Pottage

Pottage or potage (, ; ) is a term for a thick soup or stew made by boiling vegetables, grains, and, if available, meat or fish. It was a staple food for many centuries. The word ''pottage'' comes from the same Old French root as ''potage'', which is a dish of more recent origin.

Pottage ordinarily consisted of various ingredients, sometimes those easily available to peasants. It could be kept over the fire for a period of days, during which time some of it could be eaten, and more ingredients added. The result was a dish that was constantly changing. Pottage consistently remained a staple of poor people's diet throughout most of 9th to 17th-century Europe. The pottage that these people ate was much like modern-day soups. When wealthier people ate pottage, they would add more expensive ingredients such as meats.

Preparation

Pottage was typically boiled for several hours until the entire mixture took on a homogeneous texture and flavour; this was intended to break down complex starches and to ensure the food was safe for consumption. It was often served, when possible, with bread.

Biblical references

In the King James Bible translation of the story of Jacob and Esau in the Book of Genesis, Esau, being famished, sold his birthright (the rights of the eldest son) to his twin brother Jacob in exchange for a meal of "bread and pottage of lentils" ( Gen 25:29–34). This incident is the origin of the phrase a " mess of pottage" (which is not in any Biblical text) to mean a bad bargain involving short-term gain and long-term loss.

In the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition translation of the Bible, the prophet Elisha purifies a pot of poisoned pottage that was set before the sons of the prophets ( 2 Kings 4:38–41).

England

Pottage was a staple of the medieval English diet. During the Middle Ages it was usually made with grains, legumes, vegetables and occasionally meats. In Middle English, thick pottages () made with cereals, kidneys, shredded meat, sometimes thickened with egg yolks and bread crumbs were called by various names like , , , , and . Thinner pottages were said to be . Frumenty was a pottage made with freshly-cleaned wheat grain that was boiled until it burst, allowed to cool, then boiled with broth and either cow's milk or almond milk, and thickened with egg yolk and flavored with sugar and spices.

The earliest known cookery manuscript in the English language, '' The Forme of Cury'', written by the court chefs of King Richard II, contains several pottage recipes including one made from cabbage, ham, onions and leeks.
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A slightly later manuscript from the 1430s is called '' Potage Dyvers'' ("Various Pottages"). During the Tudor period, a good many English peasants' diets consisted almost solely of pottage and self-cultivated vegetables, such as carrots. An early 17th-century British recipe for pottage was made by boiling mutton and oatmeal with violet leaves, endive, chicory, strawberry leaves, spinach, langdebeefe, marigold flowers, scallions and parsley.

France

was a common dish in the medieval cuisine of northern France, and it increased in popularity from the High Middle Ages onward. The word "" as a culinary term appears as early as the mid-13th century, describing a wide variety of boiled and simmered foods. Some were very liquid, others were relatively solid with ingredients like bread, pulses, or rice that fully absorbed the liquid. Other resembled ragoûts and other dishes that would be recognized as entrées in the 17th century and later. Still others were
of vegetables.

Early use of the term

Among the earliest texts to include recipes for is '' Le Viandier'' (), which includes twenty-seven recipes for various potages, placed under the heading "" (thickened ) in some manuscripts. Recipes for (or ) also appear in '' Le Ménagier de Paris'' (1393) under various headings, including "" or "" (with or without spices), and "" or "" (thickened or not); and in the ''Petit traicté auquel verrez la maniere de faire cuisine'' (), more widely known from a later edition titled ''Livre fort excellent de cuisine'' (1542).

In the ''Petit traicté'', in a collection of menus at the end of the book, compose one of the four stages of the meal. The first stage is the (entrance to the table); the second stage consists of (foods boiled or simmered "in pots"); the third consists of one or more (meat or fowl "roasted" in dry heat); and the last is the (departure from the table). These four stages of the meal appear consistently in this order in all the books that derive from the ''Petit traicté''.

The terms and are organizing phrases, "describing the structure of a meal rather than the food itself". The terms and indicate cooking methods but not ingredients. The menus, though, give some idea of both the ingredients and the cooking methods that were characteristic of each stage of the meal.

