pottage

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.

File:Victors Esau and the mess of pottage.jpg (1619–1676)]]

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).

Pottage was a staple of the medieval English diet. During the Middle Ages it was usually made with grains, legumes, vegetables and occasionally meats.{{Cite book |last=Black |first=Maggie |title=Medieval cookery recipes and history |date=15 September 2006 |publisher=Historic England |year=2006 |isbn=978-1850748670}} In Middle English, thick pottages ({{lang|enm|stondyng}}) made with cereals, kidneys, shredded meat, sometimes thickened with egg yolks and bread crumbs were called by various names like {{lang|enm|brewet}}, {{lang|enm|egerdouce}}, {{lang|enm|mortrew}}, {{lang|enm|mawmenee}}, {{lang|enm|blancmange}} and {{lang|enm|blance dessore}}. Thinner pottages were said to be {{lang|enm|ronnyng}}.{{sfn|Stavely|Fitzgerald|2011|pp=114-115}} 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 milk or almond milk, and thickened with egg yolk and flavored with sugar and spices.{{sfn|Smith|1873|p=177}}

The earliest known cookery manuscript in the English language, The Forme of Cury, written by the court chefs of King Richard II,{{cite web |url=http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/booksforcooks/med/pygghome/sawge.html |title=The Forme of cury - Pygg in sawse sawge |website=www.bl.uk |publisher=The British Library |access-date=30 January 2015 |archive-date=22 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022160854/http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/booksforcooks/med/pygghome/sawge.html |url-status=dead }} contains several pottage recipes including one made from cabbage, ham, onions and leeks.{{sfn|Smith|1950|p=170}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=fwOvB7W0PnUC Google Books] and [https://archive.org/details/masterbookofsoup00smitiala Internet Archive]. A slightly later manuscript from the 1430s is called Potage Dyvers ("Various Pottages").{{cite web |url=http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/booksforcooks/med/contentshome/potagecontents.html |title=Potage Dyvers - Contents |website=www.bl.uk |publisher=The British Library |access-date=30 January 2015 |archive-date=6 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906174517/http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/booksforcooks/med/contentshome/potagecontents.html |url-status=dead }} 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.{{sfn|Stavely|Fitzgerald|2011|pp=114-115}}

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

{{linktext|poree}}

of vegetables.{{sfn|Flandrin|1983|p=5}}

Among the earliest texts to include recipes for {{lang | fr | potages}} is Le Viandier ({{circa | 1300}}), which includes twenty-seven recipes for various potages, placed under the heading "{{lang | fr | potages lyans}}" (thickened {{lang | fr | potages}}) in some manuscripts.{{sfn|Scully|1988|pp=48–81, 139–159}} Recipes for {{lang | fr | potages}} (or {{lang | fr | potaiges}}) also appear in Le Ménagier de Paris (1393) under various headings, including "{{lang | fr | a espices}}" or "{{lang | fr | sans espices}}" (with or without spices), and "{{lang | fr | lyans}}" or "{{lang | fr | non lyans}}" (thickened or not);{{sfn|Brereton|Ferrier|1981|pp=197–225}} and in the Petit traicté auquel verrez la maniere de faire cuisine ({{circa | 1536}}), more widely known from a later edition titled Livre fort excellent de cuisine (1542).{{sfn|Hyman|Hyman|1992|pp=66–68}} {{sfn|Albala|Tomasik|2014|pp=119–27}}

In the Petit traicté, in a collection of menus{{efn| name = menu}} at the end of the book, {{lang | fr | potages}} compose one of the four stages of the meal. The first stage is the {{lang | fr | entree de table}} (entrance to the table); the second stage consists of {{lang | fr | potaiges}} (foods boiled or simmered "in pots"); the third consists of one or more {{lang | fr | services de rost}} (meat or fowl "roasted" in dry heat); and the last is the {{lang | fr | issue de table}} (departure from the table).{{sfn|Albala|Tomasik|2014|pp=210–27,238–48}} These four stages of the meal appear consistently in this order in all the books that derive from the Petit traicté.{{sfn|Tomasik|2016|pp=239-244}}

The terms {{lang | fr | entree de table}} and {{lang | fr | issue de table}} are organizing phrases, "describing the structure of a meal rather than the food itself".{{sfn|Jurafsky|2014|p=22}} The terms {{lang | fr | potaiges}} and {{lang | fr | rost}} 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 {{lang | fr | potages}} was broth from meat, fowl, fish, or vegetables. Some {{lang | fr | potages}} 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 {{lang | fr | potages}} are similar to those of the menus in the Ménagier de Paris, written 150 years before the Petit traicté.{{sfn|Flandrin|2007|pp=4, 52, 68}}

Between the mid-16th and mid-17th century, the stages of the meal underwent several significant changes. Notably, {{lang | fr | potage}} became the first stage of the meal and the {{lang | fr | entrée}} became the second stage, followed by the roast, {{lang | fr | entremets}}, and dessert.{{harvnb|Flandrin|2007|p=71}}: The English translation of Flandrin’s book uses the words "soup" and "potage" interchangeably, but Flandrin in the French text uses only the word "{{lang | fr | potage}}".

