Pottage
A medieval porridge / soup
Equipment
- 1 pressure cooker
- 1 Pot
- 1 Ladle
Ingredients
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 2 cups chopped up cabbage
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1/2 cup chopped potato
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup barley (soaked, cooked)
- 1/2 cup diced meat (optional)
Instructions
- Soak barley( any variety, even pearl) for an hour and set aside
- Cook barley with a pinch of salt in pressure cooker until it is cooked well
- In a pot, add oil and let it warm up
- Add vegetables and cook
- Add meat and cook
- Add water, cooked barley and salt
Notes
Pottage was a medieval soup. Although the word soup is derived from the word ‘sop’ which was a type of mixed grain bread.
A working man’s pottage was thinner and had little or no meat. A rich man had eggs and meat in his pottage. The meat was a rarity even for the rich as it was more beneficial to keep animals for milk and labor rather than eat them.
However, cabbage was usually found in all types of pottage recipes.
In those days, porridge or pottage was poured onto the bread or sop. With the advent of modern cutlery, bread began to be dipped into the liquid rather than the other way around.
