæn brandæ. oc skal man takæ brathæ af hiort ællær ra. wæl spækkæth oc stekæ them wæl. oc skæræ them wæl brethæ. oc thæn timæ thæn salsæ ær kald tha skal wildbrath .i. læggæs mæth litælt salt oc thæt ma lygge thre ukæ. Swa mughæ man haldæ goth hiortæ brath. giæs oc ændær. of man skæR them thiokkæ. thættæ ær the bæstæ salsæ thær herræmæn hauæ. 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: Wilæ mæn syltæ thær nokæt i. tha latæ thæt wællæ. oc sithæn thæt ær full kalt tha skulæ mæn stækt wild brath kalt hiort ra. gaas. æth annæn wild bradh. skoræth i stykki læggæ thæræ i mæth lit salt. thæn sylt mughæ mæn gømæ thre vkæ. 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 vinegar's as opposed to using commercially produced varieties and an unscientific conclusion was reached that since vinegar's 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 vinegar's 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. ------ Copyright 2000 by Channon Mondoux, 6924 Angling Road, Portage Mi 49024. . Permission is granted for republication in SCA-related publications, provided the author is credited and receives a copy. To view more of Channon Mondoux's work go to her website: 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. Edited by Mark S. Harris Lrds-Salt-Exp-art Page 5 of 5