Cock-a-leekie soup is a
Scottish soup
Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot – though it is sometimes served chilled – made by cooking or otherwise combining meat or vegetables with Stock (food), stock, milk, or water. According to ''The Oxford Compan ...
dish consisting of
leek
A leek is a vegetable, a cultivar of ''Allium ampeloprasum'', the broadleaf wild leek (synonym (taxonomy), syn. ''Allium porrum''). The edible part of the plant is a bundle of Leaf sheath, leaf sheaths that is sometimes erroneously called a "s ...
s and
peppered
chicken stock, often thickened with
rice
Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...
, or sometimes
barley
Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...
. The original recipe added
prune
A prune is a dried plum, most commonly from the European plum (''Prunus domestica'') tree. Not all plum species or varieties can be dried into prunes. Use of the term ''prune'' for fresh plums is obsolete except when applied to varieties of ...
s during cooking, and traditionalists still garnish with a
julienne of prunes.
While it is called "Scotland's National Soup", it probably originated as a chicken and onion soup in
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. By the late 16th century, it had made its way to Scotland, where the onions were replaced with leeks.
[Ayto, John. An A to Z of Food & Drink, John Ayto. Oxford:Oxford University Press, 2002] The first recipe was printed in 1598,
though the name "cock-a-leekie" did not come into use until the 18th century.
Traditionally, the soup is made with
broiler fowl and would not contain thickeners, or vegetables other than leeks. It would range from a clear stock to a green leek stock, with little flesh. The original cock a leekie is delicate and refreshing and difficult to make flavoursome whereas the more appetizing modern version which has more chicken, vegetable and thickener is closer to chicken soup or stew.
Cock a leekie soup, a chicken and leek
consommé
In cooking, a consommé is a type of clear soup made from richly flavoured stock or broth that has been clarified, a process that uses egg whites to remove fat and sediment.
Consommé has three English pronunciations: traditionally in the UK ...
with a little flesh and pieces of leek, is a traditional course at
Burns’ Suppers.
There are
vegetarian
Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...
versions which has leeks and may include mixed vegetables, chicken flavoured
meat substitute and/or prunes.
History
The first known mention of this soup is from the ''Orchtertyre House Book'' (1737), an accounts book that recorded a dinner of 'cockie leekie fowlls in it'". The earliest recipe is from the
Victorian era cookbook writer
Isabella Beeton, and is thickened with "the fine part of
oatmeal
Oatmeal is a preparation of oats that have been dehusked, steamed, and flattened, or a coarse flour of hulled oat grains ( groats) that have either been milled (ground), rolled, or steel-cut. Ground oats are also called white oats. Steel- ...
".
Christian Isobel Johnstone (Meg Dods) said the soup "must be very thick of leeks and the first part of them must be boiled down into the soup until it becomes a lubricious compound". "Cockie Leekie" was an offering on the 1st Class passenger luncheon menu of the RMS ''Titanic'' on April 14, 1912.
[Titanic Facts at https://titanicfacts.net/titanic-menu/]
See also
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Chicken soup
*
Haggis
Haggis ( ) is a savoury pudding containing sheep's offal, pluck (heart, liver, and lungs), Mincing, minced with chopped onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with Stock (food), stock, and cooked while traditionally encased in the anima ...
*
List of soups
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Scotch broth
Scotch broth is a soup originating in Scotland. The principal ingredients are usually barley, stewing or braising cuts of Lamb and mutton, lamb, mutton or beef, root vegetables (such as carrots, Rutabaga, swedes, or sometimes turnips), and dried ...
References
Scottish soups
Chicken dishes
Chicken soups
Leek dishes
{{Soup-stub