[Sca-cooks] Reference to 'stale' ale.

[Mark.S Harris]

Andrea said:
> See there is a difference in ways to make it....
>
> My best friend made this for a gathering.
>
> She used a homebrew ale,and cooked it "all day" in an Iron cauldron. It was
> wonderful!!!  Sounds like it wasn't cooked long enough for the onions to
> soften and do their thing.

I just checked the onion-soup-msg file that I mentioned earlier, and
I noticed there is no recipe in there for a soup including ale. However,
I then went and checked the beer-in-food-msg file:
beer-in-food-msg  (18K)  2/11/00    Period recipes with beer or ale in
them.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/beer-in-food-msg.html

And did find what I think is the recipe that is being discussed.

> Oyle soppes - (onion & ale soup) from Harleian MS 4016: Oyle soppes.
> Take a good quantite of onyons, and myce hem, noyt to smale, & seth hem
> in faire water, And take hem vppe; and then take a good quantite of
> stale ale, as .iij. galons, And there-to take a pynte of goode oyle that
> is fraied, and cast the onyons there-to, And lete al boyle togidre a
> grete wile; and caste there-to Saffron and salt, And then put brede, in
> maner of brewes, and cast the licour there-on, and serue hit forth hote.
>
> My translation: Oil Sops. Take a good quantity of onions, and mince
> them, not to small, & boil them in fair water, And take them up; and
> then take a good quantity of stale ale, 3 gallons, And take a pint of
> good oil that is fried, and cast the onions in it, And let all boil
> together a great while; and cast into it Saffron & salt, And then put
> bread, in the manner of brews, and cast the liquid on, and serve it
> forth hot.
>
> Huen

Note, that it does explicitly say "let all boil together a great while"
which supports what Andrea said about cooking it a long time.

This might be a good recipe for a redacting class or those trying
their first redacting. Some measures are given, while others are
left up to the cook's discretion. *I* might even be able to do this
one.

Stefan li Rous
stefan at texas.net