[Sca-cooks] More venison stuff

[Stefan li Rous]

Adamantius said:
> upsxdls_osu at ionet.net wrote:
> > Master A,
> > Also, do you have any idea what food the deer was
> > eating?  Venison from deer with a primary diet of acorns is much gamier than
> > deer feeding on grass or wheat.
>
> Acorns would imply a diet high in tannic acid. The meat would presumably
> taste like leather.

Would it taste like leather though? Do deer eat acorns? Pigs do eat
acorns, and I've seen a number of period sources and referances to
feeding pigs on acorns, even today. The ham from pigs that were
specifically fattened on acorns didn't taste like leather. Maybe this
varies from animal to animal? Perhaps the original interest in
feeding pigs on acorns comes from being able to feed the pigs on
something that wasn't eaten by humans so it would therefor be
cheap. rather than the resulting taste. The acorns also appear in fall,
which was just before many of the pigs were slaughtered. It's probably
better to fatten up an animal just before slaughter.

--
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
   Mark S. Harris            Austin, Texas          stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****