Soup Glossary

The techniques for preparing soup developed during the 17th century remain in use today. Le Viandier defined soup as: "semi-liquid food, mostly with soaked bread. Also sop, soppys: a bit of bread for dipping in a liquid, such as a soup or wine."

Some of the earliest soups were made in a hide in which hot stones were dropped. As the stones cooled, they were replaced with other hot stones. Native Americans and early Europeans used this technique.

Soups were a universal feature of primitive kinds of cookery, but they developed at an early stage into quite sophisticated preparations. In Roman times, Apicius gave a recipe for a pottage (tisana was the name he used) made of barley with three kinds of pulses, eight kinds of leafy vegetables, four flavouring herbs, liquamen (fish sauce), and a garnish of chopped cabbage leaves.

Ancient Roman cuisine indicates evidence that soup making had evolved to the point that peasants and soldiers relied on it for basic sustenance, while well before that time wealthy, eccentric gourmands prepared it either as a precursor to a banquet or a highly seasoned substantial dish served in it own right. The Bible mentions that pottage was made.

Around the 12th century, people realized this sop was as good as the meat itself, and by the 13th century, soup making was becoming an art form.

In medieval kitchens, especially during the earliest decades, the cauldron was rarely emptied. Bits and pieces were continually added to the pot.

Middle Ages - method was to "seethe" (simmer) cuts of meats in cauldrons. The meat was taken out with flesh forks after which it was often served separately. The broth was served with or without additional ingredients.

The first book published solely about soup was Soups and Soup Making by Emma Ewing in 1882.

Etymology of the word "soup":

"The etymological idea underlying the word soup is that of soaking. It goes back to an unrecorded post-classical Latin verb suppare 'soak', which was borrowed from the same prehistoric German root (sup-) as produced in English sup and supper. From it was derived the noun suppa, which passed into Old French as soupe. This meant both piece of bread 'soaked in liquid' and, by extension, 'broth poured onto bread.'

"It was the latter strand of the meaning that entered English in the seventeenth century. Until the arrival of the term soup, such food had been termed broth or pottage. It was customarily served with the meat or vegetable dishes with which it had been made, and (as the derivation of soup suggest) was poured over sops of bread or toast (the ancestors of modern croutons). But coincident with the introduction of the word soup, it began to be fashionable to serve the liquid broth on its own, and in the early eighteenth century it was assuming its present-day role as a first course."
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 316)

"Our modern word "soup" derives from the Old French word sope and soupe. The French word was used in England in the form of sop at the end of the Middle Ages and, fortunately, has remained in the English language in its original form and with much its original sense. We say "fortunately" because it is clear that nowadays a "sop" is not a "soup." The distinction is important. When cooks in the Middle Ages spoke of "soup," what they and the people for whom they were cooking really understood was a dish comprising primarily a piece of bread or toast, the sop, soaked in a liquid or over which a liquid had been poured. The bread or toast was an important, even vital, part of this dish. It was a means by which a diner could consume the liquid efficiently by sopping it up. The bread or toast was, in effect, an alternative to using a spoon. . . Soups were important in the medieval diet, but the dish that the cook prepared was often a sop that consisted of both nutritious liquid and the means to eat it. The meal at the end of a normal day was always the lighter of the two meals of the day, and the sop appears to have had an important place in it. In fact it was precisely because of the normal inclusion of a sop in this end-of-the-day meal that it became called "souper" or "supper."
---Early French Cookery, D. Eleanor Scully & Terence Scully [University of Michigan Press:Ann Arbor] 1995 (p. 102)

Soup Bases

Stock - A strained liquid that results from simmering meats, fish, herbs, and vegetables in water. It is usually made by browning bones, vegetables and other ingredients before they're cooked in the liquid for hours. Used as a basis for soups or sauces. Simmering the bones for a long time produces gelatin, which gives a different thickness and mouth feel to the final product. Roasting the bones first can make a darker color stock, as well as impart a nice flavor. Stock is made with very little salt and may be reduced to half of its amount. Stock is almost always sieved or strained before being used to build another dish. It is lightly seasoned so that it can be reduced substantially without being too salty.

Fumet - French term for a fish stock; a concentrated stock, particularly one made from fish or mushrooms, used to add flavor to less intensely-flavored stocks or sauces.

Consommé - The most refined soup made from stock, consommé is a clear, strong broth often served as the first course of French meals. The stock is reduced, then clarified using egg white. The egg whites coagulate on top, acting as a filter that collects impurities in the stock. The consommé is strained through a towel, and, often, Madeira or sherry are added. French Onion Soup and some Chicken Noodle Soups are made with consommé. Consommé can also be served on its own.

Broth - a liquid resulting from cooking vegetables, meat or fish in water; broth is the same as "bouillon" (the French word for broth). Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ingredients in liquids in a pot until the flavors are extracted, forming a broth.

Bouillon - the French word for broth

Court-Bouillon - translates roughly as short boil, and refers to a flavored liquid that is used for poaching things like fish, eggs, and sometimes even chicken. It is sometimes called a broth, but it is very light in flavor for broth, and doesn’t require the significant cooking time of vegetable or meat broths. Instead, court bouillon takes about thirty minutes to prepare prior to use in recipes. Most types of court bouillon use a little bit of lemon juice, water, fresh herbs, and the occasional carrots, onions, and/or celery to give the poaching broth a light flavor. This flavor helps flavor meat, fish or eggs as they poach, but is not overbearing.

