Something New- Wenn du eine gute eingelegte Zunge machen würdest. - If you would make a good pickled tongue (beef)

I fully believe that everyone should try something new, and so I will be making one pickled and smoked cow tongue for this event.  I prefer "Neat's tongue", it sounds better.  The recipe I will be using is from Welserin, and it calls for first salting the tongues, and then smoking them. It is a long process, that I hope to speed up just a bit. Wish me luck!

Wenn du eine gute eingelegte Zunge machen würdest. - If you would make a good pickled tongue (beef)

27 If you would make good pickled tongue. They are best made in January, then they will keep the whole year


First take twenty five tongues or as many as you will and take them one after the other and pound them back and front on a chopping block, then they will be long. After that pound salt small and coat the tongues in salt. Take then a good small tub and put salt in the bottom, after that lay a layer of tongues as close together as possible, put more salt on them so that it is entirely white from salt. In this manner always place a layer of tongues, after that a layer of salt, until they are all laid out. Then weigh them down well so that they are covered by the brine and allow them to remain for fifty days, afterwards hang them for four days in smoke. When they have smoked enough, hang them next in the air, then you have good smoked tongue.

202 To make smoked tongue, recipe from Herr Jörg Fugger

Take fresh tongues and cut the throat completely from it. Then they should be well pounded or beaten, lengthwise, over a block or a chair, not too hard, so that they are not smashed or do not become mangled. One must beat them until they become soft underneath and also at the tip. They do not, however, become as soft at the tip as at the back on the thick end. When they are so beaten, then put them into a trough with salt for a good while. Then they should be salted like other meat and a nice red raw beet cut into cubes and also peas sprinkled under them and in between them and over the top of them, but not all too much, and let them stay thus for a day or overnight in a warm place. Then lay a small board over them and a good heavy stone and let it remain so for four weeks. If, after four or five days, they should not be covered with brine, finely chop some red beets and cook them in water and drain the water off the beets and pour a glassful of vinegar into the water. The water should be cool enough that one could just bear to dip a finger into it. One could also cook a few peas with the beets, if the broth would otherwise be too red, and put the red beets and the likewise red peas together with the salt on the bottom and in between and on the top. They can lie for five weeks or longer, and when they are hung, the thick ends should be turned to the top, poke a hole through them with a baling needle and hang them on a coarse thread in a kitchen, which has no chimney, and not over the fire in the thick smoke, so that the outsides become nicely brown, they become splendidly brown.

Ingredients

Tongue
Salt
Smoke

Recipe

To cure the tongue

1 beef tongue
4 cups water
1/3 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp. pink curing salt
Opt.  Spices for seasoning - juniper, pickling spice, common spices?? 

To cure the meat, I will be bringing all of the ingredients, with the exception of the tongue, to a boil in a pot, and then I will allow it to cool, at least to room temp if not overnight.  At which point I plan on adding the tongue and the spices to the brine and I will cure it  not for 50 days, but for at least a week, if not longer.  Each day I will be checking to make sure that tongue is properly covered with the brine. To do this, I am going to be placing it in a freezer bag.  With luck, this will mimic the very long curing process used by Welserin. I've included the pink curing salt in order to create the "red color" that the beets might have added in the smoked tongue recipe.

Once the tongue has been cured, I will cook it in a simple tock which will include onions, garlic, celery and carrots. If you want a super tender tongue it should be cooked in a low oven (250 degrees) for several hours. 

The next part is VERY IMPORTANT, you have to remove the skin from the meat while it is still warm.  Wait till the meat has cooled enough for you to handle and the skin will peel right off. If it is resistant, just put it back into the stock and allow it to cook a few minutes longer.  You can serve it right away if you like, or you can move onto the next step.  

Rub a little bit of oil over the tongue and season with salt and pepper.  Because this tongue is already cooked and all we want to do is impart the smoke flavor, cold smoking at 80 degree's is perfect! You should be able to smoke a three pound tongue for about two to two and half hours.  

