[Sca-cooks] horsemeat, butchering

[Stefan li Rous]

Hrethric asked:
<<< Or horses.  Weren't horses occasionally eaten too? >>>

Yes, although most of the recipes I have for horse are from western Asia and not Europe. It may be that the nobility, which are the ones the books were written for, had more of a love for the horse as a symbol of chivalry that they wouldn't eat them. While the lower classes would find a way to make good use of that used-up plow-horse. When we've tried to discuss horsemeat on this list, it resulted in reactions very similar to those, that I would expect of the European nobles.  (ie: How could you!...)

horse-recipes-msg (34K) 10/16/04 Period horse recipes. References.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-MEATS/horse-recipes-msg.html

As I mentioned, I do have a European recipe for horse to add to this file when I find the time.
 
<<< But I'll admit to ignorance of how the butchering and/or sale of cows or
horses occurred, or if it even occurred much in period. >>>

Why not start smaller?
In the ANIMALS section of the Florilegium:
butchering-msg (56K) 1/ 9/08 Overview of butchering livestock and game.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/ANIMALS/butchering-msg.html

butch-goat-art (16K) 7/14/98 "Butchering a Live Goat, for (and by) Beginners" by Charles McCathieNevile.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/ANIMALS/butch-goat-art.html

Stefan
PS: For those who may have been following Stefan's (actually Mark's) unemployment saga, I just started a new *engineering* job two days ago doing electronic board design, layout and FPGA (RTL) coding for a very small company called 4DSP that is moving to Austin from Reno, NV. Pay is low and benefits are almost non-existant, but it is a regular job, not a contract position and we'll renegotiate come January. Also one benefit is three weeks of vacation, so Pennsic and/or Gulf Wars become possible again.

--------
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 ****