"Court bouillon. A court bouillon (in French literally short bouillon') is a light stock used mainly for poaching fish or shellfish in. It is made from water and the usual mixture of stock vegetables (onions, carrots, celery) and herbs, with the optional addition of white wine or (particularly for freshwater fish) vinegar. The term has been used in English texts since the early eighteenth century, but Eliza Acton in her Modern Cookery (1845) made it clear that cooking with court bouillon was still far from an everyday event: court bouillon--a preparation of vegetables and wine, in which (in expensive cookery) fish is boiled.'"
---An A to Z of Food & Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 92-3)

"Court bouillon. A flavored liquid intended for the cooking of eggs, vegetables, or seafood, and in use in France and elsewhere for many centuries. In modern times its use is reserved almost exclusively for seafood, especially fish.. In early English cookery books the term is often spelled strange ways, e.g. courbolion (May, 1685). However, there was little difference between early English recipes and early French ones. La Varenne...gave several recipes for fish cooked in a court bouillon..."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 220)

Types of Soups

Bisque - in traditional French cooking, a bisque is a thick, smooth shellfish soup in which the seafood has been puréed. The most well-known are lobster bisque, crayfish bisque, crab bisque, and shrimp bisque.

Culinary evidence confirms early bisque recipes did indeed include pulverized shells of the featured crustacean. Bisque descended from pottage, a thick soupy mixture often consistent with puree. Most early recipes call for "crayfish," which denotes what we Americans currently know as "rock lobster." Notes here.

"Bisque is a thick rich soup, usually containing crustaceans such as lobsters, crabs, and crayfish. The word was originally borrowed into English from French as bisk in the mid-seventeenth century, at which time it still retained an early application, since lost, to soup made from poultry or game birds, particularly pigeons'. It is not clear where the word came from, although some have linked it with the Spanish province of Biscay."
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 29-30)

"Bisque. A rich soup of creamy consistency, especially of crayfish or lobster. An earlier use, for soups of game birds, has fallen into disusetude. Wine and/or cognac often enter into the recipes. When the word was first adopted from the French language, it came over as bisk', and it thus appears in The Accomplisht Cook of Robert May (1685). His recipes, incidentally, illustrate the wider use of the term in his time. He gives two recipes for Bisk of Carp, both involving many ingredients and having plenty of solid matter in them. And his Bisk of Eggs sound even more surprising to modern ears."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidison [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 77)

Tomato bisque? Not exactly accurate, per Larousse Gatronomique

"Bisque...A seasoned shellfish puree flavoured with white wine, Cognac and double (heavy) cream, used as the basis of a soup. The flesh of the main ingredient (crayfish, lobster or crab) is diced as for salpicon and used as a garnish. The shells are also used to make the initial puree. The word 'bisque' has been in use for centuries and suggests a connection with the Spanish province of Vizcaya, which lends its name to the Bay of Biscay. Bisque was originally used to describe a highly spiced dish of boiled meat or game. Subsequently, bisques were made using pigeons or quails and garnished with crayfish or cheese croutes. It was not until the 17th century that crayfish became the principal ingredient of this dish, which soon after was also prepared with other types of shellfish. The word is now used imprecisely for several pink pureed soups."
---Larousse Gatronomique, Completely revised and updated [Clarkson Potter:New York] 2001 (p. 115-6)

Chowder - a chunky stew, most often made with seafood.

The first recorded use of the word is said to have been in the private diary, June 1732, of jurist Benjamin Lynde while crossing Massachusetts Bay, "Dined on a fine chowdered cod which the captain caught." The word chowder was not reserved solely for fish stew. In fact it was also used as in chowder beer, popular during the 18th century, and also associated with Newfoundland and seafaring. 1987 - described as a soup, the principle ingredients being cod and haddock, pork, onion, sea-biscuits, butter and a large quantity of cayenne pepper.

Back in the day... chowder meant a any soup/stew slowly cooked in a large pot meant to feed any number of people whenever they were hungry. There was/is no "authentic" or "original" chowder recipe. This economical dish is built from local place and taste. Then, as now, variations (ingredients/methods/menu placement) reflected local pride and history. Soup liquid progressed from plain water to cream/milk, pureed vegetables, spices & such. Thicknesses (& thickening agents) likewise varied.

What is chowder?

France calls this chowder soup "Chaudiere" - which is the name of the pot it is cooked in. The French also liked to throw in smashed crackers and biscuits to make the soup thicken into a stew-like consistency.

"A seafood soup associated with New England (from the early 18th century), the most popular of which is clam chowder. The term may also describe a buttery, hearty soup made with corn, chicken, or other chunks of food still evident in the blend. The origins of the word "chowder" are somewhat obscure, but most authorities, including the Dictionary of American Regional English, believes it derives from the French word for a large caldron, chaudiere, in which Breton sailors threw their catch to make a communal stew, a custom carried to Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and down to New England in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries...The first American cookbook to give a chowder recipe was the second edition of Amelia Simmons's American Cookery (1800). It called for bass, salt pork crackers, and a side dish of potatoes...Although by 1836 "clam chowder" was known in Boston, where its associations are still strong, throughout the century chowder was less commonly a dish of clams than of fish, usually cod or haddock, and by the 1840s potatoes had become a traditional ingredient...Chowder was a staple dish of New Englanders, and for sailors merely another another way to make a constant diet of fish palatable...By the end of the century certain New England regions became known for their various interpretations of chowder--one might find cream in one spot, lobsters in others, no potatoes elsewhere--but most were by then a creamy white soup brimming with chopped fish or clams, crackers, and butter..."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 81-82)

Oldest chowder recipes suggest they were water-based fish soups of various thickness featuring minimal underground vegetables (onions, carrots, later potatoes). Fish component likewise varied. Early chowders were sometimes flavored with wine. Many included some kind of finished bread product (crouton, cracker, stale cubed loaf) for bulk. These recipes descended from the ancient practice of combining grain with protein for maximum results. Think: porridge, stew, gruel & soup.

