SC - Brining of meats in period

[Lorix]

Liam Fisher wrote:

> has onyone seen any evidence of brining meats (not pickling or marinating)
> before cooking in period? It's just a technique I've been experimenting with
> as of late that works well with old tom turkeys and tougher cuts of meat
> where you soak the meat in a decently strong salt/sugar solution overnight
> (not a technique that I recommend if you are salt/sugar sensitive) and then
> roast the meat the next day.  I also brine turkeys sometimes when they won't
> entirely thawed by the time I want to cook them.
>
> Cadoc

Ahh, you have stumbled across my current pet project!  However, I am looking for
the pickling of fish rather than meat, but my current info appears to apply.  I
note, that I have been looking for pickling recipes, in the following sources I
suggest I have seen a number of recipes where the meat appears to have been
brined for preservation & then cooked in a manner later to extract the salt.
Since my research has been directed at the exact opposite of what you want, I
can only give you the references rather than the recipes.

Might I suggest that you refer to this webpage:
http://www.best.com/~ddfr/Medieval/Cookbooks/Menagier/Menagier.html

This gives several references to the salting of both fish & meats eg:
"Item, at Besiers, from St. Andrew's day [November 30] which is before
Christmas, sheep are salted in quarters, by rubbing well with salt, and rubbing
again, and so on and so on, and then piling the quarters on top of each other
for eight days and then putting in the fireplace.

If you want to salt beef or sheep in winter, have coarse salt and dry it well in
the pan, then grind it well, and salt.

And note that in June and July mutton should be soaked, then salted.

To Salt Beef Tongues. In the right season for salting, take a quantity of beef
tongues and parboil them a little, then take them out and skin them, then salt
them one after another, and lay them in salt for eight days or ten, then hang
them in the fireplace, leaving them there for the winter: then hang them in a
dry place, for one year or two or three or four.

Goose must be salted naturally for three days.

Coot salted for two days are good with cabbage.

Wood Duck also; note that they come every three years.

If a hare is taken two or three weeks before Easter, or at some other time when
you want to save it, gut it and take out the entrails, then cut the skin on its
head and break it, and make an opening in the head and remove the brain and fill
the hole with salt and sew up the skin: it will keep for a month if hung by the
ears."

These are only a few references from this source, but I have found this the best
source thus far for info on preservation.

Alternatively, online, you may wish to check out:
Sabina Welserin's cookbook has some recipes (eg no 29).  It also has a recipe
for 'marinated' fish (168) which involves cooking the fish (which I don't want
to do, but more to what you are looking at).
http://www.best.com/~ddfr/Medieval/Cookbooks/Sabrina_Welserin.html

Du fait de cuisine (Chiquart) - This has references to serving "salted grey
mullet' and 'salted filleted pike' and serving same with mustard on a side
dish.  I believe that it also has references to salted meat (again no recipes)
http://www.best.com/~ddfr/Medieval/Cookbooks/Du_Fait_de_Cuisine/Du_fait_de_Cuisine.html#ProvisionofFish.

Now, my research has mainly been directed at the curing/preserving of fish, but
it may be that this can be applied to meats to!  I know salted fish existed in a
form to preserve for many years (per Chiquart, Taillevent & Menagier).  I have
found recipes that use salted fish BUT must be cooked prior to serving (to
extract salt).  However, there appears to be another way that fish were
preserved.  I have found elusive references to fish that was served salted (and
apparently uncooked with sauces), further in Terence Scully's book on early
French Cookery there is a reference from a 13th Century Doctor who advocates
that fish should be eaten within a few days of salting.  So this appears to
suggest that some fish were salted for long-term preservation, whilst others
were salted as a manner of food preparation (like gravelax).

I had asked for Lord Ras' assistance in this matter (since his library resources
are _much_ better than mine.  It may be, that he can add further to my comments.

Hope this helps,
Lorix