SC - jerky documentation?

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Serian wrote:
> 
> Yes, I've made jerky and pemmican (SP) before.  It also
> seems to me that other nomadic groups might have dried meat
> for preservation.    Certainly it has Society value in that
> it is easy to transport and feed to people.

Now, if you'll bear with me a second here, and realize I'm not messing
with you, but rather exercising my own belief that just about every
question that can be asked, should be asked, does it have any special
Society value beyond convenience? Any more so, than, say, a bag of
chips? The thing is, I love jerky, and have occasionally made it and
brought it to events... would you not say many people have this view of
it as being the food of the Medieval Tough Guy Traveller/Soldier, even
when there may not be any real evidence for that interpretation? At
least, in the mainstream European literature and recipe sources? This in
a period where food writers were prepared to discuss, at length,
dragging sides of beef in perforated barrels behind ships in salt water,
and various other preservation methods of dubious effectiveness, but
seem never to have mentioned something like jerky? I think that a lot of
period Europe lacked the kind of sun and dry breezes needed to make what
we think of as jerky, and this may be why it doesn't seem to have been
manufactured and used in Europe on any scale we know about.

So what do we know Europeans _did_ eat under jerky-ish circumstances?
Flatbreads, either carried in a wallet or made in camp on a bakestone.
The kind of flaked dried cod (klippfisk, I think?) favored by Viking
explorers. Possibly dried softer fruits, or fresh hard fruits such as
apples. Hard cheeses, maybe dry sausages or bacon.

But it's true, I tend to get strange looks when I whip out a handful of
shreds of dried cod at events. In fact, the facial expressions of those
around me probably carry more inherent relish than the cod itself does,
but then I don't think Eric the red was eating it for the flavor of it.
Unless by comparison to the _rest_ of what he was eating...? ;  )   (I
never said that, you can't prove nuthin'!)   
 
> I recently made a lemon and ginger flavored beef jerky that
> went over quite well.  Curiosity then overcame me as I was
> working on documentation for my kingdom A&S food and music
> entries.

I've become fond of a painfully simple recipe for chipotle jerky; I'm
almost embarrassed when I tell people how I make it. But then, I live in
a kingdom that has no official A&S event, per se.

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com