Allow the tongue to cool, slice very thin, and serve.  Delish!

Finalized Recipe - Eine Sauce aus Sauerkirschen - Sauce of Cherries - Cod Pal Germ 551

Here is another tried and true, well respected recipe that was located in two separate books. The first "Hienach volgt vonn dem kochenn vnd hat gemacht meyster Eberhart ein koch herczog Heinrichs zu Landshut." translated to "Hereafter follows (a text) about cooking,and Master Eberhart, a cook of Duke Henry of Landshut made it".  The second book, "Cod Pal Germ 551".  This is very similar to a cherry pudding recipe that I made often in the past so I find no need to test the recipe in advance.  The methodology is simple, with the exception of keeping it saucier then a pudding, the recipe is the same. 

Here is the finalized recipe that will be part of the "desserts" served in the second course of the 12th Night Feast


Item wiltu machen ein gutte salsenn von weichselnn,
so thue die weichsell in einen hafen vnd
secz die auff ein glut vnd laß sie siedenn vnd
laß dann wider erkaltenn vnd streich sie durch ein
tuch vnd thue sie dann wider in den hafenn vnd
secz sie auff ein glut vnd laß sie wol sieden
vnd rurr sie, piß sie dick wirt, vnd thue dann
honig dar an vnd geribens prot vnd negellein vnd
gut gestu:ep vnd thue sie in ein feßlein. Sie
pleibt dir gut drew oder vier iar.

1 A sauce of tart cherries

If you would make a good sauce of tart cherries, put the cherries into a pot, set it on the embers and let them boil. Cool them, pass them through a cloth, put them into a pot again, set it on the embers again and let them boil well. Stir it until it grows thick and add honey and grated bread and cloves and good spices enough. Put it into a small cask and it stays good for a year etc.

Ingredients

Tart Cherries
Honey
Grated Bread
Cloves
Good Spices - "Common Spice Powder"

Recipe

1 pound cherries
~ 1/4 cup honey
~ 1/4 cup bread crumbs
Pinch of cloves
1- 2 tsp. Good Spices - "Common Spice Powder"
**Pinch of salt for modern taste

I plan on using frozen cherries that have already been cleaned and stoned.  Place these in a pot on the stove and bring to a boil.  As they are frozen they should create their own "juice" but if you are afraid that it may burn add a tablespoon or so of water to get the process started.  Once the cherries have cooked until they are soft, remove them from the fire and allow them to cool.  Place them in a blender and blend, then strain through a sieve back into the pot and set them to boil again.  Add honey, and bread crumbs, pinch of salt and spices until you get the desired thickness.  This sauce can be made ahead of time, heated and served at the event. 

Testing Recipe - To bake cake - Fennel and Bacon Bread - Nyeuwen cooc boeck by Gheeraert Vorselman




According to Christianne Muuser this recipe found in Gheeraert Vorselman, Nyeuwen coock boeck was directly borrowed from Platina's "De Honesta Voluptate Et Valetudine".   It took some research but I located it. It follows a very long recipe for bread. This is the bread that I will be serving with the cheese sop in the first course of 12th Night.  I will be using Christianne Muuser's own interpretation  with a few changes noted in the recipe below.   If you have not visited her site Coquinaria, you are missing out! 

Van coeck te backen

Neemt tarwenmeel oft bloemen met warmen watere also vele als ghi behoeft, ende wercket een luttel samen, dan neemt venckelsaet ende spec ghesneden terlincxwijse ende doeget int deech ende wercket wel tsamen tot tay deech ende maect eenen ronden coec ende bacten in den oven metten brode oft op den heert, &c. Inde plaetse vanden spec moech dy nemen boter oft olijfoly. Men bact ooc coec onder de asschencolen, mer sonder spec, met sout, venckel ende olie.

