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.
LOL
I remember reading about a process used to test the quality of beer back then...
The beer was poured onto a bench, the brewer, wearing leather lederhosen sat down for some period of time, when he stood up, if the bench stuck to his pants the beer was considered pure.
Sounds good to me.
Here is an English translation of an entire ancient Roman (late 4th or early 5th century AD) cookbook for you.
Thank you ... I’ll check it out!
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