Milk/cream chowder versions were inevitable in regions where dairy products flourished. Tomatoes and sharper spices made sense in warmer climes. Note: Early American references to ingredient "catsup" could have meant many items; only one of which was tomato-based. Post Civil War USA made mass commercial food processing possible. Both milk & tomatoes were aggressively canned.

"Well before [the US Civil War], regional and even local difference had begun to appear. The earliest chowders had used only fish, onions, pork , and crackers as the main components, with wine and herbs sometimes used for flavor. As tomatoes, potatoes and milk crept into chowders, the opportunities for variety increased geometrically. Nantucket Island, saturated with seafaring ways, had the simplest chowders, for here crackers, potatoes, milk and tomatoes were all omitted. The fish, or clams, were joined with pork, onions, salt, and pepper, and thickened with flour and water...Elsewhere in New England milk began to appear in chowders. A milky appearance was given even to water-based chowders by the use of flour and water or flour and cream to thicken the stew, and this may have led Marriet Martineau to believe that a chowder she ate in 1835 at Sandy Cove, Gloucester, was made with milk. Though water remained dominant, soon small amounts of milk or cream were added just before the dish was served, and by mid-century Mrs. E. H. Putnam, a cookbook editor in Massachusetts, noted that some cooks used half milk and half water...Northern New England also increasingly left out the wine, cider, spices, curry powder, and other flavorings that had appeared in earlier recipes. Fish or shellfish, salt pork, onions, potatoes, biscuits, and water or milk became the standard ingredients, though either onions or potatoes might be completely omitted.."
---Book of Chowder, Richard J. Hooker [Harvard Common Press:Boston MA] 1978 (p. 6-7)

Mrs. Putnams's Receipt Book [1862] offers two chowder recipes. Neither feature this as dairy-based dish; both include milk/cream. Interestingly? Mrs. Putnam groups her chowder recipes with Fish, not Soup.

"A Very Nice Chowder. Take a cod and a haddock; skin them, and take out the bones. Put the heads and bones on to boil in about three quarts of cold water and a little salt. Cut the fish in small pieces, about four or six inches square; wash and wipe them dry; flour them a little. Cut about a quarter of a pound of salt pork in thin slices' fry them a nice brown; cut up two onions and fry them in the fat of the pork, but be careful not to burn or have them too brown; take out the onions and pork. Have ready six potatoes, cut in in thin slices. Put a layer of fish into a pot (having the pork at the bottom), with a little fried onion, potatoes, pepper and salt; dredge in a little flour; another layer of fish, then the onions, potatoes, pepper, salt, and flour; and so on until all is in. Then strain the water that the heads and bones have been boiling in through a cullender, on to the fish; if not enough to cover the fish, add hot water. Split six crackers, dip them in cold water quickly, and put them over the top; set it on the fire; let it boil thirty minutes. The add a quarter of a pound of butter and two spoonfuls of flour, braided together, and a glass of white wine, if you like; let it boil a few minutes; just before dishing, add a quart of cream or milk, give it one boil, and it is ready for the table."
---Mrs. Putnam's Receipt Book [Blakeman & Mason:New York] 1862 (p. 26-27)

"Chowder. Take a cod weighing about six pounds, and a haddock weighing four pounds; cut them in pieces about six inches square, awash them clean, and wipe them dry, and dredge them with a little flour; cut into slices about a quarter of a pound of salt pork and two onions; fry the pork a nice brown in a pot large enough to make the soup in; then take out the pork and fry the onions, and be careful not to burn them; when these are done, put into the hot fat a layer of fish; then put in a little of the onion, a few bits of pork, a little pepper and salt; dredge in some flour, and, if you like the flavor, put in a little tomato, then another layer of fish, and then the seasoning, and continue this until the fish and seasoning are all in the pot; put in hot water enough to cover the fish, and after it begins to boil, let it boil thirty minutes. Some like half milk and half water; if milk is used, the tomato should be omitted; for those who like spice, a little clove and mace, with a quart of red wine, is a great improvement."
---Mrs. Putnam, (p. 27-28)

A Chowder

Four pounds of fish are enough to make a chowder for four or five people; half a dozen slices of salt pork in the bottom of the pot; hang it high [from a crane above the fire], so that the pork may not burn; take it out when done very brown; put in a layer of crackers, small or sliced onions, and potatoes sliced as thin as a four-pence, mixed with pieces of pork you have fried; then a layer of fish again, and so on. Six crackers are enough. Strew a little salt and pepper over each layer; over the whole pour a bowl-full of flour and water, enough to come up even with the surface of what you have in the pot. A sliced lemon adds to the flavor. A cup of tomato catsup is very excellent. Some people put in a cup of beer. A few clams are a pleasant addition. It should be covered so as not to let a particle of steam escape, if possible. Do not open it, except when nearly done, to taste if it be well seasoned.

-- LYDIA MARIA CHILD, Frugal American Housewife, 1832 edition

Gruel - From the Online Etymological Dictionary: gruel late 12c., "meal or flour made of beans, lentils, etc.," from O.Fr. gruel "fine meal," from Frankish *grut (cf. M.Du. grute "coarse meal, malt;" M.H.G. gruz "grain"), from PIE *ghreu- "to rub, grind" (see grit). Meaning "thin porridge or soup" is late 14c.

