[Sca-cooks] medieval steaks

[ysabeau]

I don't have any hard documentation on it, but when I lived in 
Germany one of my favorite restaurants had been running for over 
400 years in Idar-Oberstein. I can't remember the exact date but I 
seem to remember it was late 1400's to early 1500's. The specialty 
of the house was steak and they claim to have been serving it 
since they opened. It was called spiessbraten and was delicious - 
they had pork and beef. They cooked it over a fire on a round 
grill that hung by a chain. The "pit" was in a room off to the 
side of the restaurant. The restaurant itself is built into the 
side of the mountain. The other buildings around it are as old as 
the restaurant. 

http://www.turm-schaenke.de/rost.htm

This is a link to the page showing how they cook the steaks.  

Most of the medieval kitchens I saw didn't have a "stove" like we 
think of it. I think it would have been a lot more difficult to 
try to sear a steak in a pan over a fire than to put it on a grill 
to cook. In the convent kitchen I visited, there was a four by 
four area (give or take) in the corner that was set off by raised 
bricks that served for cooking. There were pullies and swing arms 
for getting the food over the fire. I imagined they would keep a 
fire going and scoop coals out to the edges to control the heat. 

As I said, no hard documentation, just what they told me and what 
I saw. I believe they did have thick slices of meat cooked on a 
metal grill over a fire in the middle ages.

My two farthings,
Ysabeau



---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: Stefan li Rous <StefanliRous at austin.rr.com>
Reply-To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2005 21:18:14 -0500

>Greetings Patrick,
>
>I will let the other, more knowledgeable folks on the SCA-Cooks 
list 
>speak to you on most of your questions. However, the answer to 
your 
>last question is indeed, a steak. You can find pictures of meat 
being 
>grilled on the Bayeux Tapestry, for instance.
>
>Although, probably more in depth than you are looking for, you 
may want 
>to browse this file in the FOOD-MEATS section of the Florilegium 
for 
>some specific tidbits.
>steaks-msg        (13K) 11/14/00    Period grilled steaks. 
Descriptions.
>http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-MEATS/steaks-msg.html
>
>Stefan
>
>
>> Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2005 16:43:40 -0700 (PDT)
>> From: Patrick ODonnell <patrickscribe at yahoo.com>
>> Subject: [Sca-cooks] Newspaper reporter needs help with story
>> To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
>>
>> Greetings.
>>
>> My name is Patrick O'Donnell, a reporter for The Plain Dealer, 
the 
>> main newspaper in Cleveland, OH. I am also an SCA member, Lord 
Mael 
>> Patraic mac Domnaill, the author of a new book about the SCA 
called 
>> The Knights Next Door: Everyday People Living Middle Ages 
Dreams.
>>
>> I am doing a feature story for my paper on medieval feasts, 
using the 
>> Midrealm coronation feast this past weekend as the basis. I 
have 
>> personally attended at least 20 SCA feasts and had sections on 
>> Atlantian cooks/researches Thomas Longshanks and John le 
Burguillin in 
>> my book. But I want to clarify a few things.
>>
>> 1) What would you consider the main mundane misconceptions 
about 
>> medieval food?
>> 2) What is the most common -but wrong - way medieval feasts are 
>> depicted?
>> 3) What is the true most important difference between modern 
food and 
>> medieval food?
>> 4) What is the closest thing to a steak available in the Middle 
Ages? 
>> If we need to be specific, try 14th C France)
>>
>> I have to keep this short and sweet, so I don't need any 
treatises. 
>> The audience is everday run-of-the-mill mundanes. Some of this 
I might 
>> even condense into a list. What I need is concensus on a few 
big 
>> things so I can make a few points to folks who won't ever 
research or 
>> try period food.
>>
>> I've got a couple of days.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Patrick/Mael Patraic
>--------
>THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of 
Ansteorra
>    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          
>StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
>**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  
http://www.florilegium.org ****
>
>_______________________________________________
>Sca-cooks mailing list
>Sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
>http://www.ansteorra.org/mailman/listinfo/sca-cooks
>
 

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