Castellum Montanum - Lord's Salt

Lord's Salt

By Beatrice

This recipe has become popular for preserving meat during long camping events. The use of the vinegar needs to be more than 5%, or there will be significant problems with the keeping of the meats; there is too much chance that the meat will get diseased and become non-edible, so it is a good idea to try the recipe before you make it to use.
The recipe is from Cariadocs, one of the most popular collections within period. Icelandic p. 215/D1

One shall take cloves and mace, cardamom, pepper, cinnamon, ginger an equal weight of each except cinnamon, of which there shall be just as much as of all the others, and as much baked bread as all that has been said above. And he shall cut it all together and grind it in strong vinegar; and put it in a cask. That is their salt and it is good for half a year.

How to Make Use of the Salt Spoken of Above Icelandic p. 215/D1

When a man wants to use of this salt, he shall boil it in a pan over coals without flame. Then he shall take venison of hart or roe and carefully garnish with fat and roast it. And cut it up well burned; and when the salt is cold than the meat shall be cut up therein with a little salt. Then it can lie for three weeks. So a man may long keep geese, ducks, and other game if he cuts them thin. This is the best salt the gentry have.

The redaction of this recipe calls for what seems to be small amounts of the mixtures, but is actually quite perfect for it. The spices in it are of the original recipe, cloves, mace, cardamom, pepper, cinnamon and ginger. The bread used for crumbing is perfect if it is a day old and you crumb it yourself. I used pre-made breadcrumbs and although they do work, I don’t think they give the same consistency as the fresh bread. The redaction from Cariodoc’s is as follows:

Ingredients

4 grams each of cloves, mace, etc.
20 g of cinnamon
40 g of breadcrumbs
4 c strong vinegar

I add 1 t of salt to 3 T of the spice mixture, 3 T of breadcrumbs and 2 c of vinegar, simmer it briefly, then use it to preserve a 2 c container of cooked, sliced meat or fowl (600g to 1kg).

The recipe should store for several weeks, but will be sour due to the amount of vinegar that has been added.

Bibliography
Cariadoc's Miscellany
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cariadoc/miscelleny.html, redacted by David Friedman and Elizabeth Cook, 1992, [Accessed 1/3/02]

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