Grounds for Comparison

Wulfric of Creigull

 

Medieval cooks did not have commercial grinders – they hand-chopped their meat.  They also had much more kitchen labor than we do, so we make trade-offs.  But how does this affect the end-product?

 

Small changes can sometimes make a big difference.  With meat, the method of grinding or chopping can dramatically affect the outcome.  Or… can it?

All the variations used the same recipe from Platina (1475).  Ideally all would have been made the same day from the same batches, but that didn’t happen.

 

Lucanian sausages

If you want good Lucanian sausages, cut the lean and the fat meat from the pig at the same time, after all the fibers and sinews have been removed. If the piece of meat is ten pounds, mix in a pound of salt, two ounces of well-cleaned fennel, the same amount of half-ground pepper, rub in and leave for a day on a little table. The next day, stuff into a well-cleaned intestine and thus hang up in smoke.

 

1 kg (2.2 lbs) pork shoulder butt

22 g salt (10 g for fresh)

4 grams fennel seed

4 grams coarsely ground pepper

2.5 grams curing salt #2 (omitted for fresh)

casings: 50mm hog casings

 

Sources

Platina, and Mary Ella Milham.  Platina, on Right Pleasure and Good Health: a Critical Edition and Translation of De Honesta Voluptate Et Valetudine.  Tempe, AZ: Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 1998.  ISBN 0-86698-208-6.

 

(turn over to make notes)

Fresh

	Commercially ground	Ground, coarse plate	Hand-chopped
Appearance: uniformity, color, aesthetics
Texture: mouthfeel, graininess, moisture
Flavor
Other notes

 

Cured

	Commercially ground	Ground, coarse plate	Hand-chopped
Appearance: uniformity, color, aesthetics
Texture: mouthfeel, graininess, moisture
Flavor
Other notes