[Sca-cooks] oxtail soup, Vol 57, Issue 36

[Sharon Palmer]

>That being said, there is a wide variety of
>dishes in many medieval cookbooks, including dishes like "gruel" and
>"garbage".  I've even seen medieval recipes that call for a cow's udder,
>so I think the lack of an oxtail recipe in the medieval corpus is not
>insignificant.

>3. Offal was (to a degree) valued, with contracts stating who in a
>manoral setting was to get certain organs (there are also heaps of
>recipes for kidney pies).

Well, garbage didn't mean the same thing then.

Among Rumpolt's 2000 recipes are 7 for Udder, I think it was a delicacy.
And about 8 for kidneys (none for kidney pie)
Along with spleen, brain, eyes, tongue, stomach, 
lungs, throat, tripe, intestines, feet, and 
others.

And I just noticed an Ox tail recipe.  Not soup though.

Ochsen 73. Eyngemachten Ochsenschwantz/ setz jn 
zu in einem Wasser/ vnd laß an die statt sieden/ 
heb die Brüh davon auff/ so wirdt es wohl 
geschmack/ Als dann nimm gelbe Rüben/ schab vnd 
schneidt sie voneinander/ quells in Wasser/ vnd 
kül es auß/ Nimm darnach ein wenig ungesaltzen 
Speck vnd Zwibel/ hacks durcheinander mit grünen 
Kräutern/ laß den Schwantz damit sieden/ thu 
gestossen Pfeffer darein/ so wirt es gut vnd wohl 
geschmack.

73.  Put up** Oxtail/ set it to (the fire) in a 
water/ and let simmer until done/ lift from the 
broth/ like this it becomes good and well 
tasting/ then take yellow roots (yellow carrots)/ 
peel and cut them apart/ parboil in water/ and 
cool off/ Then take a little unsalted bacon and 
onion/ chop together with green herbs/ let the 
tail simmer with them/ put in ground pepper/ like 
this it is good and well tasting.

** Eyngemachten is a difficult word, modernly it 
means canned, but in Rumpolt indicates fruit 
preserved in sugar or dishes with a sauce or 
sometimes in a pie - I suspect they might be 
dishes meant to be served cold.  I've settled for 
using "put up" to translate it, but am aware that 
it isn't entirely correct.

Ranvaig