The Decadent Cookbook (14 page)

Before long, Countess Elisabeth was requiring at least five serving girls a week to satisfy her terrible obsession, and in order for her sadistic activities to remain undetected for so long must have required considerable complicity on the part of the local people. The local Lutheran pastor, for example, was sometimes having to bury up to nine mutilated bodies a night in the village church-yard.

Unfortunately, the Countess’s blood-bath was not having the desired effect. Her beauty was not being restored. A local woman with a knowledge of the black arts explained that this was because peasant blood was of inferior quality. Only noble blood had the restorative properties the Countess required. In the winter of 1609 she began taking into her home the daughters of the minor aristocracy under the cover of instructing them in the social graces. The disappearance of these unfortunate girls however became far more difficult to explain than that of peasants’ daughters. The Countess was denounced after the naked bodies of four of them were found at the foot of the castle walls.

Elisabeth de Báthory is said to have been responsible for the deaths of up to six hundred and fifty girls, but it required an act of Parliament to have her arrested. Even then her social position protected her from being brought to trial. Instead, her cousin, the Lord Palatine of Hungary, ordered that she be walled up in a tiny room in her own castle. She was fed through a small hatch and survived in this way for three and half years.

The consumption of blood doesn’t always have such a bestial aspect to it. The Irish, among others, used to make a sort of blood cake whereby a layer of blood was left to coagulate and then sprinkled with salt. A second layer of liquid was added and also left to coagulate. In this way a block was formed which was then cut up into squares and put aside as food for use in times of scarcity.

Another blood ‘recipe’ from Ireland is mentioned by the early 18th century traveller, Henri Misson de Valbourg. In his
Memoirs and Observations in his Travels over England translated by Mr Ozell,
he notes that the peasants “bleed their cows and boil the blood with some of the milk and butter which came from the same beasts, and this with a mixture of savoury herbs, is one of their most delicious dishes.” It is difficult to gauge the degree of irony in that last remark.

Blood makes an excellent basis for a Decadent meal. Dark, heavy, rich and sinister, it combines beautifully with other Decadent themes: vice, corruption, incest and death.

To start the meal we suggest a black blood soup from Sweden.

For the meat and giblets:

G
IBLETS
OF
1
GOOSE
(
HEART,
GIZZARD,
NECK,
HEAD,
WING
TIPS,
FEET
AND
LIVER
)

1 - 1½
LITRES
OF
WATER

T
ABLESPOON
OF
SALT

1
SLICE
OF
YELLOW
OR
RED
ONION

4 - 6
WHITE
PEPPERCORNS

2 - 4
CLOVES

For the soup:

6
DECILITRES
OF
GOOSE
OR
PIG’S
BLOOD

3½
LITRES
MIXTURE
OF
BOUILLON
(
A
GOOD
MEAT
STOCK,

LIGHT
OR
DARK)
AND
GIBLET
STOCK

3
TABLESPOONS
OF
BUTTER

7 - 9
TABLESPOONS
OF
FLOUR

3
TEASPOONS
SALT

6 - 7
TABLESPOONS
GRANULATED
SUGAR

½
TEASPOON
WHITE
PEPPER

½
TEASPOON
OF
GINGER

½
TEASPOON
GROUND
CLOVES

R
ED
CURRANT
JELLY

4 - 6
TEASPOONS
DISTILLED
VINEGAR

1
DECILITRE
COGNAC

1 - 3
DECILITRES
OF
RED
WINE,
DRY
MADEIRA,
DRY
SHERRY
OR
PORT

For the garnish

G
OOSE
GIBLETS
AND
MEAT

5 - 6
GOOD
SOUR
APPLES

24
PRUNES

½
LITRE
WATER

2 - 3
TABLESPOONS
SUGAR

GOOSE
LIVER
SAUSAGE

Wash the giblets thoroughly. Put them in cold water and bring to the boil slowly. Skim and add the onions and spices. Bring back to the boil and cook gently for 2 - 3 hours until the meat is well done. Strain and leave the stock to cool. Skim thoroughly when cold. When cool cut the giblets into regular pieces and remove all the bones.

Wash the prunes and soak in water for a while. Wash, peel, core, halve and then slice the apples. Heat the sugar and water together, in which mixture the apples are then cooked, a few at a time. Remove and set them aside. Stone the prunes and cook in the same way, reserving the resultant fruit stock.

Strain the blood. Melt the butter, add the flour and stir until cooked. Add the bouillon and giblet stock mixture and allow to cook slowly for 10 minutes. Strain and return to the rinsed saucepan. Meanwhile, vigorously whisk the blood into the soup, whisking continuously. The soup separates easily. Take the pan off the heat, add the spices, wine and fruit stock. Taste and adjust seasoning. Keep the soup warm in a bain marie so that it doesn’t separate.

Serve the soup as hot as possible with the giblets, fruit and sliced goose liver sausage arranged on a platter.

There are two alternatives to this. One is a Polish blood soup called Tchernina. The other is to make a traditional Chinese hot and sour soup. This has ox’s blood drizzled into it as a finishing touch. The important thing is that the soup is hot enough for the blood to thicken in it, rather like adding a raw egg to French onion soup.

For the main course we recommend jugged hare and blood sausages - together if you wish to make a sensation, separately for a more subtle, calculated effect.

There are those who believe that jugged hare can be made without the blood, that it tastes just as good using stock instead. One should treat such persons with contempt. They are the sort who think that the Brahms double concerto sounds just as good without the cello part.

S
ADDLE
OF
HARE

½
LB
PIECE
OF
FAT
BACON

2
LARGE
ONIONS

4 - 5
CARROTS

BOUQUET
GARNI

PINCH
OF
MACE

6
CLOVES

12
PEPPERCORNS

1
TEASPOON
OF
SALT

1
GLASS
OF
PORT

¼
PT
OF
RED
WINE

1
TABLESPOON
OF
REDCURRANT
JELLY

Don’t forget to ask the butcher for the blood. Chop the meat into 11/2 inch pieces. Separate the legs from the thighs. Fry the bacon for 3 to 4 minutes in a large pan. Add the meat, vegetables and brown as evenly as possible. Put into a casserole with herbs, mace, cloves, salt and peppercorns. Cover tightly with foil and then the lid. Stand in boiling water (this is why it is ‘jugged’ hare) which comes at least half-way up the pot. Keep the vessel covered so the water does not boil off. Boil for three hours, restoring the level of water if necessary.

After three hours, lift the lid of the pot containing the hare and add red wine, port and redcurrant jelly. Add a little salt and pepper. Add the blood of the hare and stir in well. The dish can be reheated a little, but on no account allow it to boil, otherwise the blood will curdle.

Jugged hare is very rich and is best served with something plain. Hungarian blood fritters, for instance. These might be served in homage to Countess Elisabeth.

B
LOOD
OF
1
GOOSE
OR
DUCK,
OR
1
PT
OF
PIG’S
BLOOD

SALT

2
OZ
FAT

1
LARGE
ONION

P
APRIKA

Slice the onion and lightly fry in the fat. Slice or cube the congealed blood and add it to the onion. Season it with salt and paprika. Fry for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring continuously. Serve with boiled potatoes which have been tossed in hot bacon dripping, and accompany with a salad such as cucumber.