A variation of porridge, made from finely ground oatmeal, which is mixed with water or milk, allowed to soak, and then cooked. Eventually the solids are strained out of the mixture. The result is smooth, and jellies when cold. It was prepared as suitable and nourishing food for invalids; tiresome Mr. Woodhouse in Emma by Jane Austen seemed to eat little else. Salt, sugar, honey, or 'with the medical man's permission, a dessert-spoonful of brandy, or a table-spoonful of wine may be added', according to Delamere and Delamere (1868). The name gruel is derived from the French gruau, which means finely ground flour. Medieval gruels might contain vegetables, herbs, or meat, such as 'drawn gruel', which contained the juices drawn from cooked beef, or 'forced gruel', mixed with pounded pork. Other versions were sweet, containing dried fruit, sugar, and butter; or medicinal, with herbs to purify the blood. The Scots regarded gruel as good for coughs and colds.

Is Gruel Cruel?
I have talked about gruel before, on this blog, but it is a rare (maybe non-existent) food topic that can be exhausted in one short story. Yesterday I delved into an interesting nineteenth century English book of home remedies and recipes called Cookery for Invalids: Persons of Delicate Digestion, and for Children. Given the author's hearty enthusiasm for the medicinal value of sherry, brandy, champagne, and other alcoholic beverages, I wondered if perhaps she was also upbeat about some of the traditional dishes for invalids – including gruel.

There is often a real kill-joy tone in nineteenth century home medical texts – as if there was a deliberate attempt to be punitive towards the sickly person, or at the very least, to ensure there was no secondary gain in the sick role. The concept of tempting the invalid's appetite seems seriously at odds with many of the awful-sounding recipes in these books – and 'gruel' is the epitome of these.

The word 'gruel' is derived from the Old French gruau meaning 'ground grain', and in England in the fourteenth century, this is what was meant. Also at this time the word referred to a thin soupy dish made from grain. Gruel could be made from any grain, but in particular oatmeal and barley were used. The liquid might be water, or 'cow mylke' - or almond milk for the wealthy, especially during Lent. Depending on circumstances or availability, almost anything could be added to enrich this basic potage – leafy greens, eggs, currants, or wine, for example.

I am sure that some of these early 'gruels' or grain potages were delicious as well as sustaining, but by the nineteenth century something had happened to its reputation. Perhaps the Poor Laws had something to do with it, when it became one of the staple foods of the workhouse, its miserably weak character reinforced by the image of Charles Dickens' Oliver holding out his empty bowl and asking for more?

The word 'gruel' instantly evokes the idea of eternally unappeased hunger. It even sounds thin and tasteless. It makes us think of prisons and workhouses, of gruesome conditions and gruelling work, of chronic coughs and wasting illnesses. Doesn't it?

So, what does the wine-approving Mary Hooper say on the subject of gruel?

"Thus it is that gruel, which in former times was said to 'gratify nature' and to be the king of spoon meats and the queen of soups, and which played so important a part in the sick dietary, has fallen into disrepute. The fact is that in these days few persons know gruel except as manufactured from the starchy preparations the chief merits ofwhich appear to be that they "can be made in ten minutes;" and it is, therefore, no wonder so much dislike is expressed for it.

The delicious, creamy, nourishing, one may almost say elegant, gruel, made by the hands of our grandmothers for their invalids, is now hardly known among us. It was either made from groats, crushed in the household mortar, or bought specially prepared, and known as "Embden groats," and was in either case admirably suited for the purpose. After many hours' boiling the gruel was carefully strained, and was then ready to be served plain, or flavoured, as the case might require. We can hardly wonder in these days that gruel is so unpopular, being what it is - a "patent" hasty compound manufactured to suit the slovenly and impatient culinary habits of the period - or that doctors have almost ceased to order it as an especially useful and restorative diet.

The present writer well remembers her mother, whilst relating to her the sorrow and distress of the nation at the premature death of the Princess Charlotte of Wales, adding it was reported that the Princess shivered when a basin of gruel was presented to her, as though such antipathy was a measure of the hopelessness of her case. But it is no bad symptom now when ladies shiver at the :sight of gruel, but rather an indication of a true taste which revolts against impure and badly prepared articles of diet. Gruel made as it ought to be, is rarely disliked, and is more nourishing, andin many cases to be preferred, to arrowroot - an expensive thing, and one most difficult to procure genuine."

The author gives many recipes for gruel made from barley, oats, or fine wheat flour. I give you two of the more interesting versions, for your use when the cold virus strikes.

Restorative Gruel.
This delicious substitute for Groat Gruel is made as follows:-one ounce of rice, one ounce of sago, one ounce of pearl barley; put three pints of water, and boil gently for three hours, when the liquor should be reduced to a quart. Strain it in exactly the same manner as groat gruel, and flavour with wine, brandy, or anything else that may be suitable.
If made a little thicker, say with an ounce and a half of each ingredient to three pints of water, a jelly will be produced, which may be eaten cold with sugar, fruit, syrups, or preserve.

Onion Gruel.
This is an old-fashioned remedy for a cold, but can never be recommended unless boiled for at least five hours. The long boiling takes away the pungent odour of the onions and the breath will not then be aflected by them.
Take two ounces of Embden groats and four large onions sliced, put them on in a quart of cold water. Let the gruel boil gently for five hours, stirring occasionally, adding water to keep the original quantity. When done, strain through a fine sieve, salt to taste, and serve with toasted bread. The yolk of an egg beaten up in the gruel is a good addition.

