A blog about experiments on Viking Age food

[pengolodh_sc]

I know that many members of OTChatter are interested in food in various ways - after all, getting the food discussions off the main list in the high-pressure days when we were still waiting for GoF was at least part of the motive for creating this list. Some of you are, I think, also interested in historical food, so I hope this is of interest.

Lofotr Vikingmuseum has employed the Swedish archaeologist Daniel Serra to experiment with Viking Age food. He uses reproductions of Viking Age cooking equipment to cook food, inspired partly by archaeological finds, partly by Viking Age accounts of food, and partly by medieval recipes and accounts of food. The outcomes of his experiments every day also form his lunch for the day. He will be with us until some time in July, and writes about his experiments and experiences in his English-language blog:
http://eldrimner.wordpress.com/

Some of the things he's been working on so far include:
* cold-smoking both untreated and salted meats using just the smoke present from keeping the room's fireplace lit
* cold-smoking us poor guides - this is a default extension of the previous point (the sacrifices we make for science...)
* making an approximation of the thrall's meal from Rigsthula - soup based on stock from boiled meat and tough, heavy bread
* regaining salt from spent brine
* extracting bone marrow from sheep bones without cracking the bone (ethnological accounts from Iceland indicate a longstanding superstition that breaking a bone was considered bad luck, and a find of a lamb bone with a small hole in it, from the Viking Age, is seen as support of this)
* popping malt

He has worked on other things as well, and I would not be surprised if, in due course, beer brewing and mead making comes up as well.

Most recently he is asking for suggestions about medieval uses of potash or lye, apart from soap, glass and tinder - if anybody has any suggestions, I'm sure he'll be very happy to get feedback:
http://eldrimner.wordpress.com/2010/06/06/question/

Incidentally, Daniel has also read a number of Kit's books.

Best regards
Christian Stubø