(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.

Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430) - Cxxij. A rede morreye

In the realm of medieval cookery, there's a curious coincidence found within the Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery Books: Harleian MS. 279 (circa 1430) and Harl. MS. 4016 (circa 1450), featuring extracts from Ashmole MS. 1439, Laud MS. 553, and Douce MS. 55 by Thomas Austin. It's the duplication of a recipe, each time bearing a different name but offering similar instructions on preparing the dish. Fortunately, I find myself in possession of mulberries, which seem to flourish abundantly in my locale, and are often treated as anuisances in my area.

Murrey, is similar to Rapeye, seems to denote a type of sauce, characterized by its red or reddish hue and its thick consistency. For instance, the recipe from the Forme of Curye, circa 1390, presents an early rendition of this recipe: 

MORREE [1]. XXXVIII.

Take Almandes blaunched, waisshe hem. grynde hem. and temper hem up with rede wyne, and alye hem with flour of Rys. do þerto Pynes yfryed. and colour it with saundres. do þerto powdour fort and powdour douce

and salt, messe it forth and flour it [2] with aneys confyt whyte.

[1] Morree. Ms. Ed. 37. murrey. Ibid. II. 26. morrey; probably from the mulberries used therein. [2] flour it. Flourish it.

Similarly, a recipe from MS Royal 12 (1340) offers diverse ingredients to accomplish the sauce:

32. Moree. rice flour or amidon, whichever can be found; that the color of sandalwood will be had, grind well in a mortar; and then it must be tempered in almond milk and well strained. And then put powdered cinnamon and of galingale. If it is a fish day, put in pears or chestnuts or salmon, or luce or perch; if a meat day, put in veal or goat, if you would have a good and royal meat.

The Online Etymological Dictionary gives the following information on the derivation of the word:

c. 1300, "tree of the genus Morus;" mid-14c. in reference to a berry from the tree; an alteration of morberie (13c.) from or cognate with Middle High German mul-beri (alteration by dissimilation of Old High German mur-beri, Modern German Maulbeere); both from Latin morum "mulberry, blackberry" + Old English berie, Old High German beri "berry." As mentioned earlier, I am lucky to have a mulberry tree growing in my yard. Each year I wait for the fruit to ripen so that I can make mulberry jam, or eat it on shortcakes either by itself or mixed with other berries.

Both of these recipes refer to a dish that is colored with mullberries. As has been discussed previously, color played a major roles in this time period. The color "red" held major significance; life force, love, lust and anger being only a few.  It also held religious significance, being the color of Christ's blood and the fires of Hell. I wonder what the significance held for this dish, if any?

Original Recipe

.Cxxij. A rede Morreye.—Take Molberys, and wrynge a gode hepe of hem þorw a cloþe; nym Vele, hew it & grynd it smal, & caste þer-to; nym gode Spycery an [supplied by ed.] Sugre, & caste þer- [leaf 22 bk.] to; take Wastilbrede & grate it, & ȝolkys of Eyroun, & lye it vppe þer-with, & caste gode pouder of Spycery þer-an a-bouen; & þan serue it forth.

Interpreted Recipe

122. A Red Morreye - Take mulberries, and wring a good heap of them through a cloth; take veal, cut it and grind it small, and cast thereto; take good spices and sugar, and caste thereto; take Wastel Bread (bread made from flour) and grate it, and yolks of eggs, and lay it up there-with and caste good powder of spices there-on, above; and then serve it forth.

Original Recipe

.Cxviij. Murreye.—Take Molberys, & wryng hem þorwe a cloþe; nym Vele, hew it, sethe it, grynd it smal, & caste þer-to; nym gode Spycery, Sugre, & caste þer-to; take Wastylbrede y-gratyd, [leaf 22.] and ȝolkys of Eyroun, & lye it vppe þer-with, & caste gode pouder a-boue y-now, & þan serue forth.

Interpreted Recipe

218. Murreye - Take mulberries, and wring them through a cloth, take veal, cut it, cook it, grind it smal and cast there-to; take good spicery, sugar and caste there-to; take wastel bread grated, and yolks of eggs and lay it up there-with, and cast good powder above enough now and then serve forth.


Ingredients 
To Serve 8

2 pounds cooked veal, pork or chicken, either sliced, or cut into bite sized pieces

2 cups mulberries

1 tsp. mixed spices (powder forte)

~ 1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

1 egg yolk
*Opt*  1 tsp. lemon juice, vinegar, or wine

Instructions

1. We are instructed to "take mulberries and wring them through a cloth", to create mulberry juice.  To do this, add mulberries, spices, sugar, lemon juice (wine, vinegar) , and water (if needed) to a blender, and blend until smooth.

2. Strain your juice using a cloth lined sieve, to remove solids,  into a pan. 
3. Add bread and egg  yolk, and simmer, stirring constantly, until the bread has dissolved in the sauce. 
4. Add meat, and continue to cook until the mixture has reached your desired consistency. 

Thoughts

This recipe is found in the pottage section of the Harl. MS 279, meaning it is a dish that is cooked in a pot.  The instructions as written above, advise us to mix the meat with the sauce, and to cook it. We are left to our imagination to determine if this is a saucier dish that could serve as a "soup/stew" or if it could be served as a sauce along side, sliced meat, which would be a more modern interpretation.  Or a meat cooked in sauce, similar to a meaty pasta sauce, or a good braised meat. 

For the presentation, I chose to serve this dish as a braised dish, using slices of pork braised in the mulberry sauce over sops of bread (to catch all of the sauce!), and a side of boiled & buttered vegetables. This would be a delicious appetizer or a perfect first course dish.  I hope you enjoy. 

Insalata di arance tagliate a fette, servite con zucchero e acqua di rose - Sliced Oranges served with Sugar and Rose Water

Insalata di arance tagliate a fette, servite con zucchero e acqua di rose

Originally published Sep 5, 2022

I have a confession to make. I am uncertain where I located this recipe. I found it and copied it with the notation "Scappi" - however, after further research I think this recipe may have come from another source and Scappi was on my mind. I will continue to look for the source and attribute once I have located it. Because I am unable to attribute the source, this recipe must fall into the realm of "probability".

It is a deceptively simple and easy-to-put-together dish, and quite delicious. I did not have rosewater, so I added orange flower water instead. It was very refreshing and lasted several days in the refrigerator, making it a terrific make ahead and serve feast dish.

Insalata di arance tagliate a fette, servite con zucchero e acqua di rose - Sliced orange salad with rosewater and sugar

4 to 6 oranges (or lemons)

1-2 tbsp. rose water or orange flower water

squeeze of lemon juice

Opt:

2-3 Medjool dates, halved lengthways

2-3 pistachios finely chopped 3 tbsp. mint, finely chopped icing sugar, to garnish

Instructions

1. Peel the oranges with a sharp knife and remove any pith.

2. Slice into very thin half moons. Try to capture the juice and pour it into the serving bowl or platter. 3. Arrange the orange slices on a serving platter.

4. Sprinkle over rose water and a squeeze of lemon juice. 5. Garnish dates, pistachios, mint, and, just before serving, dust over some icing sugar.

Note: Can be served cold, or at room temperature