Oatmeal Pottage, or Gruel.
Mix together three table spoonfuls of oatmeal, a very little salt, and a quart of water; put them over a fire, and let it boil gently for half an hour. Then skim and strain it, add to it an ounce of fresh butter, some loaf sugar, a little brandy, and grated nutmeg; or instead of these ingredients put pepper, salt, and fresh butter, to the palate; then boil it again five minutes, mix it till very smooth, and let it be of a moderate consistence.
The Art of Cookery Made Easy and Refined, by John Mollard, 1802

Here is a quite delicious-sounding example from a book of the time, A collection of above three hundred receipts in cookery, physick and surgery …by Mary Kettilby (1724)

To make a very good Barley-Gruel.
Of three Ounces of Pearl-barley make a Quart of Barley-water; shift it once or twice, if it is not white; put to it four Ounces of Currants clean pick’d and wash’d; when they are plumpt, pour the Gruel out to cool a little, and beat up the Yolks of three Eggs and put into it, with half a Pint of White-wine, and half a Pint of new thick Cream, the Peel of a Lemon, and as much Sugar as you like; stir it gently over the Fire ‘till ‘tis as thick as Cream. ‘Tis a pretty wholesome Spoon-meat for Suppers.

Porry is the name for the dish of an Age, which consisted of a thick porridge-like soup made of green leaves, onion and bread, cooked a long time, in a caldron on the embers. There were more refined porries with almond milk or meat; some were green, others black, or white for the delicate palates. Porry simply stood for the meal sometimes, according to Les Bonnes herbes du Moyen Âge, Laetitia Cornu, Publisud 1999.

The word porry which was in use between the 12th and the 16th century is derived from the Latin porrum, allium porrum being the scientific name for leek. Actually leeks and chards were the 2 main vegetables for porry. And leeks and chards were already put together by Apicius in the category Pulmentarium ad ventrem (Liber III – II, soup for the stomach).

Porry can actually be a soup, a broth or a mash. But in medieval times, broth designated the vegetable or the meat cooked in the pot. Recipes for porry in the Ménagier de Paris are found under the topic ordinary soups with no spices and thin, while cinnamon broth (102) or hare stew (116) are under other thickened fatty soups.

Though all mashed greens weren't called porry (Menestra d'herbette, Martino 146), porry was in fact a mash of greens.

Its composition would vary depending on social class : a mix of garden vegetables and wild herbs with sop bread for the humblest, a more sophisticated mix, thickened with bread or almond milk, with meat or sausages and added spices for the richer ones.

Its colour would also vary depending on composition : porry is white if you make it with leek stems, it is green when made with chard or spinach leaves or with other greens (in which case it is recommended to esverder the leaves, i.e. to chop them and soak them in cold water to make the porry greener), and it becomes black when diced bacon is mixed in.

The thickness of porry could range from that of a soup to that of a mash depending on the recipe. The Menagier de Paris specifies in a recipe for white porry (50) :

Nota que aucunement a poreaulx l'en fait lyoison de pain (note that a liaison with bread is sometimes made for the leeks). Which implies that the recipe without the liaison must be rather thin. The Tuscan treatise Ricette d'un libro di cucina del buon secolo della lingua proposes porrata bianca (21) with the following : questa vivanda vuol esere bianca et bene spessai (this dish must be white and thick). The liaison here is made with 2 lbs of almonds for 4 bunches of leek.

The Ménagier de Paris also spoke of cabbage porry. When a housecook prepares vegetable soup today, she doesn't necessarily indicate all that's in it. Vegetable soup implies a classical base (leek, potato – nowadays) to which seasonal vegetables are added. It appears it was the same for medieval porry. A few base vegetables are stated in some of the recipes : leek, Swiss chard, orache or spinach, sometimes borage or watercress. But porry is open to all kinds of wild pot herbs and green vegetables. Several of the wild plants are cousins of spinach, chenopodioideae family, gradually let down for spinach. Orache, borage and Good King Henry are actually forgotten plants that can be rediscovered in specialized seed stores.

The greens for porry
Borage
Good King Henry
Leeks
Orache
Spinach
Swiss chard
Watercress

Portable Soup - (aka "pocket soup," "quick soup," or "cake soup") was consumed by some early explorers/settlers of the New World. It was light in weight, simple to transport, easy to cook, nutritious, and filling. A soup that was boiled down into a jellylike mass that could be put in a pouch and later reconsituted with hot water. A recipe in the Lady's Companion of 1753 calls for boiling a leg of veal until the liquid in the pot thickens to a jellied stage when cooled. This is strained and poured into cups, which are then placed in a pan of boiling water until jellied. The gel is then cooled and turned onto a piece of 'new flannel', in order to absorb the moisture. The result was a very concentrated, strong jelly that was turned back into soup by the addition of hot water and salt." These were the precursors of today's dry soup mixes.

Porridge - not always made of cereals, but may consist of other starch foods: legumes, chestnuts or root vegetables. From the Online Etymological Dictionary: porridge 1530s, "soup of meat and vegetables," alteration of pottage, influenced by M.E. porreie, from O.Fr. poree "leek soup," from por "leek," from L. porrum "leek." Association with oatmeal is 1640s, first in Scottish.

Porridge refers to hot cereal grains or ground legumes boiled in water or milk, and often served as a breakfast food. Almost every culture has some variation of porridge, based on the most available grains in that area. Porridge may be called hot mush, hot cereal, or hot meal, depending upon where it is served.

Traditional porridge in the UK is often made with oats. In Scotland, porridge may also be spelled as porage after a brand name of oats sold. Porridge is also used to make gruel, oft referred to in Victorian literature. Gruel, which is merely watered down porridge, could be prescribed for those with sensitive appetites and to treat a variety of ailments. English and American gruel is certainly not the only medicinal use of porridge. The Chinese use rice congee mixed with herbs to treat people recovering from illness.

In the United States, we have numerous variants of porridge. These include cereals made from wheat, ground corn, ground rice, and multi-grain cereals. Generally cooking time on these cereals directly correlates to the amount of processing of the grains used.

