Title: Lrds-Salt-Exp-art
Subject: "Lord’s Salt Experiment" by Lady Hauviette d’Anjou.
Author: Edited by Mark S. Harris
Last saved by: Mark S. Harris
Keywords: medieval, food, preservation, preserve, salt, spice, meat, clove, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, pepper

Lrds-Salt-Exp-art – 6/10/05

"Lord’s Salt Experiment" by Lady Hauviette d’Anjou.

NOTE: See also the files: pickled-foods-msg, drying-foods-msg, stockfish-msg, campfood-msg, canning-msg, meat-smoked-msg, salt-msg, salt-comm-art.

************************************************************************
NOTICE -

This article was submitted to me by the author for inclusion in this set 
of files, called Stefan's Florilegium. 

These files are available on the Internet at:
http://www.florilegium.org

Copyright to the contents of this file remains with the author.

While the author will likely give permission for this work to be 
reprinted in SCA type publications, please check with the author first
or check for any permissions granted at the end of this file.

                               Thank you,
                                    Mark S. Harris
                                    AKA:  Stefan li Rous
                                         stefan at florilegium.org                                         
************************************************************************

"Lord’s Salt Experiment"
by Lady Hauviette d’Anjou

The source of these recipes are: The Icelandic Miscellany (15th C), 
Danish Manuscript-Codex K (late 13thC)and Danish Manuscript-Codex Q (14th C). The translation is by Nanna Rognvaldardottir.

Recipe no. 6:

Icelandic manuscript:
Quomodo temperetur salsum dominorum et quam diu durabit. Geroforsnagla skal
taka. ok muskat cardemomium pipar. canel. ingifer. sitt jæmn væge af hveriu.
utan canel. skal vera jafn þycktt vid alltt hitt annath ok svo micit steiktt
braud sem alltt þat er fyr er sagtt. ok skera þat alltt saman. ok mala með
stercku ediki. ok lata j legil. þat er þeirra sals ok um eitt misseri.*

*The scribe has erased "mi" from misseri and written "ar" (year) 
instead.

How to make a sauce for lords and how many days it keeps. Take cloves and
nutmeg, cardamom, pepper, cinnamon, ginger, an equal weight of each, except
the cinnamon, which should be as much as all the others, and as much fried
bread as all the above, and cut it all together and crush it with strong
vinegar, and put in a cask. This is their sauce and is good for half a
year/one year.

Danish manuscript, Codex K:
Quomodo temperetur salsum dominorum et quam diu durat. Man skal takæ gørfærs
naghlæ. oc muscat. cardemomum. pipær. cinamomum thæt ær kaniæl. oc ingifær.
allæ iæfn wæghnæ. tho swa at kaniæl ær æm mykæt sum allæ hinæ andræ. oc slyk
tu stekt brøth sum allæ hinæ andræ. oc støt thæm allæ samæn. oc malæ mæth
stærk ædykæ oc latæ .i. en leghæl. Thæt ær hærræ salsæ. oc ær goth et halft
aar.

How to make a sauce for lords and how many days it keeps. Take cloves, and
nutmeg, cardamom, pepper, cinnamon, that is canel, and ginger, an equal
weight of each, but the cinnamon should be as much as all the other spices,
and also fried bread twice as much as all the rest. Crush it all together,
and grind with strong vinegar and put into a cask. This is lord´s sauce 
and is good for six months.

Danish manuscript, Codex Q:
Mæn sculæ takæ gærofærs naghlæ, muscat pipær. oc ingifær. af hwær theræ æm
mykæt af cinamomum. æssæ the æræ allæ samæn. oc tysæ æmmykæt af hwith
brøthæ. stækt æssæ thæt ær alt oc støthæ thæt samæn mæth æddik. thennæ 
salsæ haldæ mæn goth i eth halft aar i en læghlæ.

Take cloves, nutmeg, pepper and ginger, an equal amount of each, and as much
cinnamon as all the others, and twice as much white bread, fried as it is
whole, and pound this together with vinegar. This keeps well for six months
in a cask.

Recipe no. 7

Icelandic manuscript:
Quomodo condiantur assature in salso supra dicto. Þat sem madur vill af
þessu salse hafa þa skal hann vella j ponnu vel a glodum branda lausum.
Sidan skal madur taka villi brad af hirti æda ra. ok specka vel. ok
steikina. ok skerra þat vel brentt ok j þann tima sem salset er kalltt. þa
skal þetta þar slæggiaz med. littlu salltti. þa ma liggia um þriar vikur.
Sva ma madur leinge verd veita. gæs endur. ok adrar villibradir. ef hann
sker þær þunnar. þetta er betzta sals er herra menn hafa.

