[Sca-cooks] sops

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Jun 5, 2006, at 1:42 PM, Gretchen Beck wrote:
>
> In the prologue, about the Franklin is written "Wel louede be þe  
> morwe a
> soppe in wyn"
>
> and in the Clerks tale: "Thus labourith he tyl the day gan daweAnd  
> thanne
> he takyth a soppe in fyn clarree" (He worked until the day was  
> done, and
> then he ate a sop in fine claree wine)
>
> The Boke of Curtasye instructs the young lad
> "Of breed with þi teeþ no soppis þou make;"
> (Don't make sops by biting the bread {yuck!})
>
>
> GIven all this, I'll stand by my original statement.
>
> toodles, margaret

Well, it's pretty clear that introducing one modern-adapted recipe  
from a secondary source and one period recipe specifically calling  
for toasted bread to be laid in the serving dish before pouring  
liquid on it is not a way to establish the premise that sops aren't  
characterized/identified throughout their history by pouring some  
kind of liquid over toasts.

If my statements allowed any susceptible person to interpret my claim  
that sops are toasts (admittedly, vague) to be taken as literal and  
reversible equivocation, in spite of phrases like "generally  
speaking", I guess I owe some people an apology. If I could just get  
a show of hands...?

Incidentally, since, so far, the only close-to-period recipe for sops  
that don't specifically call for toasts or sippets (the recipe quoted  
and rather liberally adapted by Beebe in her book) that we've seen  
here actually comes from The Second Part of Thomas Dawson's "The Good  
Hus-wives Jewell", and while it doesn't mention toasts, it doesn't  
rule it out (while dozens of others in contemporary sources do  
mention them). There's a very strong chance that any contemporary  
cook would see the word "soppes" and immediately put some bread on  
the gridiron while making this dish. Certainly there's nothing in the  
original about serving it as a vegetable side dish (also nothing  
about sour cream), nor thinning it down with broth to serve as a  
soup. That's all Beebe, not Dawson. Dawson, BTW, includes several  
recipes for broths and stews (To Boyle X...) served upon sops of  
bread, while not naming them as sop dishes.

Adamantius