In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, {{lang | fr | potages}} on meat days{{efn| name = maigres}} 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.{{sfn|Flandrin|2007|p=22}} Common types of {{lang | fr | potages}} included {{lang | fr | bouillon}} (clear broth from poached meat or fowl); {{lang | fr | soupe}} (bouillon mixed with finely grated bread); {{lang | fr | oilles}} ({{lang | fr | potages}} of root vegetables and varied meats); and {{lang | fr | bisques}} ({{lang | fr | potages}} of the finest delicacies - not the smooth, creamy bisques of modern cuisine).{{sfn|Vocabulaire|1774|pp=4.74, 4.206, 19.567, 23.46, 26.574}}

On lean days,

{{cite book

|last1 = Kurlansky

|first1 = Mark

|author-link1 = Mark Kurlansky

|date = 30 September 2011

|orig-date = 2002

|chapter = Friday's Salt

|title = Salt

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=YbT64n3wYhoC |edition = reprint

|publication-place = London

|publisher = Random House

|page = 110

|isbn = 9781448113200

|access-date = 8 January 2025

|quote = The medieval Catholic Church forbade the eating of meat on religious days, and, in the seventh century, the number of these days was dramatically expanded. The Lenten fast, a custom started in the fourth century, was increased to forty days, and in addition all Fridays, the day of Christ's crucifixion, were included. In all, about half the days of the year became 'lean' days, and food prohibitions for these days were strictly enforced.

}}

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 {{lang | fr | potages}} 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 {{lang | fr | potages}} 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, {{lang | fr | potages}} on lean days sometimes also included eggs.{{sfn|Flandrin|2007|p=34–35, 37}}

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 like venison, bear, moose, otter, raccoon or beaver. Fish like shad, eel, or herring could be used in place of the meat. Kidney beans were sometimes mixed into Indian pottage, along with vegetables like Jerusalem artichoke, pumpkin, squash. Ground nuts like acorns, chestnuts or walnuts were used to thicken the pottage.{{sfn|Stavely|Fitzgerald|2011|p=117}}

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.{{sfn|Stavely|Fitzgerald|2011|p=113}} A version of "scotch barley broth" is attested to in the 18th century colonial recipe collection called Mrs Gardiner's Family Receipts.{{sfn|Stavely|Fitzgerald|2011|p=116}} Pottages were probably served at the First Thanksgiving.Muse Magazine{{full citation needed|date=March 2024}}

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 ({{langx|ca|guisat}}) 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.{{cite book |title=Pedralbes |publisher=Universidad de Barcelona |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BDF9IlUOaP8C&pg=PA96}}

In Nigeria, the yam pottage is a known delicacy eaten with vegetables and fish or meat.{{cite web|author=Kperogi, Farooq|url=http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/sunday/index.php/politics-of-grammar/15779-qa|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223030623/http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/sunday/index.php/politics-of-grammar/15779-qa|url-status=dead|archive-date=2017-02-23|title=Q and A on the grammar of food, usage and Nigerian English|work=Daily Trust|date=2014-01-26|access-date=2017-02-23}}

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.

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{{notelist | refs=

{{efn

|name = dictionaries

|[https://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/potage "potage"] Trésor de la langue française informatisé; {{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.lexico.com/definition/potage |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416210252/https://www.lexico.com/definition/potage |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 16, 2021 |title=potage |dictionary=Lexico UK English Dictionary |publisher=Oxford University Press}}; {{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.lexico.com/definition/pottage |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415154436/https://www.lexico.com/definition/pottage |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 15, 2021 |title=pottage |dictionary=Lexico UK English Dictionary UK English Dictionary |publisher=Oxford University Press}}

}}

{{efn

| name = menu

| The word "menus" appropriately describes this section of the Petit traicté, but the first appearance of "menu" with that culinary meaning is in the much later [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k504003/f52.image/ Nouveau Dictionnaire de l’Académie françoise], 1718, p. II:50.

