Meat Recipes

Rellenos de diversas maneras de la carne magra del puerco fresco

You will take ten pounds of the said meat without bones, without hide, and without nerves, fat and lean, and chop it with a knife upon a table, adding eight ounces of ground salt, six ounces of sweet dry fennel, four ounces of cracked pepper, one ounce of ground cinnamon, half an ounce of chopped cloves, and mix it all very well with your hand, adding four ounces of cold water and mint, and chopped marjoram, and let it all rest for four hours in a vessel of earthenware, or wood in a cool place, and take the membrane of the same pig well cleaned of hair, and soften it with tepid water, and from the said mixture with the membrane, make the sausages in the shape that you wish, and let them rest for two days in a dry place, and then roast them in a frying-pan with lard, or with melted fatty bacon, and serve them hot.

With the same mixture you can stuff the pig's intestines, having first kept them in salt, and after two days they can be eaten. From the same well-chopped lean meat you can make sausages with the membrane or with the intestines, adding to the quantity of ten pounds of meat, a pound and a half of cheese of Parma, or of Pinto, and an ounce and a half of chopped cinnamon, and another ounce and a half of ground pepper, and an eighth of saffron, and half a glass of cool water, and three ounces of salt, and everything being well mixed, make the sausages with the membrane or the intestines, and cook them as we have said.
Diego Granado, Libro del Arte de Cozina, Spain, 1599

Sausages in Diverse Manners, from the Lean Meat of Fresh Pork

Ingredients:
5 pounds ground pork
12 oz. Parmesan cheese
12 oz. beef suet, ground
20 g. Ceylon cinnamon
20 g. ground black pepper
1 large pinch of saffron
1-1/2 oz. salt (preferable kosher salt)
1/2 cup cold water

These instructions are for the second recipe variation mentioned above, for sausages with cheese.

Blend the salt and spices with the cold water to form a slurry. Add the slurry to the pork, and mix thoroughly. Stuff into hog casings, and twist into 4-inch links. If not cooking the sausage within a day, freeze them.

If you have not made sausages before, please find reliable instructions, and follow them carefully -- especially those relating to hygiene and food safety.

Adobado de Carnero

You must take breasts of mutton; and cook them in a pot with your salt; and when it is almost half cooked, remove it from the pot, and cut them to pieces the size of two fingers; and then gently fry it with bacon fat; and then take honey and all spices, and put it in a little pot, and take hard bread grated and cast it inside of that honey and the spices; and let there be a greater quantity of cinnamon than the other spices; and the take the best broth of the pot and cast it inside; and then the fat which shall be necessary, according to the quantity of the bread and the meat; then cast in a good cup of white vinegar because the sauce of this pottage is desired to be sweet-sour; and cook all this: and while it boils cast in the meat with a little saffron, because this sauce is desired to be deep in color; then prepare dishes of the said pottage, and upon them cinnamon, however you should cast in pears; and quinces which should be cut and have first been brought to a boil; and set them on the meat.

Marinated Mutton

Ingredients:
2-1/2 pounds lamb breast, excess fat trimmed
2 TBS bacon fat
1/4 cup plain breadcrumbs
2 TBS + 2 tsp. honey
4 tsp white wine vinegar
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 pinch ground cloves
1 pinch saffron
salt and pepper to taste
sliced pears canned in juice, drained (or fresh pears, poached until tender)

Put the lamb in a large pot and just cover with salted water. Simmer until half-cooked, about 15-20 minutes. Remove the lamb from the pot, reserving the broth. Cut the ribs apart into inch-thick pieces. Heat the bacon fat in a large skillet. Add the lamb and slowly fry over medium- low heat until well-cooked, about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, set aside 2 cups of the lamb broth and steep the saffron in it.

In a large pot, combine the bread crumbs, honey, spices, broth, and vinegar. Mix well. Bring to a boil, stirring to prevent lumps. Reduce heat to medium-low. Place the lamb in the sauce and simmer gently until the meat is very tender and the spice flavors have blended together. Serve, garnished with pears.