Posted on 11/04/2007 4:19:58 PM PST by james500
A hobby historian has discovered the oldest known recipe for German sausage, a list of ingredients for Thuringian bratwurst nearly 600 years old.
According to the 1432 guidelines, Thuringian sausage-makers had to use only the purest, unspoiled meat and were threatened with a fine of 24 pfennigs - a day's wages - if they did not, a spokesman for the German Bratwurst Museum said.
Medieval town markets in Germany had committees charged with monitoring the quality of produce.
Thuringian bratwursts, which are made of beef and pork, are symbols of Germany's cultural heritage and ubiquitous snacks at football matches.
Historian Hubert Erzmann, 75, found the ancient recipe, inscribed with pen and ink in a heavy tome of parchment, earlier this year while doing research in an archive in the eastern town of Weimar, museum spokesman Thomas Maeuer said.
"The discovery shows that there were already consumer protection laws in the Middle Ages," he said.
Ben's maternal granddaddy (Peter Folger) lived on Nantucket, as did my ancestor (Dionis Coffin) who was fined for charging too much for her beer.
A friend of mine had a translation of an ancient Roman cook book - over 2000 years old.
Some if sounded interesting, but a lot it was just plain revolting.
You know they stopped at a pub? Did they forget to pay their bill? Musta been some brew!! ;o)
Hmmm I didn't know Ben had relatives on Nantucket. What book or source did you get that from. I've read most of the books on him but either I missed that gem in the books I have read or need to update my library!
I can’t say — but after a couple of months at sea on a tiny boat, a pub would be a reasonable place to get your land legs. They have that bar to lean on.
Was the beer a home brew made by the tavern, or something that had been bottled elsewhere?
Few sources go into the history of his maternal family, but there's a lot of stuff on the net. His mother's name was Abiah Lee Folger & she was born on Nantucket. Her father was one of those on the charter for the island. (Mayhew sold the island to a group) Folger was a young man when he joined the group, but he was the colony's "Indian" translator, a needed skill because there was a small village on the island.
The colony offered safe haven for some early Quakers when they were getting persecuted on the mainland & I've wondered if that helped shape Franklin's ideas about the relationship between church & state.
No beer on the boat?
IIRC it was exclusive to the Tavern and made there or locally.
please add me to your ping list
add me to your grub list please :)
Thanks for the ping, bmflr.
Ping for your collection!
Ping.
I never sausage pinging until now!
A lot of good foods come from the state of Thuringen and to the east, all what was once East Germany. German Pilsner (dryer, and hoppier than it’s Bohemian cousin) for example originated just outside of Dresden, NOT in Bavaria. Several other beers styles (such as bock, double-bock, mai-bock, scharzbier, etc.) came from this area, that until the wall came down, we had no contact with. This is Martin Luther’s part of Germany, as well as Bach, Handel, Lidzt, Goethe, and many other cultural icons.
I’ve had “Original Thurigen Bratwurst” as they name it there, in Thuringen...hot off the grill, served in a bun no wider than your hand (while the sausage is a cresent shape a foot long or so... With good brown mustard, and of course a lovely sharp Radeburger pilsner......UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.....
Just the thing for lunch on the street in Germany in the summer.
You could be arrested for that
So HE was the guy!
So HE was the guy!
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