}}

{{efn

| name = maigres

| In accordance with church regulations in force from the Middle Ages to the 19th century, the ingredients for every stage of the meal varied between "meat days" (jours gras, literally "fat days"), when all foods were allowed, and "lean days" (jours maigres), when the church forbade consumption of meat and fowl but not fish. Until the 16th century, white meats (milk, cream, butter, and cheese) and eggs were additionally forbidden in Lent. Beginning in the 17th century, white meats were allowed in Lent. Beginning in the 19th century, eggs were also allowed in Lent.

}}

}}

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin|2|indent=yes}}

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| editor1-last = Albala

| editor1-first = Ken

| editor-link1 = Ken Albala

| editor2-last = Tomasik

| editor2-first = Timothy

| title = The Most Excellent Book of Cookery, Livre fort excellent de cuysine

| location = Totnes, Devon

| publisher = Prospect Books

| year = 2014

| isbn = 978-1903018965

}}

• {{ cite book

| editor1-last = Brereton

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| editor2-last = Ferrier

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| title = Le Menagier de Paris

| location = Oxford

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| year = 1981

| isbn = 0198157487

}}

• {{cite book

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| editor-last = Scully

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| location = Tempe, Arizona

| publisher = Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (ACMRS)

| year = 2010

| isbn = 978-0866984027

}}

• {{cite journal

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|first = Jean-Louis

|author-link = Jean-Louis Flandrin

|title = Brouets, potages et bouillons

|journal = Médiévales

|volume = 5

|issue = Nourritures

|date = 1983

|pages = 5–14

|doi = 10.3406/medi.1983.932

}}

• {{cite book

| last = Flandrin

| first = Jean-Louis

| author-link = Jean-Louis Flandrin

| title = Arranging the Meal: A History of Table Service in France

| trans-title = L’Ordre des mets

| location = Berkeley

| publisher = University of California Press

| year = 2007

| orig-year = 2001

| translator-first = Julie E.

| translator-last = Johnson

| isbn = 978-0520238855

}}

• {{cite book

|last = Goodman

|first = Ruth

|title = How To Be A Tudor: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Everyday Life

|publisher = Penguin Books

|year = 2016

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}}

• {{cite book

|title = Le Grand Vocabulaire François, 30 vols.

|location = Paris

|publisher = C. Panckoucke

|year = 1774

|url = https://gallica.bnf.fr/services/engine/search/sru?operation=searchRetrieve&version=1.2&collapsing=disabled&rk=21459;2&query=dc.relation%20all%20%22cb334074577%22%20sortby%20dc.title%2Fsort.ascending

}}

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| last1 = Hyman

| first1 = Philip

| last2 = Hyman

| first2 = Mary

| chapter = Les livres de cuisine et le commerce des recettes en France aux 15e et 16e siècles

| title = Du manuscrit à la table

| editor = Carole Lambert

| location = Paris, Montréal

| publisher = Champion-Slatkin—Les Presses de l'Université de Montréal

| year = 1992

| isbn = 978-2852037076

}}

• {{cite book

| last = Jurafsky

| first = Dan

| author-link = Daniel Jurafsky

| title = The Language of Food

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}}

• {{cite book

| title = The Viandier of Taillevent

| editor-last = Scully

| editor-first = Terence

| location = Ottawa

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| year = 1988

| isbn = 978-0776601748

}}

• {{Cite book

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|first = Edward

|title = Foods

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}}

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|last=Smith

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|title=The Master Book of Soups Featuring 1001 Titles and Recipes

|publisher=Spring Books

|location=London

|year=1950

|url=https://archive.org/stream/masterbookofsoup00smitiala#page/2/mode/2up

}}

• {{Cite book

|last1 = Stavely

|first1 = Keith W. F.

|last2 = Fitzgerald

|first2 = Kathleen

|title = Northern Hospitality: Cooking by the Book in New England

|publisher = University of Massachusetts Press

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|date = 2011

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}}

• {{Cite journal

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|title = Cuisine by the Cut of One's Trousers: Cookbook Marketing in Early Modern France

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|pages = 223–247

|doi = 10.1484/J.FOOD.5.115341

|issn = 1780-3187

}}

{{refend}}

{{Wiktionary|pottage|potage}}

• [https://coquinaria.nl/en/potage-a-la-reine/ Potage à la Reine, a Dutch variation of potage]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20130623195918/http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Potage-With-Cooked-Rice How to Make Potage With Cooked Rice]
• [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/02/19/FD154777.DTL&type=printable Paris' real passion is in the potage]

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