How to use the above sauce. Take what you want to use of this sauce and boil
it in a pan on hot embers without flame. Then take some game, hart or roe,
and lard it well, and roast it, and cut it well burned*, and when the sauce
is cold, then place the meat in it with a little salt. Then it can be kept
for three weeks. In this way geese, ducks and other game can be kept for a
long time, if cut thin. This is the best sauce that the lords have.

The original says "brentt", burned, but that is probably an error - the
Danish text has "brethæ", broad, thick.

Danish, Codex K:
Quomodo condiantur assature in salso supradicto.
Thavær man wil af hænnæ hauæ. tha skal man wællæ hænnæ wæl .i. en pannæ ofnæ
hetæ gløthær utæn brandæ. oc skal man takæ brathæ af hiort ællær ra. wæl
spækkæth oc stekæ them wæl. oc skæræ them wæl brethæ. oc thæn timæ thæn
salsæ ær kald tha skal wildbrath .i. læggæs mæth litælt salt oc thæt ma
lygge thre ukæ. Swa mughæ man haldæ goth hiortæ brath. giæs oc ændær. of 
man skæR them thiokkæ. thættæ ær the bæstæ salsæ thær herræmæn hauæ.

How to make use of the above sauce. When you want to use some of it, then
boil it well in a pan on hot embers without flame. And take a steak of hart
or deer, well larded, and cut into thick slices. And when the sauce is cold,
then place the game in it with a little salt and it can be kept there for
three weeks. In this way one can preserve steaks of hart, geese and ducks,
if cut thick. This is the best sauce that the lords have.

Danish, Codex Q:
Wilæ mæn syltæ thær nokæt i. tha latæ thæt wællæ. oc sithæn thæt ær full
kalt tha skulæ mæn stækt wild brath kalt hiort ra. gaas. æth annæn wild
bradh. skoræth i stykki læggæ thæræ i mæth lit salt. thæn sylt mughæ mæn
gømæ thre vkæ.

If you want to pickle something in it, then let it boil, and when it is
quite cold, then place in it fried game, cold hart, roe, geese or other
game, cut into pieces and placed in the sauce with a little salt. This 
can be kept for three weeks.

My Recipe Recreation

In approaching this recipe I wanted to make a large enough quantity that 
I could use it as a "shelf item" and have the combined ingredients to 
keep on hand for future use. As such I began with a fair quantity of 
Cinnamon Zeylanicum (the recipe specifies canel) and using a metric 
scale for accuracy, I weighed out the Cinnamon first to obtain the total 
weight that all of the other spices should be combined. The recipes ask
for "an equal amount of each, but the cinnamon should be as much as all 
the rest". In this my dilemma was should my measurements be mass or 
volume. I chose mass and my reasoning is that most recipes are a 
prescription in their origin (see the definition of "recipe") and as 
such the ingredients would have been obtained in weighted amounts. The 
volume of say ground nutmeg Vs cloves is substantially different and as 
such only weight would give me equal amounts of each. My justification 
for using grams in my experiment was that the scale I have is electronic 
and can convert to either metric or imperial, however when using ounces 
the scale can be out by as much a .2 of  an ounce, but would only be out 
by 1gm at the most. I have converted the quantities for those who do not 
have access to a metric measurement, but would suggest that when buying 
the ingredients that you simply buy in said quantities instead of trying 
to determine the quantities in dry measure. This will ensure fresh 
spices are used which may be instrumental in the preservative aspect of 
this recipe although there is argument that the spices used in the 
middle ages would have had a diminished strength due to the time spent 
in travel and the adulteration by middle men. Finally, I have rounded 
off the measurement to imperial since 1 ounce is equal to 28.35 grams 
and my  quantities of the spices were only 31g (greater than an ounce by 
2.65 grams). 

Base ingredients: combine the following dry ingredients and use 1 cup to 
3.5 cups vinegar per recipe
Cloves            31g or 1 ounce          Ginger            31g or 1 ounce
Nutmeg            31g or 1 ounce          Pepper            31g or 1 ounce
Cardamom          31g or 1 ounce          Cinnamon         186g or 5 ounces
Pepper		31g or 1 ounce
Bread crumbs 	372g or 1.37 lb. (22 ounces)

Red Wine Vinegar 3.5 cups

1.5 LB of venison steak (I preferred a roast, but steak was all that was    
    available)
2 TB lard
1 tsp. salt

Method;
Grind the spices and combine with the bread crumbs. Using a pestle, 
grind the dry ingredients together to ensure the crumbs are well 
inundated with the spices. Add the vinegar and further mash the contents 
of the bowl. 

Pour the spice/bread crumb/vinegar combination into a sauce pan and 
place over low heat. Stirring regularly, bring to a full boil for 1.5 to 
2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool thoroughly.

