Book of Days Tales

Today is the birthday (1533) of William I, Prince of Orange, also widely known as William the Silent or William the Taciturn (from Dutch: Willem de Zwijger), or more commonly as William of Orange (Willem van Oranje) in the Netherlands, which is a bit confusing for Brits because they know his great-grandson by that name as king of Great Britain. William the Silent was the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish Habsburgs that set off the Eighty Years’ War (1568–1648) and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1581. He was born in the House of Nassau as Count of Nassau-Dillenburg. He became Prince of Orange in 1544 and is thereby the founder of the House of Orange-Nassau and the ancestor of the monarchy of the Netherlands. Within the Netherlands he is also known as Father of the Fatherland. (Vader des Vaderlands).

A properly styled “Dutch cuisine” had not quite emerged at this point in Dutch history. In the 16^th century dishes were shared quite widely across much of Europe. However, Lancelot de Casteau wrote Ouverture de cuisine in 1585 (published in 1604), and he was the master chef for three prince-bishops of Liège in the 16^th century: Robert de Berghes, Gérard de Groesbeek, and Ernest of Bavaria. This cookbook is generally seen as a bridge between Medieval recipes and those of the new haute cuisine.  It is obviously an eclectic cuisine. Here, first, is the recipe for sausages in soup (pottage):

Saulcisses en potage.

Prennez les saulsisses, & les fricassez en beurre, puis prennez quartre ou cinq pommes pellées & couppées par petits quartiers, & quartre ou cinq oignons couppez par rondes tranches, & les fricassez en beurre, & les mettez tout dedans vn pot auec les saulsisses, & mettez dedans noix muscade, canelle, auec vin blanc ou rouge, du succre, & le faictes ainsi esteuuer.

Sausages in pottage.

Take sausages, & fry them in butter, then take four or five peeled apples & cut into small quarters, & four or five onions cut into rings, & fry them in butter, & put all of them into a pot with the sausages, & put therein nutmeg, cinnamon, with red or white wine, sugar, & let them then all stew.

Having read this recipe I wondered what sausages were suitable. The book does not specify but gives this recipe for Boulogne sausages:

Pour faire saulsisse de Bologne.

Prennez six liures de chair de porc vn peu grasse, & la coupez par tranches,
& la mettez en vn drap, mettez la dans vne presse pour presser le sang dehors, & la laissez vne heure en presse tant que le sang soit tout dehors, puis la hacherés grossement, point trop menu, mettés dedans quatre onces de sel, vne
once de poiure, estampés grossement, vne once de canelle bien puluerisée par fin tamier, & meslés tout ensemble
auec le sel, & mettés dedans la chair, & prennez huict onces de vin d’Espaigne, & meslez le bien auec les mains vne demye heure, que tout soit bien encorporé dedans la chair, puis prennez des boyaux de boeuf selon la grosseur que voulés auoir les saulcisses, puis les emplissez de chair si fort que pouuez, & aiez vne grosse eplingue en main pour tousiours percer le boiau, afin qu’il ny ait point de vent dedans, & que la chair soit bien serrée, puis liés le boyau bien ferme dessus & dessous de la longueur que voulez auoir les saulcisses, puis ayez vn chaudron d’eau bouillante sur le feu, & faictes boulir les saulsisses dedans trois ou quatre bouillons, & les tirez dehors, puis les pendez a la cheminée cinq ou six iours tant qu ils soient bien seiches.

To make Boulogne sausage.

Take six pounds of slightly fatty pork, & cut into slices, & put in a cloth, put it in a press to squeeze out the blood, & let sit one hour in the press until the blood is all out, then chop it coarsely, not too small, put therein four ounces of salt, an ounce of pepper, grind coarsely, one ounce of cinnamon well powdered with a fine sieve, & mix all together with the salt, & put into the meat, & take eight ounces of Spanish wine, & mix it well by hand for a half hour, when all will be incorporated into the meat, then take beef intestines that are thicker than you want the sausage, then fill with the meat as hard as possible, & have a thick eplingue at hand for always piercing the intestine, at the end that doesn’t have any hole therein, & that the meat will be well compacted, then tie the intestine well closed thereon & thereon of the length that you want to have the sausage, then have a cauldron of boiling water on the fire, & put to boil the sausages in three or four boilings, & cut them apart, then hang them at the chimney five or six days until they are well dried.