Showing posts with label Meat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Meat. Show all posts

(German) Schwarzwaelder Schinken - Smoked Pork

 First published on Patreon Oct 3, 2022

Das Kochbuch der Sabina Welserin (c. 1553)

Schwarzwaelder Schinken - Smoked pork in the middle, behind toothpicks, Bratwurst (Bottom left) and Zervalet (Top Right)  with Sweet and Spicy Mustard

How was food preserved in the middle ages?

It might be surprising to learn that many of the methods that are used today were also used to preserve food in the middle ages.

The most common methods are salting, sugaring/honeying, pickling/fermenting, smoking, and drying.  Each of these preservation methods inhibits the growth of microbes, bacteria, or fungi that would make you ill.

Today's recipe features two of my favorite methods of preserving food, salt curing, and smoking.

How does salt curing preserve food?

Salt curing dehydrates the food so that moisture-loving pathogens cannot thrive on it.  There are two different kinds of ways to salt cure food.  This is oftentimes the first step to additional methods of curing.

  • Dry curing: Food is immersed in a mixture of salt and flavorings.
  • Wet Curing:  Food is soaked in a salty solution.  This is also known as brining.

What is "pink salt"?

Curing salt, also known as pink salt is a combination of table salt and sodium nitrite, or, sodium nitrate.  It may also be known as Prague powder #1, and Prague Powder #2.  These are dyed pink so they are not confused with regular table salt.  They are highly concentrated and should be used correctly.  In addition to slowing the growth of pathogens, it is believed that pink salt inhibits botulism.

  • Prague Powder #1 - 93.75% table salt & 6.25% sodium nitrite - Best used with wet curing, short-term curing times, and with food that will be cooked.
  • Prague Powder #2 - 89.75% table salt, 6.25% sodium nitrite & 4% sodium nitrate - Must be used with food that is dry cured for a long period of time.

What about saltpetre?

Also known as saltpeter or nitrate of potash, potassium nitrate was a common ingredient in food preservation.  The use of saltpetre has declined because of inconsistent results. It is an ingredient of gun powder and has been in use since the 15th Century.

How does smoking preserve meat?

Meat that has been exposed to wood smoke develops an acidic coating that inhibits the growth of bacteria. As with curing, there are two different ways to smoke meat.

  • Hot Smoking - involves temperatures in excess of 150 degrees and cooking the food in addition to smoking it.  This process should be used when longer periods of smoking are required.
  • Cold Smoking - involved temperatures lower than 100 degrees and is used when you want to flavor the food and create a smoke barrier without cooking it.

Original Recipe

Schweinin flesch digen machen

So nempt ain fiertel von ainer saú vnd saltzen es fast woll,

das es gleich weisß werd vor saltz, vnnd land das saltz daran

ergan jn ainem keller, vnnd wan es ergangen jst, so segen das

wasser herab/ vnnd giessen es wider dariber, das thent ain

tag 2 oder .3. mall, vnnd wan es vier wúchen jn dem saltz jst

gelegen, so hengt es aúff vnd rechen es fein gemach/ bis es

woll drúcken wirt vnnd fein resch/ last es achtag jm rach

hangen, darnach hengt es jn ain kamer, da der lúfft zú kan,

es bleibt eúch das ganz jar.

Interpreted Recipe

To make smoked pork.

Take a quarter of a pig and salt it especially well, so that it is entirely white with salt, and let the salt dissolve in a cellar. And when it is dissolved, then skim off the water and pour it over again, do that two or three times a day, and when it has laid in salt for four weeks, hang it up and smoke it fairly slowly, until it becomes thoroughly dry and fairly hard. Let it hang in the smoke for eight days, after which hang it in a chamber into which air comes. It keeps for the entire year.

Ingredients

2 1/2 pounds pork ( I prefer loin)

4 ounces kosher salt

2 ounces sugar

1/2  tsp. pink salt #1

2 tablespoons black peppercorns

2 tablespoons juniper berries

10 whole bay leaves

2 teaspoons coriander seeds

2 teaspoons dried marjoram

1-quart water

Instructions

  1. Place your black peppercorns, juniper berries, and coriander seeds into a small pan, you want to warm them enough to release their fragrance.  Remove the spices from the pan and coarsely grind them in a mortar.
  2. Put your pork into a ziplock bag and add the coarsely ground spices, crumbled-up bay leaves, dried marjoram, sugar, and salt.  Slowly pour in water being sure to cover the pork completely.  Note: The pork needs to brine for a minimum of 4 hours and a maximum of five to seven days.
  3. Soak wood chips for a minimum of three hours the day you are going to smoke your pork. I use a mixture of apple and cherry.
  4. Remove the pork from the brine, rinse off the salt solution, pat the pork dry and place it into a tray for your smoker.  Note:  You can lightly oil the pork if you wish.
  5. Smoke the pork for a minimum of 2 to 2 1/2 hours at 225 degrees, or until the internal temperature reads 150 degrees. Remove from smoker and allow to cool before cutting into thin slices.

