SC - Bratwurst - Sabine Welserin style

grasse@mscd.edu grasse at mscd.edu
Wed Jan 6 07:38:14 PST 1999


OK, I did some playing around with a bowls, poles, a wide Pizza peel, and a
narrow bread peel, and a stirring paddle that I have that looks like one of
the images from one of the woodcuts Cindy Renfrow posted (thanks again!),
only in miniature (2 1/2 feet long, instead of the 6-8 feet that is shown in
the picture)
I chose to not persue the concept of a permanent attachment, (like nailing
the bown down to the peel) as some have suggested, since, If a permanent
tool is desired for this use, one would have been used. There were a variety
of long handles ladles sufficient to the job in several of the woodcuts.
The obvious rationale for a attaching a mixing bowl to a peel, it seemed to
me, was to allow the use of the bowl which was mixed in, converting it into
a temporary ladle for filling the hot crusts. I have no idea how to nail an
already filled bowl to a peel without contaminating the food, spilling, or
leaking all over the place.

Results:
Poles and the back ends of peel handles were much easier to lash to,
especially if the bowl has a lip and is deep for its width. However, once
picked up, the bowl tended to tilt right away, and the lashing had to be
twisted up tight, and over the pole, to allow the bowl to be lifted from the
table. It was very difficult to make this work, but possible. Lashing a
filled bowl was possible without tipping, but very difficult. Controlled
pouring was difficult.

The paddle and the peels had, as I looked at them, two ways of attaching the
bowl, lash the paddle to the SIDE of the bowl, or place the bowl on the
horizontal paddle and lash it in place. 

Narrow Peel to the side of the bowl. Although it worked well, it was not
easy to figure out how to do this. I wound up using a kind of crosswise
pattern, knotted at the lower edge of the peel, to keep thenm from
spreading, and dropping the bowl. Once I got the hang of this, it was not
hard to do, resting the peel on the table next to the filled bowl. Again,
this is easier if the bowl has a lip, and is not to shallow or wide. I had a
great deal of poring control with this method. Almost as much control as if
I held the bowl in my hands. (that is, until the bowl was nearly upended,
when it tended to slip out of the cords. I need to figure a better lashing
method.)

Wide peel to the side of the bowl. Much harder to tie this one. I could not
get a reliable sling arrangement for the bowl. I did not pursue this after
nearly breaking the bowl.

Paddle to the side of bowl. If the bowl has a lip this is relatively easy to
do with a fair amount of control resulting. No special tying arrangement is
needed, just a few wraps of the cord around the bowl, with the turns going
over the paddle blade. 

Narrow peel to bottom of bowl. this is possible, but essentially the cord
has to pass over the bowl to press it down to the peel blade, and hold it
there. This invariably led to the cord coming in contact with the bowl's
contents and possibly contaminating the mixture when pouring. The center of
gravity of the bowl above the peel tended to make controlled pouring
difficult, as gravity tended to try to turn the bowl completely upside down.

Wide peel to the bottom of bowl.  same problems as narrow peel to bottom,
above, but I was better able to attach the ropes in such a way as to keep
the contents away from the cordage. Still was damned difficult to do a
controlled pour. a thin stream was impossible with anything other than a
nearly empty bowl!
 
Stirring paddle to bottom of bowl: Forget it!! just could not make it work

My conclusion, a narrow peel, lashed to the side of the bowl, had the best
control, and was easiest to setup with a pre-filled bowl. I need to figure a
better knotting system to prevent the bowl from falling out of the ropes,
when turned over, though.

IMHO, this method would probably have been what was called for in the
recipe.

Brandu
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