SC - The spiritual significance of French toast

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

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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