[Sca-cooks] Sausage Stuffers

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Nov 1, 2006, at 11:55 PM, izofgold at aol.com wrote:

> Thanks for adding that Daniel. It would be nice to see someone  
> finally saying something nice on this list about me trying it and  
> having the guts to try it since all I am getting privately from  
> Laurels and such are put downs for even attempting something this  
> "dangerous".

Well, I'm sure any peers of your, or any, realm, would not mind  
having their names attached to such a judgement. I can think of at  
least one medieval English recipe that refers to forcing ground fish  
meat through a horn (like a pastry bag), and without actually digging  
it out, I'm pretty sure Le Menagier refers to using a horn to stuff  
sausages. Horns are also the traditional material for force-feeding  
geese for foie gras.

And, as Doc mentions, a horn was... erm... instrumental in the demise  
of Edward II (although it was, arguably, not the most dangerous of  
the tools used).

> We took the idea, and made it as mundanely sound and safe as  
> possible including something on the inside of the horns that was  
> food grade safe. I took the idea from some pictures I had seen in a  
> German castle and I quickly drew sketches of along with some notes  
> in various period references about how they did it.  Hey - give a  
> girl a break you guys - I tried it!  How many cooks in the SCA  
> actually have to come up with their own amounts for stuff because  
> the amounts are NOT given, come up with the period utensils AND  
> came up with the idea to create as much of it as you can including  
> using the bits that most people mundanely wouldn't use?  Part of  
> the reason we do this is to learn how they did things and why and
>  with wha
>  t.  Unless I have missed something in which case I am sorry.
>
> I wanted to see if it could be done - and I did it. --- according  
> to my canton, the autocrat for the event in January and my fellow  
> cooks --- I did it really really well and there was nothing left  
> when they finished eating and - not one person got sick from it and  
> it's been over a week.  So all safety precautions worked as they  
> should have.

I'm completely unclear as to what was supposed to be dangerous about  
this. Horn is basically collagen, which some artificial sausage  
casings are made of anyway. The "dangerous" stuff in a horn is  
basically bits of dried cow and dirt, which you scrape away, washing  
and scalding away the residue. While I can see a desire to render  
this horn food-grade, what I can't see is where it wouldn't be.

Did I miss the big condemnation thread?

Adamantius