[Sca-cooks] horsemeat, butchering

[yaini0625 at yahoo.com]

The eating of horse meat was considered mega social taboo in the Christian world during the Middle Ages. It was a point of contention in Viking Age Iceland when they went Christian in 1000 A.D. In the sagas and documents they were discouraged from eating horse meat and performing the traditional infanticide. Chieftain (Jarl) (Th)orgeir was told by the missionaries that the rest of Christian Europe was no longer eating horses and it was taboo. 
Source- Under the Cloak A Pagan Ritual Point in the Conversion of Iceland by On Hnefill A(th)alsteinsson
Aelina the Saami
By the way- the Saami hated horses. They were the symbols of the dreaded and feared Odin. 

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-----Original Message-----
From: Stefan li Rous <StefanliRous at austin.rr.com>
Sender: sca-cooks-bounces+yaini0625=yahoo.com at lists.ansteorra.org
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 2010 03:00:30 
To: Cooks within the SCA<sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Reply-To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] horsemeat, butchering

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 ****


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