One type of porridge without great popularity in the US is made of peasemeal, made from ground dried yellow peas. Peasemeal porridge (also known as pease porridge, pease pudding, or pease meal) as in the nursery rhyme "Pease Porridge Hot," is popular in Northern England and has been compared in taste and texture to hummus. It may be served with bacon, and is frequently available in butcher's shops.

The list of grains that can produce porridge is extensive. In addition to the most recognizable corn, oats, rice, and wheat, the following grains can make different variants of porridge: buckwheat, quinoa, rye, millet, sorghum and barley.

Toppings on porridge exhibit extraordinary variance. In the US and in the UK, porridge is often topped with brown sugar and butter. Sometimes porridge makes a base for savory sauces like polenta topped with marinara or grits with gravy. Some people enjoy porridge topped with eggs, salt and pepper.

Porridge has two meanings. One is a general descriptive term for any cooked mush of cereal, pulses, or vegetables. Many of these have their own specific names, such as frumenty, made from wheat; tsampa, made from barley; polenta, made from maize; congee, from rice. These examples fit the term porridge quite naturally, but when it comes to a vegetable 'porridge' (or anything with meat in it, like haleem) many people would hesitate to use the term. Nevertheless, there is a clear relationship with such items as dal, Indian spiced pulse dishes; Ugandan matoke, based on plantains; and poi, made from taro. If the word is used in this way, the main ingredient is usually cited.

More specifically, the usual meaning of porridge in Britain is a hot mixture of oatmeal (see oats) cooked slowly with water and salt (or, nowadays, made with 'quick porridge oats'). Marian McNeill (1929) gave 'The One And Only Method' for making porridge, recommending the cook to be 'very particular about the quality of the oatmeal. Midlothian oats are reputed to be unsurpassed, but the small Highland oats are very sweet.' Her instructions are to bring the water to the boil, and then add coarse oatmeal 'in a steady rain from the left hand, stirring it briskly the while with the right, sunwise, or with the righthand turn for luck—and convenience'. A special stick, known as a spurtle, or theevil, is used to stir. Once the porridge has returned to the boil, it should be allowed to cook slowly for 20–30 minutes. During cooking, the starch in the oats gelatinizes, resulting in soft but distinct grains in a thick, creamy textured mixture.

Having for long been a staple food in Scotland, porridge had many dialect names, such as brochan in the Highlands, and was subject to regional variations, e.g. the use of buttermilk or whey instead of water. It might also be poured into a mould (for instance, a drawer in the sideboard), and allowed to set, then sliced to take as rations when working distant from home during the day. Older folk would refer to it in the third person plural, as 'they' or 'them', and people stood to eat it, holding their bowls in their hands. Horn spoons were preferred for taking up the porridge, because they did not become as hot as metal ones. Each spoonful would be dipped in a cup of cold milk, cream, or buttermilk.

Quotations recorded by Marian McNeill (1929) suggest that the Scots did sometimes sweeten porridge, but mostly for children. Generally, however, the Scots think that only salt and milk or cream should be allowed as accompaniments to porridge, and it is the English who see sugar or another sweetener as appropriate additions. In Yorkshire, according to Peter Brears (1987), 'wherever possible the porridge would … be sweetened with a generous helping of treacle'.

Porridge is a descendant of pottage, a thoroughly English institution, and in the past had some importance in the diet of the English labouring classes, for example the weavers who, in Leeds in the 18th century, called it 'water pudding' and ate it for both breakfast and their evening meal. But the English have forgotten all this and, being accustomed to buying porridge oats in cartons which bear a picture of a kilted Scotsman, those of them who take porridge for breakfast perceive it as Scottish in origin.

Potage - a French soup usually puréed and often thickened with cream or egg yolks. early 13c., lit. "that which is put in a pot," from O.Fr. potage "soup." Potage (from Old French pottage; "potted dish") is a category of thick soups, stews, or porridges, in some of which meat and vegetables are boiled together with water until they form into a thick mush. Potage has its origins in the medieval cuisine of Northern France and increased in popularity from High Middle Ages onward.

A course in a medieval feast often began with one or two potages, which would be followed by roasted meats. European cottage gardens often contained a variety of crops grown together. These were called potage gardens by the French, as the harvest from that garden was used to make potage. During the Tudor period, a good many English peasants' diets consisted almost solely of potage. Some Tudor-era people ate self-cultivated vegetables like cabbages and carrots and a few were able to supplement this from fruit gardens with fruit trees nearby. Some potages that were typical of Medieval cuisine were frumenty, jelly (flesh or fish in aspic), mawmenny (a thickened stew of capon or similar fowl), and pears in syrup. There were also many kinds of potages made of thickened liquids (such as milk and almond milk) with mashed flowers, or mashed or strained fruit.

The process of preparing traditional French potage may vary slightly depending on the ingredients, but generally it begins by combining chopped meat, vegetables, or other desired ingredients, with enough water to completely submerge them in a large pot. Historically the pot was placed over a fire. The soup ingredients are cooked over high heat until the water starts to boil, and then cooked gently over a lower heat until the ingredients are cooked through. Once the ingredients have reached the desired texture and doneness, most recipes call for either mashing them by hand.

One of the most common [modern] versions of the dish is known as potage parmentier. This traditional version generally consists of leeks, potatoes [not available], salt, cream, and butter cooked together in water and then may be pureed to the desired texture. Another well-known variation is referred to as potage crecy and its main ingredients include carrots, leeks, potatoes, cream, and water.

A variety of accompaniments may be served with potage. Some cooks prefer to serve the dish with a piece of baguette to sop up the juices of the soup and to make it more filling if it is being served as a main course. French soups are also often served with garnishments of finely chopped fresh herbs, such as thyme, tarragon, or parsley, for presentation and to add extra flavor. Pistou, a French condiment similar to Italian pesto that is made from pureed basil, nuts, olive oil, and garlic, is also often served with the thick soup by being drizzled atop the dish prior to serving.

