Writer's Block: Stories of old

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The little people - some variant of dwarves, gnomes, trolls. I grew up believing they really did live in the forests and mountains. To this day, part of me is convinced I see them out of the corner of my eye when I'm hiking or alone in the woods.

Pickled and smoked tongue

This recipe is from Sabrina Welserin's 1553 cookbook, available on-line via Cariadoc's Miscelleny. I wish I could find out something about this cook. I love tongue. It's a dish I associate with Alsace and Lorraine, where I first had it as a teenager. This dish isn't anything like the tongue I ate there, but it fits perfectly into the food preservation theme of my A&S 50 challenge. I won't make nearly as many as suggested in this recipe, but I do plan to make a trip to my favourite halal butcher this weekend to see if I can get one or two.

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.

Thanks cortejo !