To bake cake

Take wheat meal or flour with warm water, as much as you need, and blend it a little. Then take fennel seed and diced lard. Add it to the dough and knead together into a tough (elastic?) dough. Make a round cake and bake that in the oven [together] with the bread or on the hearth, etc. You can also use butter or olive oil instead of lard. One also bakes cake under the ashes of the coals, but without lard, with salt, fennel and oil.

Ingredients

Wheat meal or flour
Water
Fennel Seed
Diced Lard (butter or olive oil)

Recipe

1 1/2 cup sour dough starter
~ 5 cups mixed flours (2 1/2 cups stone ground wheat, 1 1/2 cup bread flour, and 1 cup stone ground rye flour)
~ 2 - 2 1/2 cups warm water
1½ tsp salt
1 Tbsp fennel seeds
6 strips of bacon, diced 

**Alternate to sourdough- dry yeast**

This recipe follows a recipe for Platina's (aka Bartolomeo Sacchi) which includes leavening not mentioned in the recipe that follows it. 
"... Therefore I recommend to anyone who is a baker that he use flour from wheat meal, well ground and then passed through a fine seive to sift it; then put it in a bread pan with warm water, to which has been added salt, after the manner of the people of Ferrari in Italy. After adding the right amount of leaven, keep it in a damp place if you can and let it rise.... The bread should be well baked in an oven, and not on the same day; bread from fresh flour is most nourishing of all, and should be baked slowly."
The mix of wheat and rye flour is to create the flavor one would find in Bauernbrot, Farmer's bread, and I wanted to recreate that hearty flavor in this bread. 

The sourdough starter will be a modern starter.  The instructions can be found here: Eating Well Whole Wheat Sourdough Starter. I will be using this as my previous attempts to create a wild yeast starter have led to a mouthpuckering experience, I don't want to recreate!

Mix 1 1/2 cups of the starter with warm water, a pinch of salt and slowly add in the remaining flour.  Place into a bowl, cover and allow to rise until doubled.  This process could take up to 24 hours depending on many conditions.  Practicing patience is a must when working with sour dough!

The next day - turn the dough out onto a floured surface, add remaining ingredients (bacon and fennel seeds) and shape into loaves, and allow to rise for another hour. Sprinkle fennel seeds and some bacon on tops of the dough before baking. 

Bake in a 350 degree oven approximately 45 minutes or, until done.  Bread should sound hollow when picked up and thumped on the bottom.  

This is something I am definately going to have to taste. The starter takes five days to create and the concern is that it may be very sharp to begin with and overwhelm the taste of the bread.  

Cross your fingers!

Update: 

Re-Read through the Bauernbrot recipe. I will be trying their Sourdough starter instead and following along with their recipe as much as I can.  It is much quicker and has the same flavors I am looking for. 

Recipe to Make Starter

1 c unbleached all purpose flour ** will sub 50/50 mix bread flour and stoneground whole wheat
1 c rye flour
1 Tbsp honey
1 c water, warmed to 80F
1 tsp active dry yeast

To Make Starter

Mix all starter ingredients in a large bowl. Cover the starter with plastic wrap and let it rest on the counter for 24 hours, until very bubbly.



Testing Recipes - Of various accompaniments to roasts/ for dipping. Marx Rumpolt, Ein New Kochbuch, c. 1581

I would not consider these "dishes" so much as garnishes--things to put around the roast to make it look pretty.  This is one of those "if there is room in the budget" dishes.  Still fun to decipher and try to create a recipe for.  These are from Rumpolt's Ein New Kochbuch




2. Weiß Ruben im Senff/ mit neuwem Wein/ der süß ist/ angemacht/ wol dick gesotten/ vnnd durch ein Härin Tuch gestrichen/ die Ruben in Wasser erst gesotten/ das fein steiff ist. Oder daß man die Ruben brat/ vnd wenn sie gebraten seyn/ so schelet man sie/ vnd leßt sie kalt werden/ schneidt sie zu vier stücken/ vnd thu sie in Senff/ laß darinnen ligen/ so wirdt es gut vnd wolgeschmack.

