More period critters- Re: [Sca-cooks] back to food was PETA

[Pixel, Goddess and Queen]

>
> I suspect that the reason sheep never got bred up for fat was that they're
> basicly designed to live on more marginal land, so that a breed which grows
> and develops well on a strctly grass diet isn't likely to get as marbled,
> as, say, pigs and cattle, which are confined and fed grains. I imagine that
> the free range hogs in the MA were pretty lean, although I'm sure that there
> were some confined and fattened, like the example in Platina.
>
> Johann- have you got any input or insight into these breeds? Maybe know of
> breeders, or references you might share? Something like the Sand Hill
> catalogue would be great- speaking of which, if I wanted to order a period
> breed of chickens, what would you suggest, as easy keepers, not likely to
> challenge that idiot rooster of mine, Cogburn, for dominance.
>
> Saint Phlip,
> CoDoLDS

IIRC, there is a record of John ordering his men to go buy fat pigs with
which to start the fire in the tunnel that eventually collapsed one of the
towers of Rochester Castle. And ISTR (boy, I'm full of acronyms today)
that he was asking for the cheap pigs, rather than the quality porkers, as
the cheap ones would be fattier and thus would burn better.

I could be wrong, of course.

Margaret, who really ought to stop reading e-mail and go to bed already