Potage is also often considered as a category of soup in French cuisine, in addition to being a specific dish. French soups are often broken down into categories based on their texture. A French soup that is thin and liquid based is referred to as consommé. In the middle are potage soups that contain liquid and meats, vegetables, or other solid ingredients that are pureed into a creamy texture, while soups that leave the other ingredients as is in chunks are known as soupe.

In the Middle Ages, and especially in Britain, pottages were eaten by all, from the poorest to the richest. The simplest kinds were cereal pottages: oatmeal in the north, barley, rye, or wheat frumenty in the south. To the rich these dishes were an accompaniment to meat; to the poor they were complete meals. Pease pottage, made from dried peas, and other pulse pottages were equally important. These dishes might be quite plain or contain herbs or other additions. Vegetable and meat pottages were thickened with breadcrumbs, oatmeal, eggs, or, for the rich, amidon (wheat starch). Most contained onions. One universal favourite was green porray, made from a large number of green vegetables and herbs which were boiled until thoroughly soft.

There were also luxurious pottages for those who could afford them. One such was rice pottage, made with rice imported from Lombardy, cooked in sweetened almond milk and coloured with saffron. Another thick pottage was blanc manger, originally a mild-flavoured blend of shredded chicken, almond milk, and sugar, and the precursor of blancmange.

Indeed, because the term pottage had such a wide meaning it could embrace many subcategories of dishes. Constance Hieatt's edition (1988) of an important medieval culinary manuscript, under the title An Ordinance of Pottage, is one of a number of works which illustrate this point. One could count as kinds of pottage: bruet, charlet, gravey, maumeny, mortreus, porre, etc.

Pottages had to be fairly liquid, and storable; otherwise what was in the bottom of the pot would burn. If a plain pottage seemed too liquid to be a satisfying dish, the problem could be overcome by pouring it onto a slice of bread to make a sop. The word 'sop', evolving to mean the liquid rather than the solid in this conjunction, is a precursor of 'soup', and the form is recalled in modern soups served with fried bread croutons, and in French onion soup with its floating piece of bread topped with cheese.

A further development came with the invention of baked, and later boiled, puddings in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Many old pottage mixtures were adapted. The dried fruit plum pottage, a type with meat, dried fruit ('plums'), and breadcrumbs, became plum pudding; although the old pottage survived to the early 19th century (see Christmas pudding). Pease pottage became pease pudding. Bread and butter pudding and blancmange are two other examples of pottages which gained new roles.

Lest this account might seem unduly centred on Britain, it should be pointed out that pottages of the kind described were a peculiarly British food, just as puddings were later. In 1542, Andrew Boorde, the royal physician, explained: 'Pottage is not so much used in all Christendom as it is used in England.' In France the old pottages found their successors in soups (potages), some of the rustic varieties of which are almost as solid as their medieval predecessors. One might cite the Gascon garbure, a massively solid vegetable soup made from cabbage, dried beans, garlic, herbs, and a piece of confit (potted meat). It is often thickened with chestnuts and poured over a sop in a thoroughly medieval manner.

Soup - The most general of the terms which apply to liquid savory dishes. Similar terms in other languages include the Italian zuppa, the German Suppe, Danish suppe, etc.

Traditionally, soup is classified into two broad groups: clear soups and thick soups. The established French classifications of clear soups are bouillon and consommé. Thick soups are classified depending upon the type of thickening agent used: purées, which are vegetable soups thickened with starch; bisques are made from puréed shellfish thickened with cream; cream soups are thickened with béchamel sauce; and veloutés are thickened with eggs, butter and cream. Other ingredients to thicken soups and broths include rice, flour, and grains.

Stew - a dish containing meat, vegetables and a thick soup-like broth made from a combination of the stewing liquid and the natural juices of the food being stewed. The language may have shifted over time, but the modern definitions of soup and stew were established in the 18th century: soups usually are more liquid; stews are thicker, containing more solid ingredients. Stews are cooked in covered containers for longer periods of time, at a gentle boil with less water and at a lower heat.

The line between stew and soup is a fine one, but generally a stew's ingredients are cut in larger pieces, and a stew is more likely to be eaten as a main course than as a starter. Stewing has a long tradition in cookery. Popular recipes for regional stews, such as gumbo, bouillabaisse, Brunswick stew, and burgoo, became common during the 19th century and have increased in popularity during the 20th century.

 

[1869] "General stock, or Grand Bouillon, is the principle of all the soups and sauces which follow; it is used instead of water, to which it is much to be preferred. General Stock is made with legs of beef, knuckles of veal, and any fresh meat trimmings and bones. Cut all the meat from the bones; break them; and put them, together with the meat, in a stock-pot, with about 2 1/2 pints of cold water to each pound of bones and meat; and add a little salt, and put on the fire to boil; skim carefully; and put in some carrots, onions, and leeks; simmer for five hours; strain the Stock through a broth napkin, into a basin, and keep it in a cold place, till wanted."
---The Royal Cookery Book, Jules Gouffe, Translated from the French and Adapted for English Use by Alphonse Gouffe [Sampson Low, Son, and Marston:London] 1869 (p. 226)

A few years ago [1875] it was customary for cooks to make stock with fresh meat only, the rule being a pound of meat to a pint of stock. Altered prices have necessitated the adoption of more economical methods, and now excellent stock is constantly made with the bones and trimmings of meat and poultry, with the addition or not of a little fresh meat.