2. White turnips in the mustard/ mixed with new wine/ that is sweet/ cooked until thick/ and strained through a hair cloth/ the turnips are first boiled in water/ that are nicely stiff/ Or one can roast the turnips/ and when they are roasted/ then peel them/ and let get cold/ cut them in four pieces/ and put them in the mustard/ and let them lay in it/ so it becomes good and well tasting.

Ingredients

Turnips
Wine
Mustard

Note: Can be boiled or roasted. 

Since this is a second course dish, the turnips should be roasted--to roast I will need to add a bit of oil, and salt and pepper to satisfy modern taste. 

My recipe

1 pound turnips
2 tbsp. Oil
2 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Pepper
1 tbps. Wine (sub vinegar)
1 tbsp. Mustard (Do you use same mustard as you used for sausages?? or an alternate mustard recipe?)
Opt.  Additional oil for sauce to thin it?? 

Peel turnips and cut into quarters, liberally salt and pepper, and lightly coat with oil.  Heat oven to 375, and roast turnips until fragrant.  Mix wine with mustard, add turnips and serve. Add additional oil if sauce appears to thick to properly coat turnips.





4. Nim~ ein rot Häupt Kraut/ wirffs in einen heissen Ofen/ da man dz Brot hat außgebacken/ wenns wol gedempfft ist/ so zeuchs herauß/ vnd laß kalt werden/ schneidt das verbrannte hinweg/ schneidts viertheil weiß/ vnd thu es in ein Hafen oder in ein Feßlein/ thu ein wenig Fenchel darzwischen/ geuß halb Wein vnd halb Essig darüber/ schneidt auch rote Ruben/ die vorhin gesotten/ vnd kalt seyn/ darein/ thu ein wenig gestossenen Merrettich darvnter/ so ist es gut vnd wolgeschmack.

4. Take a red head cabbage/ throw into a hot oven/ that one has baked bread in/ when it is fully steamed/ then pull it out/ and let become cold/ cut the burned away/ cut in fourths/ and put it in a pot or in a cask/ put a little fennel between/ pour half wine and half vinegar over it/ also cut red beets/ that cooked earlier/ and are cold/ into it/ put a little grated Horseradish under it/ like this it is good and well tasting.

Since vegetable "steaks" are all the new rage, it's nice to see that everything that is old is coming around again.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE roasted cabbage, so this is a definate must have on the list. Question..fennel seeds or fennel bulbs?? Sauce or marinated? Maybe a slaw?? Ohh the possibilities--something is missing in translation, or maybe there is an assumption the cook knows what to do?  

Since the recipe specifically states putting the cabbage into a cask, we are led to believe this is similar to a kraut.  Yummmm

Ingredients

Red cabbage
fennel
wine
vinegar
red beets
grated horseradish

My Recipe

1 head red cabbage cut into quarters
1 fennel bulb thinly sliced
1 tbsp. Salt (for modern taste)
1 tsp. Peppercorns  (for modern taste)
5 tbsp. Wine 
5 tbsp. Vinegar
1 Beet cubed
Opt: Pinch of Sugar

Heat oven to 375.  Place cabbage in a baking dish and put in the oven.  Cook cabbage approximately 45 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool.  While cabbage is cooling, cut fennel into very thin strips.  Grate about a teaspoon of fresh horseradish into the bottom of the jar, begin layering cabbage and fennel in the jar, sprinkling with a little bit of salt and pepper between layers.  Finish with a layer of beets. 

Heat together wine and vinegar and a pinch of sugar, pour over cabbage.  

Note: this might be good to make a few days in advance and to allow to mellow. Also note: Fill any remaining space with water and place in fridge. 

10. Seudt Birn in süssem Most/ thu sie auß auff ein saubers Bret/ vnd laß kalt werden/ laß den Most weiter sieden/ biß er dick wirt/ laß jn darnach kalt werden/ streichs mit braunem Senff durch/ thu alsdenn die gesottenen Birn darein/ so wirt es gut vnd wolgeschmack.  Wiltu aber ein guten Senff haben/ so stoß Aniß vnnd Coriander durcheinander/ streichs durch mit braunem Senffmehl/ vnd süssen gesottenem Wein/ so wirt es gut vnnd wolgeschmack.



