SC - Lamb recipes

[Valoise Armstrong]

Oh, Phlip, so many questions!
I think part of th
> 1. Basting it with eggs. Would we be basting it for a few minutes, in order
> to get a roasted/baked crust, or are we instructed to merely put the eggs on
> it while hot, then letting the eggs dry as the lamb cools? Would either
> method work as either a crust or a base for the (presumably) chilled butter?
> (Figuring spring house, likely in early spring when it's cooler, and the
> lambs are no more that 40 lbs, live. Valoise- was there any indication of
> their sizes or ages,in the text, other than Easter, which arrives on the
> first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox?).

Unfortunately the recipe gives a lot of hints and leaves a lot out as far as
how to carry out her intstructions.. No idea about the size of lambs.
either.
> 
> 2. Is anybody aware of the technique of straining the butter in another
> context? I would assume we're talking a fairly coarse cloth here- was there
> a standard in period? Would a modern fine mesh strainer work?
When I looked at this, my impression was that the butter wasn't so much
strained as slathered on the cloth, poked with sticks to give it texture,
and then applied as kind of a layer to the lamb. It doesn't sound like it is
strained, why would you need a long length of cloth if you were going to
strain it? I'm not clear on how the wool-textured butter is applied to the
lamb, Sabina is so vague on some of the main points it makes me wonder if
she has actually prepared this or just seen it done or described elsewhere.

> 
> 3. What is May butter? Is that a special name for a butter with more or less
> fat than usual? Or would they have deliberately aged the butter for the
> better part of a year from the last May? (My reasoning on this being that
> Easter usually shows up well before May),

Milk, and therefore cream & butter, are definitely affected by what the cows
eat. In the spring they are turned out to pasture and have access to all the
tender new plants. Maybe that makes milk and other dairy products better at
that time of year. This is purely conjecture, but do cows generally give
birth and freshen in the spring? That would also affect the milk.

> 4. Are we talking all yolk or all white omelettes here?
Sounds like thin egg white omelettes.

> 5. I only count three colors, white, yellow, and red/brown. Did I miss
> something?
No, I only came up with three as well. Wonder if she just forgot one.

> 6. I'm assuming you place these on the lamb in a patchwork?
That would work, the author isn't specific.

> 7. What is Strauben batter, yellow or otherwise? And what kind of cinnamon
> sticks are they using? The ones I'm familiar with would be rather large for
> the application, unless you cut sliver off. Is this Cassia, or true
> Cinnamon?
Strauben are funnel cakes. Lots of recipes for Strauben in Welserin. As far
as Cassia or Cinnamon, which was most commonly used in Europe at that time?
I know this has been discussed on the list.

> 8. I'm having trouble visualising this. It's starting to look like the lamb
> is wearing Joseph's coat of many colors, with serious warbles.......
Psychedelic comes to mind.

> 9. Where does the cooked meat go?
You mean the smoked meat that was chopped up along with eggs for garnishing
the lamb? I'm not sure.

> 10.  Valoise, Thomas: What is the word that you translated as ugly? Is that
> perhaps a colloquialism for something more accurately descriptive?
The original used the word vnge†alt. It was a stumper for me, so I looked at
the accompanying translation into modern German by Ulrike Giessmann. She
used the word häßlich, which is familiar to me as ugly.

> Nice translation, Valoise- thanks.
Thanks, it was a real bear to tackle.

 >I think, despite my questions, I might try this on a couple of rabbits,
Just think what an impression this would make at a feast, lamb for the head
table and rabbits for the rest.

Good luck,
Valoise