SC - For Puck's Big Yaller Dawg

[Varju@aol.com]

Ana, you are quite right, there are a lot of German translations of
Hildegard von Bingen, the major texts in the field of medicine and
natural science being translated by Peter Riethe and Heinrich
Schipperges, Scivias by Maura Böckeler.

I did not study her medical texts very seriously up to now (I only read
the stone book recently). Looking for what might be interesting for the
cook, there are two types of text:
- -- dietetic descriptions (of plants, fishes, birds, ...)
- -- some recipes
Now, it is interesting to see, that these texts were used by at least
one 15th century German cook: Meister Eberhard of Landshut. He was the
cook of the duke Eberhard of Landshut (thus he had a position somewhat
similar to those of Chiquart, Martino or Maister Hanns; perhaps a bit
more provincial). According to Melitta Weiss-Amer, Eberhard compiled his
'Kochbuch' from earlier cookbooks and from earlier medical texts, among
them the text of Hildegard von Bingen (see Melitta Weiss-Amer: Die
'Physica' Hildegards von Bingen als Quelle für das 'Kochbuch Meister
Eberhards', In: Sudhoffs Archiv 76, 1992, 87-96).

Here are some texts:
- -- first, a Latin example from Hildegard, quoted from the
Patrologia-Latina-database (the original texts of Hildegard were
published 1855 and 1882 in Migne's Patrologia latina, now available on
CD-ROM). The text marked with [1] is a description of the dietetic
nature of the goose, [2] is a recipe, [3] is a description of the
dietetic nature of goose eggs.
- -- then, a 15th century German recipe from Meister Eberhard
- -- then, a rough English translation of the 15th century German recipe
(remember that English is not my mother tongue)

Here is, what Hildegard von Bingen wrote about goose:

DE ANSERE.
[1] Anser, scilicet gans, calidus est, et etiam de aere illo, de quo
bestiae vivunt, et etiam de aquoso aere, qui ei pennas educit; sed alte
volare non potest, quia de aere bestiarum habet, sed de aquoso aere in
aqua libenter versatur, et mundis et immundis pascuis vescitur. Et
propter hanc duplicem naturam caro ejus infirmis ad comedendum non
valet, quia in homine multociens livorem et ulcera parat, velut scabiem
et velut ulcera leprae similia quia inmundis interdum vescitur, sed
homines qui sani sunt, carnes ejus comestas aliquo modo superare
possunt.
[2] Si quis autem anserem comedere vult, eam aut per tres aut per duas
dies valde esurire permittat, ut mali humores qui in ea sunt evanescant,
et tunc frumento nutriatur; et deinde occisa ad ignem assa, et cum
assatur, selba et bonae aliae herbulae ei imponantur, et succus earum
ipsam pertranseat, et etiam vino et aceto cum flabello semper
aspergatur, ut sanguis de ea effluat, quia sagimen ejus comedi non
debet, quoniam hominem infirmari facit, quia de malis humoribus
inpinguatur. Et qui sanus est, eam hoc modo assatam modice ex ea
comedat. Cocta autem in aqua ad esum hominis mala est, quia mali humores
qui in ea sunt per aquam ita ipsi non auferuntur sicut ad ignem assata.
[3] Ova autem ejus, quocunque modo parantur, ad esum hominis mala sunt,
[quia scrophulas et alias multas infirmitates in homine parant add. 
ed.]

Meister Eberhard 'adopted' parts of Hildegard's text for his cookbook
and dietetics. Here is his recipe for preparing a goose in 15th century
German (= Hildegard [2]):

[24] Item hienach volgt, wie man ein ganß pratenn soll.
So laß sie vor zwenn oder drej tag wol hungernn, das die bösen predenn,
die in ir sein, her auß genn, vnd soll sie dann nernn mit kornn, vnd
darnach tötte sie vnd prate sie pej dem fewerr. Vnd du solt dar ein
stossen saluia vnd ander gut wu:ercz, das der safft dar durch gee, vnd
man soll sie besprengenn mit wein oder mit essigk, das das schmalcz do
vonn trieff. Wann das genß schmalcz soll man nit essenn, wann es macht
den menschen krannck, wann die feistenn kumbt von böser feuchtigkeit.
Vnd wer gesund ist, der soll die gans also gebratenn essenn, so schadt
sie dester mynderr. Wer aber krannck ist, der soll wenig do von essenn.
Wenn man sie kocht vnd seudt in wasser, so ist sie vngesund, wann dann
so mügenn die bösen preden nit herauß genn von verhinderung wegen des
wassers.

Here is a rough English translation:

'Hereafter follows, how to roast a goose.
You must not give the goose anything to eat for two or three days, so
that the harmful vapors it contains go out, then feed it with cereals,
kill, and roast it by the fire. And you must pound sage and other good
spices into it, so that the gravy goes through it (?), and pour wine or
vinegar over the goose, so that the fat/grease drips off. The reason:
you must not eat the fat of geese, because it makes people sick, because
the fat is built form harmful fluids. Healthy people may eat the goose
roasted this way, so it will be less harmful. But he who is sick should
eat only a small quantity of the goose. -- If you cook the goose in
water it is still more harmful, because the harmful vapors are
restrained by the water and thus cannot go out.


The Feyl-edition of Meister Eberhards text is now online at:
http://staff-www.uni-marburg.de/~gloning/feyl.htm
or via:
http://staff-www.uni-marburg.de/~gloning (choose 'Alte Kochbücher')

Again: I am not very familiar with Hildegard von Bingen nor is English
my mother tongue, so be careful with what I said.

Cheers,
Thomas

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