Meanwhile, remove any fat from the venison and spread lard over the 
surface. Place in an oven proof dish, into the oven at 350 degrees for 
35 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Using a shallow covered dish, pour half of the cooled spice mixture into 
it. Place the meat on top of this and then pour the remaining sauce over 
the meat, making sure that it is well covered. Put the dish in a cool, 
dry place (this dish is meant to be a preserved meat )and keep for up to  
three  weeks (although there are a few people who have kept it for 
months and attest that it is perfectly safe I have yet to determine 
that).

A Discussion:

The Codex K and Codex Q state that the amount of bread crumbs "fried 
Bread" should be "twice as much as all the rest" as opposed to the 
Icelandic Manuscript requiring "as much fried bread as all the others". 
I chose to follow the earlier manuscripts and totaled the weight of all 
spices and doubled it for the amount of bread crumbs. 

The issue of "strong vinegar" was discussed on the SCA Cooks list and I 
was advised to purchase a 7% vinegar that would be particularly strong 
and seemed to fit the recipes requirement (it calls for "strong 
vinegar"). However, I had been part of other discussions regarding 
making your own vinegar’s as opposed to using commercially produced 
varieties and an unscientific conclusion was reached that since 
vinegar’s would have been used fairly soon after inception and having 
been made using a suspected weaker "mother of vinegar" then the acidity 
level would have been lower than what we have available as the average 
vinegar today. As such, and considering I was unable to locate any 
vinegar’s with an acidity level higher that 5%, I used a common red wine 
vinegar with a 5% acidity level. Red Wine vinegar was chosen as the best 
accompaniment to game. The quantity of dry ingredients to vinegar was 1 
cup dry to 3.5 cups vinegar. Anything less than 3 cups of liquid 
produced a gel like mass that was almost impossible to bring to a boil. 
The added .5 cup was to ensure coverage of the meat in the dish and to 
account for the thickening of the product during cooking. 

I combined the dry ingredients in a medium sized metal bowl and ground 
the ingredients together as much as was possible using a pestle . Taking 
1 cup of the dry ingredients and pouring in  3.5 cups of vinegar I 
mashed the contents further. This sauce was then slowly brought to boil 
on low heat stirring regularly to prevent scorching. The recipe directs 
you to "take what you want of this sauce and boil it in a pan on hot 
embers without flame" hence, the temperature was kept at 3 on the dial 
of an electric stove.

I was lucky to have venison available to me although not in a roast but 
steaks. The lady who translated the recipes, states that the word 
"stekae" actually means roast, not steak and is probably the root for 
the English word for steak. Since the roast is then further cut into 
"thick slices", I felt it sufficient to follow the spirit of the recipe 
using pre-sliced roasts. Not using a roast may have an effect on the 
texture of the meat in the end, since the centre and edges of the meat 
would cook simultaneously as opposed to varying times. In order to 
compensate to some degree I folded the steaks into a larger "piece" of 
meat and roasted them as such. Upon initial tasting, we found the 
venison to be on the dry side, as the sauce had yet to penetrate the 
meat. The next trial will be 5 days post the construction of the dish.

A modern analysis of the spices used in this dish

According to The Complete New Herbal, by Richard Mabey, Penguin Books:

Cinnamon bark oil is antibacterial, inhibiting E.coli, Staphylococcus 
aureus and thrush (Candida albicans)

Cloves are strongly antiseptic due to the high percent of phenols.

Black Pepper stimulates the taste buds and helps promote gastric 
Secretions. In addition, I believe there is some research out there that 
says it is also a preservative of foods.

The Complete Medicinal Herbal, Penelope Ody tells us that:

Nutmeg is carminative (relieves flatulence, digestive colic and gastric 
discomfort), is a  digestive stimulant and antispasmodic, prevents 
vomiting, appetite stimulant, anti inflammatory  and is used as 
digestive remedy especially for food poisoning. Used in large doses 
(7.5g or more in a single dose) is dangerous producing convulsions and 
palpitations.

Cardamom is antispasmodic, carminative and a digestive stimulant.

Ginger is a circulatory stimulant, relaxes peripheral blood vessel, 
promotes sweating, expectorant, prevents vomiting, antispasmodic, 
carminative, antiseptic.
------
Copyright 2000 by Channon Mondoux, 6924 Angling Road, Portage Mi  49024. <channonmondoux at yahoo.com>. Permission is granted for republication in SCA-related publications, provided the author is credited and receives a copy.

To view more of Channon Mondoux’s work go to her website: www.rencuisine.com or email  her at: info at rencuisine.com

If this article is reprinted in a publication, I would appreciate a notice in
the publication that you found this article in the Florilegium. I would also
appreciate an email to myself, so that I can track which articles are being
reprinted. Thanks. -Stefan.

<the end>

Edited by Mark S. Harris	Lrds-Salt-Exp-art	Page  of