Meat

The elements analysed in Colletière confirm that the eating of meat was very important in the Middle Ages. As the settlers practised breeding, animals could be slaughtered in every season, while most of the fresh vegetable products disappeared. Moreover, meats could be preserved by salting, smoke-curing or even preserved in fat.

Pork seem to have been a « resourceful animal », allowing the preparation of sausages, hams, the eating of offals and the use of a fat which served as a component in many dishes.

The main meat cooking procedure was boiled meat. Bones, marrow and flesh cooked in water, with mixed herbs, could be either eaten alone or as a soup composing cereal based gruels.
Procedures of braised meat or meat cooked in the oven were used for big pieces of beef, legs and shoulders of muttons.

Adding these preparations to the additional food brought by eggs and dairy products, it seems that animal exploitation has been led to the best.