Thoughts

This is a very forgiving recipe with great returns.  The pork was moist and smokey and very flavorful after marinating in the brine overnight.  Note: I did not use the pink salt for this because the time I was planning on marinating it in the brine was so short.  It was enjoyed by many of the guests. It also kept well and I enjoyed the leftovers for several days afterward.  This marinade would also do well with chicken if you choose. If you do not have a smoker, simply cook the pork in the oven.  Highly recommended for camping events as well as dayboards.

Sources

"Das Kochbuch Der Sabina Welserin (C. 1553)". Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, 2022, https://www.uni-giessen.de/fbz/fb05/germanistik/absprache/sprachverwendung/gloning/tx/sawe.htm. Accessed 3 Oct 2022.

"Medieval Food Preservation Methods". Thoughtco, 2022, https://www.thoughtco.com/medieval-food-preservation-1788842. Accessed 4 Oct 2022.

"Sabrina_Welserin.Html". Daviddfriedman.Com, 2022, http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Sabrina_Welserin.html. Accessed 3 Oct 2022.

"Saltpetre And Salt Prunella". British Food: A History, 2021, https://britishfoodhistory.com/2021/06/29/saltpetre-and-salt-prunella/. Accessed 4 Oct 2022.

Sloan, Alisha. "Preserving Meat Long-Term, The Old-Fashioned Way - Off The Grid News". Off The Grid News, 2014, https://www.offthegridnews.com/off-grid-foods/preserving-meat-long-term-the-old-fashioned-way/. Accessed 4 Oct 2022.

"What Is The Difference Between Prague Powder #1 And #2? - Bradley Smokers North America". Bradley Smokers North America, 2021, https://www.bradleysmoker.com/blog/2021/08/19/what-is-the-difference-between-prague-powder-1-and-2/. Accessed 4 Oct 2022.

(German) Weltt jr gútt prattwirst machen - If you would make good bratwurst

 Originally Published  Oct 25, 2022



Das Kochbuch der Sabina Welserin, 1553

sausage (n.)article of food consisting of chopped or minced meat, seasoned and stuffed into the cleaned gut of an ox, sheep, or pig, and tied at regular intervals, mid-15c., sawsyge, sausige, from Old North French saussiche (Old French saussice, Modern French saucisse), from Vulgar Latin *salsica "sausage," from salsicus "seasoned with salt," from Latin salsus "salted," from past participle of Old Latin sallere "to salt," from sal (genitive salis) "salt" (from PIE root *sal- "salt").

This is another recipe that needs to be given proper attribution, it belongs to the Lady Aveline Grene, and it can be found at her website "Grene Boke: The Commonplace Boke of Aveline Grene".


I did make several changes to her recipe, the first being that I did not use liquid smoke. I smoked these with the smoked pork. Secondly, I did not use sausage casings. Instead, I used the saran wrap & simmer method that I use when I plan on serving sausages cold.


It is believe that it's origin came about as a way to preserve food in a convenient package. The first mention of sausage as a food can be traced to 'The Orya", a play performed in Ancient Greece that was written about 500 BC.


Sausages were also a favored food of the Romans, with three recipes found in Apicius’s De re coquinaria; botellus, blood sausage that includes egg yolks, lucanica, sausage made with pork, pork fat, pinenuts and spices, and lastly farcmina, a generic term meaning "to stuff".


Original Recipe


Weltt jr gútt prattwirst machen


So nempt 4 pfúnd schweinis vnnd 4 pfúnd rinderis, das

last klainhacken, nempt darnach 2 pfúnd speck darúnder

vnnd hackts anainander vnnd vngeferlich 3 seidlen wasser

giest daran, thiet aúch saltz, pfeffer daran, wie jrs geren est,

oder wan jr geren kreúter darin megt haben/ múgt jr nemen

ain wenig ain salua vnnd ain wenig maseron, so habt jr gút

brattwirst/.


Interpretation


If you would make good bratwurst


Take four pounds of pork and four pounds of beef and chop it finely. After that mix with it two pounds of bacon and chop it together and pour approximately one quart of water on it. Also add salt and pepper thereto, however you like to eat it, or if you would like to have some good herbs, you could take some sage and some marjoram, then you have good bratwurst.


Ingredients


1 pound (fatty) pork

1/2 pound (fatty) beef

1 tsp salt

3/4 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp marjoram

1/2 tsp thyme

1/4-1/2 tsp crushed caraway seed

1/2 tsp liquid smoke*

1/2-3/4 c water

sausage casing


Instructions


Grind pork and beef and mix together until uniform. Add the remaining ingredients and enough water to make the meat easy to stuff into your sausage casing. Cook in whatever manner you wish (baking, grilling, frying, boiling).



Sources


Coquinaria.Nl, 2022, https://coquinaria.nl/en/lucanian-sausages/. Accessed 17 Oct 2022.


"Das Kochbuch Der Sabina Welserin (C. 1553)". Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, 2022, https://www.uni-giessen.de/fbz/fb05/germanistik/absprache/sprachverwendung/gloning/tx/sawe.htm. Accessed 17 Oct 2022.


"Sausage | Etymology, Origin And Meaning Of Sausage By Etymonline". Etymonline.Com, 2022, https://www.etymonline.com/word/sausage. Accessed 17 Oct 2022.