"Etymologically, broth is that which has been brewed'; the word comes ultimately from the same prehistoric Germanic source as modern English brew. From earliest times it was used for the liquid in which something is boiled', and the something' could be vegetable as well as animal...By the seventeenth century it was becoming largely restricted to the liquid in which meat is boiled', and more particularly to a thin soup made from this with the addition of vegetables, cereal grains, etc. (the term Scotch broth dates from at least the early eighteenth century)...The proverb "Too many cooks spoil the broth' is first recorded in Sir Balthazar Gerbier's Three Chief Principals of Magnificent Building, 1665."
---An A to Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 44)

"Broth. A term which usually means the liquid in which meat has been cooked or a simple soup based thereon. It is a close equivalent to the French bouillon and the Italian brodo, but difference between the evolution of cookery in English-speaking countries and those of the cuisines which use other languages have give it...a flavour of its own. The word comes from a root which means simply to brew, without specifying the presence of meat, and there are early examples of broths made with just vegetables...However, for several centuries, broth has usually implied meat. It has also been prominent in invalid cookery...It could be said that broth occupies an intermediate position between stock and soup. A broth (e.g. chicken broth) can be eaten as is, whereas a stock (e.g. chicken stock) would normally be consumed only as an ingredient in something more complex. A soup, on the other hand, would usually be less simple, more finished', than a broth."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 108-9)

 

Sea-Pie - Matt Leingang
I just got back from a week in La Belle Province (Québec) and took part in some of the holiday fare there. In addition to tourtière, a pie filled with loose ground meat, and other protein-and-starch faves, I was served something called six-pâtes (Full name: "Six pâtes du Lac St.-Jean"). It was a concoction of various meats (beef, pork, chicken), layered with potatoes, onions, and pastry dough, and baked in chicken broth until all the liquid is absorbed. It was delightful, and felt very O'Brian-esque. I started Googling for the recipe later on, and I discovered that this dish is also called cipâtes, or sometimes even cipaille. The latter, when pronounced in French, sounds like "SEA-PIE."

From Cipaille, or Sea Pie
Art. V. Fur Fort Food - Sea Pie, or Cipaille, by A. Gottfred.

A sturdy meat pie with a historic flavor.
The history of this dish goes back to at least 1747, when Hannah Glasse's cookbook gave the recipe for a 'Cheshire Pork Pie for Sea' consisting of layers of salt pork, meat, and potatoes. The recipe, with a myriad of variations, shows up in American cookbooks from 1796 and 1824 as well.

There is a traditional Quebec layered meat pie called cipaille (pronounced 'sea pie'). The similarity between the two meat pies probably is no coincidence! There are also very similar pies are called cipâtes and six-pâtes.

The recipe below takes a lot of preparation and baking time (two days in total, including six hours of baking), but if you use pre-cubed pork and beef stew meat and boneless chicken breasts, and instant biscuit mix for the pastry, you can really cut down on the time you spend in the kitchen. If you have game, then by all means substitute duck, goose, moose, deer, elk, etc. for the other meats. This recipe is quite large, so I have included ingredient lists for two versions, one to serve six or seven, the other to serve twelve to fourteen. Be warned : you will need one or two very large casseroles to cook this dish, even if you're doing the smaller recipe.

If you'd rather not spend time at a rendezvous doing the cooking, you can make cipaille in advance and take it with you to serve at room temperature. I understand that some Dutch ovens can be used as a casserole dish inside your home oven. Pre-baked meat pies are also handy if you have the bad luck to be under a ban on outdoor campfires, which was the situation in many parts of the country at various times this year.

Six-Pandâtes
To serve 6-7:
1 lb. (454g) pork, cubed
1 lb. (454g) beef, cubed
1 rabbit or 1 turkey drumstick
1 chicken leg
2 chicken breasts
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 large onion, chopped
1/4 tsp. summer savoury
2-3 slices salt pork
To serve 12-14:
2 lb. (900g) pork, cubed
2 lb. (900g) beef, cubed
2 rabbits or 2 turkey drumsticks
2-3 chicken legs
4 chicken breasts
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 lg. onions, chopped
1/2 tsp. summer savoury
4-5 slices salt pork

The day before: Remove bones from chicken, rabbits, turkey. Reserve bones, and cube meat. Mix meat, onions, salt, pepper, and savoury; cover and refrigerate for 12 hours. Place bones in small pot; add 1 chopped onion, salt, pepper, and cold water to cover. Simmer for two hours. Strain stock, and refrigerate until needed.

The same day: Make pastry. Combine 3 cups flour, 2-3 1 tbsp. baking powder, and 1/2 tsp. salt. Cut in 2-3 tbsp. butter, margarine, shortening, or lard. Stir in 1/2 cup milk; mix thoroughly. Divide pastry dough in half. Roll out half of pastry on lightly floured surface. Cut into 1-inch squares. Roll out remaining pastry for top crust.

At last, you're ready to make the pie. Fry salt pork slices in oven-proof casserole dish (or put dish in 400F oven for 5-10 minutes, to cook salt pork). Remove pork slices; put a layer of meat in the hot fat, and pour in half the stock. Cover with a layer of pastry squares, leaving a little space between the squares. Add remaining meat, pour in the rest of the stock. Cover completely with top crust; cut one or two 1" wide circles in the center of the top crust to let steam out. (If you have any leftover crust, put it in the fridge until the final half hour of baking; roll it out, cut in squares and bake with cipaille for the last 10-20 minutes). Bake at 400F for 45 minutes, then reduce heat to 350F and bake for five more hours. Keep a close eye on the level of liquid in the casserole ; if it seems to be drying out (no steam coming through the top crust), add water, beef broth, or chicken broth through the hole in the top of the pastry.