SC - Garden time

[Michael P Newton]

>Cariadoc mentions a recipe for
>> pickled meat; do we have any evidence that such things were only used at
>>the end of the winter?

>Is that in the Miscellany, or Volumes I and II, if so, where?  If not,
>could you post the recipe????

>thanks in advance,
>Bogdan


I do not know to which recipe His Grace is referring, however having
discussed this with type of thread with he and several other poeple on the
Rialto and rec.food.historic some time ago (See Stefan's Preserved Foods and
Camping without Coolers sections of the famous and stupendous Florilegium),
I can tell you that there is a recipe for  Pickled Meat in Apecius. I have
tried it and it is really good. It has honey, vinegar, salt, and cracked
mustard seeds. My version comes out sweet-n-sour. The directions, IIRC, say
that the meat can be fresh or cooked when pickled. It makes a great camping
food when prepared with cooked beef. My husband sits up and begs for it when
I make it (btw, it's so simple I just throw in some of this, and some of
that. So, I have no redaction to offer you).

This whole issue prompted me to do some research and teach a class about 2
years ago about preserved foods from period recipes. I held it as a sort of
cocktial-party, and everyone had the opportunity to sample various
foodstuffs I had preserved for several weeks (recipes provided): Grapes in
spring water, Pickled Beef, Smoked Salmon, Pease preserved in Butter
(discolored but still tasty), Potted Meats, pickled vegetables, preserved
fruits, etc. There was not a single scrap of food left at the end of the
class. Most of these were served with sippets (tiny bits of thinly sliced
toasted or butter-fried bread) to make it easy to handle the foodstuffs.  I
am doing a repeat of that class at the Aethelmearc Academy on June 20th in
Robledal (Just East of Pittsburgh), should anyone wish to explore this
particular class further, or any of the other fabulous classes offered.

FWIW, I found a referance on the 'net to salt beef (ie: corned) in an
ancient Irish poem about a King who was fed this to make him strong before
battle, IIRC. I will try to dig this up for my class in June.

I have yet to find a source for period recipes which DOES NOT contain
recipes for preserved foods. It seems a shame that so many modern "feasts"
contain food that is uniformly fresh (as opposed to preserved in some
fashion), and/or out-of season but fresh produce.This seems to me to be a
convenience for the cooks (I have done it myself. Salad in January,
anyone?), but is not really how the true medieval "High Dining" experience
would have been. My next big project is (I think) to do a reality-based
feast with what would have been seasonal for the time of year AND the
preserved foods that would have accompanied it. Hopefully, I will do this
from a single source (or culture/time). I haven't decided which. Any
suggestions? I may do this for my small but fun Melee Madness Feast at the
begining of June. Pickled foods are perfect for campground cooking!

Aoife, who always incorporates preserved food in her feasts nowadays. Folks
LOVE them!



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