The essential element of the was broth from meat, fowl, fish, or vegetables. Some were simple broths; others included veal, boar, furred game, boiled fowl and game birds of all sorts, and fish; others included only vegetables like leeks, marrows, and lettuce. The many types of are similar to those of the menus in the ''Ménagier de Paris'', written 150 years before the ''Petit traicté''.

Potage in the “Classical Order” of table service

Between the mid-16th and mid-17th century, the stages of the meal underwent several significant changes. Notably, became the first stage of the meal and the became the second stage, followed by the roast, , and dessert.

In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, on meat days were broths made from all sorts of butcher’s meat, fowl, and feathered game, but not furred game. Additions to the broth included the meat or fowl used to make the broth; other meats, including organ meats; vegetables; and bread or pasta. Common types of included (clear broth from poached meat or fowl); (bouillon mixed with finely grated bread); ( of root vegetables and varied meats); and ( of the finest delicacies - not the smooth, creamy bisques of modern cuisine).

On lean days,
fish replaced meat and fowl in every stage of the meal other than dessert. Meat and fowl broths were replaced by fish broth, vegetable purées, milk or almond milk, and juices of various vegetables like asparagus, artichokes, and mushrooms. Animal fats were replaced with butter and sometimes with oil. Additions to the broth included a wide variety of fish, shellfish, crustaceans, turtles, frogs, and even scoters (a seaduck, not a fish).

Vegetable were also common on lean days, many made of vegetables that appeared almost exclusively on lean days, such as cabbage, lettuce, onions, leeks, carrots, lentils, pumpkin, turnips, and white and black salsify. Other vegetables in on lean days were of a finer quality of the sort served as entremets or Lenten entrées, including cauliflower, spinach, artichokes, cardoons, chard, celery, Paris mushrooms, and skirrets. Out of Lent, on lean days sometimes also included eggs.

Colonial America

Native American cuisine also had a similar dish, but it was made with maize rather than the traditional European grain varieties.
Indian succotash, sometimes called ''pondomenast'' or ''Indian pottage'', was made with boiled corn and, when available, meat such as venison, bear, moose, otter, raccoon, or beaver. Fish such ss shad, eel, or herring could be used in place of the meat. Kidney beans were sometimes mixed into Indian pottage, along with vegetables such as Jerusalem artichoke, pumpkin, and squash. Ground nuts such as acorns, chestnuts, or walnuts were used to thicken the pottage.

In the cuisine of New England, pottage began as "bean porridge" vegetables, seasonings and meat, fowl or fish. This simple staple of early American cuisine eventually evolved into the chowders and baked beans typical of New England's cuisine. A version of "scotch barley broth" is attested to in the 18th century colonial recipe collection called ''Mrs Gardiner's Family Receipts''. Pottages were probably served at the First Thanksgiving.

Spanish cuisine

According to Spanish cuisine religious customs, if a ''festa doble'' (a "double feast" in the church) fell on a meat day two consecutive ''potaje'' courses were served, one of which would be a cheese-topped rice or noodle dish, the other a meat stew () cooked in "'' salsa''" made from wine, vinegar, parsley, spleen, liver, saffron, egg yolks and assorted spices. Two ''potaje'' courses were also served for fish days, first high-quality spinach from the monastery gardens topped with peppers, or cabbage or lettuce (if spinach could not be found), followed by either a bowl of semolina, noodles or rice cooked in almond milk, or a grain bowl of semolina groats seasoned with cinnamon.

Nigeria

In Nigeria, the yam pottage is a known delicacy eaten with vegetables and fish or meat.

Wales

This is similar to the Welsh cawl, which is a broth, soup or stew often cooked on and off for days at a time over the fire in a traditional inglenook, containing ingredients such as potatoes and leek.

See also

* Brown Windsor soup
* Casserole
* Cawl
* Frumenty
* Lancashire hotpot
* Lentil soup
* List of soups
* List of stews
* Medieval cuisine
* Pease pudding
* Potted meat
* Sop

Notes, references, and sources

Notes

References

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External links

Potage à la Reine, a Dutch variation of potage

How to Make Potage With Cooked Rice

Paris' real passion is in the potage

{{Soups

Stews
Historical foods
British cuisine
Turkish cuisine
Nigerian cuisine
Staple foods
Medieval cuisine
Soups

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