What on earth??

[luzula]

From The Compleat Housewife (1773):

How to Make Cock Ale: Take ten gallons of ale and a large cock, the older the better; parboil the cock, flay him and stamp him in a stone mortar till his bones are broken (you must craw and gut him when you flay him), then put the cock into two quarts of sack, and put to it three pounds of raisins of the sun stoned, some blades of mace, and a few cloves; put all these into a canvas bag, and a little before you find that the ale has done working, put the ale and bag together in a vessel; in a week or nine days' time bottle it up; fill the bottle but just above the neck, and give it the same time to ripen as other ale.

(I found this utterly bizarre when first reading it, but the more I think of it, the more it sounds kind of like a liquid meal, since ale has lots of calories in it. Chicken soup crossed with ale, or something.)

Comments

[james]

"a little before you find the ale has done working" like how am I supposed to know, unless I've done this before? Take it out before it is done, lol wut.

This does sound bizarre, but you are right, chicken broth plus ale is probably just a good protein drink.

[luzula]

I think the text assumes that you have a basic knowledge of how to make ale...there are other places in the book like that, too, where knowledge is obviously assumed.

[james]

It reminds me of all the times someone has said "add the right amount of flour" or whatever, because the person providing the recipe doesn't measure anymore they've done it so often. Glad to know humans haven't changed in centuries!

[petra]

The older the better! None of your tender young things; we want a rubbery old bugger for this one.

[luzula]

Yep! Also, I assume if you're going to kill a tender young thing, you'd want to eat it instead.

[jesse_the_k]

...and this is still a time before generally safe water, so fermenting it is a health measure.

[luzula]

Hmm. So do the bacteria and yeast which do the fermenting kill or outcompete the bad kind of bacteria?

I can't pretend to understand the science

[jesse_the_k]

...but I'd always heard that explanation for the widespread use of fermented beverages, in particular, beer, as payment for factory workers and sailors.

Hmm, actual research contradicts this assumption:

https://www.tastesofhistory.co.uk/post/dispelling-some-myths-dirty-water-drink-beer

For some reason it is often stated on popular television programmes that Mediæval Europeans drank lots of wine, ale or beer all day, every day because the local water was dirty or somehow fouled. Unfortunately for those repeating this myth, there is plenty of evidence that people regularly drank water. After all, what was the town, village or castle well for?

[seascribble]

Like a very wet congee. I like that they remind you to craw and gut him. Important steps.

[luzula]

I have never had congee! But it sounds much less bizarre to me than cock ale.

[seascribble]

Like a very wet congee. I like that they remind you to craw and gut him. Important steps.

[chestnut_pod]

So you cook Mr. Rooster, THEN skin/clean/gut him, then pound the whole carcass, bones included, into pulp??

[luzula]

It seems so! I am puzzled by how it seems that you are supposed to cook him BEFORE the skinning, cleaning, and gutting...

[sanguinity]

Wikipedia has an entry on cock ale; I don't know that it's that enlightening, but there is a second recipe and a number of period testimonials.

[luzula]

Oh, but it has two blog entries down at the bottom from some 17th century re-enactors who tried making it! : D And they went at it in a serious way, too. Apparently it was delicious, huh.

[sanguinity]

Oh! I missed the blog entries!

And huh. I guess it's kind of like using a good rich chicken stock to make a spiced, fruit ale? Which is not much done anymore, to my knowledge, but on the face of it doesn't sound completely absurd.

The part for me that is most amazing is that the chicken doesn't putrify during the part when it's soaking.