SC - The spiritual significance of French toast
Philip & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com
Thu Nov 18 20:28:19 PST 1999
All this talk of French toast and Pain Perdu made me go look up the
Spanish equivalent -- Sopas Doradas (Golden Sops).
And the recipe is as follows:
SOPAS DORADAS FRITAS CON MANTECA -- Golden sops fried with
fat
source: Diego Granado, _Libro del Arte de Cozina (1599)
translation: Brighid ni Chiarain (Robin Carroll-Mann)
Take twenty egg yolks, six ounces of bread, thinly grated, three quarter
[ounces] of cinnamon, and three ounces of sugar, three ounces of
rosewater, and a little saffron, and mix them all together with finely
chopped herbs, remove the bread crust and make crustless slices the
thickness of the back of a knife, and moisten them in the said mixture,
and fry them with pork lard or cow's butter, and serve hot with sugar and
cinnamon on top, sprinkled with rosewater.
Now... as for the spiritual part. I did a quick web search on "sopas
doradas", to see if there were modern recipes, and I came across the
text of a 1592 Spanish book, "Fructus Sanctorum y Quinta Parte del
Flos Sanctorum" by Alonso de Villegas. It's a collection of discourses
on various (Catholic) spiritual topics. Included was an anecdote about a
Cistercian monk who was raised to the rank of cardinal by Pope
Clement V. He was travelling with a group of monks as attendants.
One of them, a lay-brother, told the cardinal that when he died, he would
be greeted at the gate of heaven by Saint Benedict, the founder of their
order. The saint would surely question the cardinal's identity, since he
would not be dressed in the humble habit of his order. But the cardinal
would no doubt be able to explain that his rank required him to dress
differently. However, Saint Benedict would then investigate further by
conducting a sort of spiritual autopsy. He would summon porters to
throw the cardinal to the ground, cut open his chest with a knife, and
investigate the contents of the cardinal's stomach. If it was full of herbs
and vegetables, then the saint would say, "Truly you are a monk of my
order, enter into Paradise." If however, it was full of partridges and
francolins, blancmange and golden sops... The story goes on to say
that the cardinal took the hint, and thereafter ate meals more
appropriate to his monastic vocation.
Those of us who are not Cistercian monks, however, may presumably
enjoy sopas doradas without peril to our souls.
Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)
mka Robin Carroll-Mann
harper at idt.net
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