Landjaeger Sausages

I have a “camping” event coming up soon so I decided to make landjaeger sausages. These squared off sausages are traditional to southern Germany, Alsace, Switzerland and Austria. They are a mix of beef and pork, spiced with caraway and coriander, pressed for 24-48 hours (I don’t have a Landjaeger press so just used a cookie sheet with weights for 48 hours in the fridge), cold smoked and then hung to dry for about 15 days, by which time they should be almost as dry as beef jerky. This makes them perfect for hiking, camping, or taking on a war campaign, because they are lightweight and don’t need refrigeration.

Mine are on the short side because I used my Wurstbugel which is only 15 cm long; Landjaeger should be 15-20cm long. I didn’t know until after I had finished hanging my mine that they are made in pairs; some of mine ended up that way, and some are in strings of up to 6 sausages. Each pair serves one person, and if made just right they will weigh about 100 grams and have a little over 500 calories.

I was astonished to realize I haven’t made this recipe since 2011, and forgot to document it properly at the time.

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Ungerische Kaesesupen

This recipe comes from Marx Rumpolt’s Ein new Kochbuch (“A New Cookbook”), written in 1581.

Nimm ein neuwen Käeß/ der vber Nacht gemacht ist/ vnd rüer jhn ab mit saurem Rahm/ thu frische Butter darein/ vnd laß darmit auffsieden/ so zergehet der Käeß. Vnnd wenn du wilt anrichten/ so nimm gebeht Schnitten Brot/ oder von Weck/ vnd geuß die Brüeh darüeber/ so ist es ein gute Vngerische Käeßsuppen.

Translation (by M. Grasse)

Take a new cheese/ that (was) made overnight/ and stir it up with soured cream/ put fresh butter therein/ and let (it) come to a boil therewith/ so the cheese breaks down. And when you want to prepare it (serve it)/ so take sliced bread/ or from a loaf. And pour the broth over (it)/ so is a good Hungarian cheese soup.

The recipe I used:

• 1 cup cottage cheese
• 1 oz feta cheese
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/8 cup butter
• slices of bread or buns (used two small buns but have lots of leftover cheese for lunch)

Put the cheeses, sour cream and butter into a saucepan and heat until boiled and the curds break down (I was hungry so started eating before all the curds had completely broken down). Serve over a slice of toasted bread or a bun. The friend who first introduced me to this recipe pours it into a bread bowl made of the large hard-crusted rolls.

 

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Crazy Swimming Project Idea

While swimming this morning, I was thinking about a 16th C swimming treatise (as one does) and thought it would be really fun to try and recreate all the instructions. The electronic version I have access to does not include the illustrations, so someone needs to make this information available to the broader medieval recreationist swimming public, right?

It feels a bit like redacting a recipe book. I cook a lot so can usually translate medieval instructions into useable modern recipes. I swim a lot, so why not do the same with swimming instructions? I have tried doing almost all the things in the treatise already, so it’s just a matter of matching technique and instruction, then recording clips of it all. There will be a couple of other anachronisms besides electronic recordings: there are virtually no records of women swimming, and the images of swimmers (male and female) show them either naked or in underwear. I‘ll wear my modern suit (maybe with a short chemise over top). I may even use a cap and goggles.

I need a new project like I need a hole in the head, but at at least it is one that is time bound (will need to be done outdoors while the weather is warm), and doesn’t require bringing more stuff into my house.

For those who are really keen, the link to the treatise is here: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A20436.0001.001/1:4?rgn=div1;view=fulltext

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I’m Doing The Thing!

I have friend who says this whenever she overcomes her fear of trying something new. Now she has me saying it.

I have tried using a back strap once, decades ago, for a very basic tablet woven belt. I have never used a rigid heddle loom. This project comes from a class that was offered by someone in The Braid Society. It started weeks ago but I was paralyzed by fear of getting myself set up and trying it. It is a complete mash-up: the back strap is one I bought in Guatemala, the heddle is Norwegian, the pattern is Japanese, and I am using a mix of linen and wool in order to Make a pair of medieval garters. I think the Pattern is sufficiently generic that it will be fine for this purpose, I could set up the heddle without a back strap but it was helpful to get me going.

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Plying threads

This blog post with documentation on plying is really interesting. Now I “need” to make matching spindles so I can spin similar amounts and try plying them using this technique. https://www.pallia.net/en/blog/2020/05/28/a-rare-plying-picture/

Bibliothèque Nationale de la France, Manuscript Latin 7330, liber astrologiae Georgii Zapari Zothori Fenduli, c 1301-1400. Fol. 30r, if I’ve interpreted things correctly. Permalink to the page in the digital BNF.

 

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Sausage research – for science!

I made sausages recently and was disappointed at how they aren’t quite long enough to fill the buns I had purchased. I realized I should have used my wurstbügel so I pulled it out and – sure enough, they are too short. Then I checked the length of my bun, which turns out to be exactly the length of my wurstbügel! It‘s like the standard size of buns has not changed since this original of this measuring tool was made more than 400 years ago.

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