Re(2): SC - mustard history

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Sue Wensel wrote:

> Actually, Markham gives a recipe for salvaging spoiling venison.  My account
> is through work, so I don't have the book available, but I can post more on
> the recipe tomorrow (if I remember).

Yes, Markham instructs one to make an ale/vinegar brine pickle, and let
the venison sit in it for twelve hours, and then parboil and bake in a
pasty. I suspect this has more to do with depleted supplies of venison
in late period than with any wholesale desire to eat rotten meat
disguised as fresh. You'll notice that mustard doesn't figure in
Markham's recipe. 

The sad fact is that there is a very common misconception among many
people who haven't studied the calendar as it applies to hunting,
farming, slaughtering, etc., that medieval food was generally heavily
spiced to disguise the fact that the meat was rotten. Evidently the
author of the LA Times article was one such person. I'll certainly
concede that recipes such as Markham's do exist in several sources, but
then there are also several books in print today about repairing food
that didn't quite turn out as intended. That doesn't mean that it is a
distinguishing mark of modern American (or whatever) cuisine that the
food is generally burned, oversalted, lumpy when it should be smooth, or
what have you.

> >Recipes generally are
> >pretty detailed about this process, and in an environment where salt
> >meats were eaten pretty frequently it would have been common knowledge
> >how to get around this.
> 
> On this I agree.  Often salting meat will add a toughness to it, so Iwould not
> be surprised if they often made soups with salted meat. Certain vegetables,
> especially legumes, and grains like barley, will absorb as much salt as you
> let it, if it cooks long enough.

Other possibilities include beating the meat with a mallet to tease some
of the fibers apart, which would not only tenderize but serve to
increase the exposed surface area and make the desalting easier. Also a
bit of sugar in the cure, which you're more likely to find in late
period salting techniques for meat, will prevent some of the hardening. 

Adamantius