SC - about salt

[Decker, Terry D.]

> I'm very new to the SCA and even newer to this list, however, I caught a
> debate
> about why salt wasn't listed in recipes.  While I tend to agree with the
> "it was added to taste" theory, I can't help but think that there may have
> been another reason.
> If I'm not too far off, weren't the meats of that time cured in Salt in
> order to keep them fresh longer? And if so, cooking with already salted
> meat would negate the need to further salt a recipe, would it not?
> 
> Fallon
> 
Good point.  I think you are partly correct.

Most towns had very stringent regulations about butchering and holding meat.
Fresh meat was just that, fresh.  In most circumstances, meat would be
butchered on the day it was to be sold within the public view and the
butchered meat would be held no more than two days.  Meat still in the
possession of the butcher at the beginning of a fast would be destroyed by
the butcher as directed by the guild and the municipal authorities.
Butchers found selling spoiled meat were subject to fine, pillory, seizure
of goods, forfeiture of business for a fixed period, and expulsion by the
guild, depending on the town and on the number and seriousness of the
offenses.

Of course, if you really had the brass, it could be caveat emptor, as this
little quote from the municipal regulations of Ipswich shows:

 "If anyone insists on selling such bad meat in the town, let him stand
under the pillory with a table in front of him from which audaciously to
sell the meat, such as it is, to anyone who will buy it, without
interference from the bailiffs or punishment."

Salt was used for preserving meat for extended periods, but, generally, the
butcher neither salted the meat nor sold it.

Of course cooking to taste is more of a requirement and a challenge when you
are using salt-cured and unsalted meat with the same recipres.

Bear 
============================================================================

To be removed from the SCA-Cooks mailing list, please send a message to
Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe SCA-Cooks".

============================================================================