10. Seethe pears in sweet grape juice/ take them out on a clean board/ and let cool/ let the juice boil again/ until it becomes thick/ then let it become cold/ strain through with brown mustard/ and then put the boiled pears in it/ so it becomes good and well tasting. However if you want to have a good mustard/ then crush anise and coriander together/ strain through with brown mustard powder/ and sweet boiled wine/ so it becomes good and well tasting.

Doesn't this sound decadently delicious? This is a thought for mustard in the second course to serve with the turnips.  The brown mustard referred to is a very simple dish of brown mustard seeds that have been mixed with vinegar. The recipe goes on to say, that if you want to make a good mustard, yyou add spices to the powdered mustard seeds and this is the part of the recipe that I would be interested in recreating. 

Ingredients

Anise
Coriander
Brown mustard paower
Sweet boiled wine


Sweet Pear mustard 1 lb pears, 1 c sweet grape juice, 2 T brown mustard seeds Soak the mustard overnight in a little water or juice. Simmer pears and juice until thick. Cool and process with the mustard. Age at least 3 days before serving. 

Spicy mustard 1/2 c black mustard seed, 1 1/2 c sweet wine, 1 tsp coriander, 1/2 tsp anise Soak the mustard over night. Process until smooth. Age at least 3 days before serving.




Testing Recipes If you would make boiled dumplings - Sabrina Welserin cookbook 1553

 The cookbook of Sabrina Welserin offers this surprisingly modern recipe to make "boiled dumplings"!  which sounds delicious however, one important bit of information is missing..how do you make the dumpling dough??  Fortunately, she offers two additional recipes for dumplings, one of which refers us to "making a dough of good flour as if you would make a tart".  

119 If you would make boiled dumplings

Then take chard, as much as you like, some sage, marjoram and rosemary, chop it together, also put grated cheese into it and beat eggs therein until you think that it is right. Take also cinnamon, cloves, pepper and raisins and put them into the dumpling batter. Let the dumplings cook, as one cooks a hard-boiled egg, then they are ready.

The ingredients for boiled dumplings are: 

Chard
Sage
Marjoram
Rosemary
Cheese
Egg
Cinnamon
Clove
Pepper
Raisins
Dumpling dough

Further research finds the recipe for the dough here:

70 A tart with plums, which can be dried or fresh

Let them cook beforehand in wine and strain them and take eggs, cinnamon and sugar. Bake the dough for the tart. That is made like so: take two eggs and beat them. Afterwards stir flour therein until it becomes a thick dough. Pour it on the table and work it well, until it is ready. After that take somewhat more than half the dough and roll it into a flat cake as wide as you would have your tart. Afterwards pour the plums on it and roll out after that the other crust and cut it up, however you would like it, and put it on top over the tart and press it together well and let it bake. So one makes the dough for a tart.

Ingredients for Dumpling Dough

2 Beaten eggs
Flour

Test Recipe: 

For the dough: 

2 eggs
1 cup flour
pinch of salt (to satisfy modern taste)

For the Stuffing:

1 bunch of Chard cleaned and chopped
1- 2 tsp. each Sage, Marjoram, Rosemary
1/2 - 1 cup Cheese (emmantal, quark, parmesan or cottage)
1- 2 Eggs
1/2 tsp. Strong Spices 
1 tbsp. Raisins
Salt and Pepper for modern taste

Mix the ingredients together for the dough and allow to rest at least 30 minutes. Mix the ingredients for the stuffing.  Roll out the dough and cut into 3" rounds, fill with a bit of the stuffing, seal, and then boil in lightly salted water approximately 6-10 minutes.  Remove from water, and serve. 

Opt.  Serve with a sauce? Or Pan drippings?