[Sca-cooks] sops

[tom.vincent at yahoo.com]

I'm going to disagree with that.  Sops are liquids dishes, not bread.
 
A Sop of Onions
(R.A. Beebe Sallets, Humbles & Shrewsbury Cakes)
1/2 cup butter
4 large onions, sliced into rings
salt and pepper
1 cup sour cream
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Melt the butter in a deep frying pan and add onions. Saute over low heat, stirring frequently, until the onions soften. Add salt and pepper to taste, sour cream and nutmeg. Heat thoroughly, but do not boil, or the cream will curdle. Serve as is, or add broth and serve as a soup. Serves 4.

'Eenen seer schoonen ende excellenten Cocboeck', Dutch 1593, talks about sops with porridges and gravies. "A rough inventory of the Cocboeck shows 
about 16 porridges and gravies. Porridge consisting of wine or milk, thickened with flour and/or eggs; gravy or sop is a solid ladle food that requires odorous liquid, sprinkled over roasted bread. The book also contains a 'Spanish porridge' and a 'Spanish sop'. Only one recipe of  pottage, carp! The 'Creym van Moerbeke' is a froth of sweet creamy custard."

"Sops glazed. Slice onions, and fry them in oil; then
take Wine, and boil with (the) Onions, toast white
Bread and put it in a dish, and place there-on good
Almond Milk, & temper it with wine: then do the
onions in sauce about and serve it forth. "
(Harleian MS 279 recipe 30)
 
Duriel
 

----- Original Message ----
On Jun 3, 2006, at 4:22 PM, Tom Vincent wrote:
> They were called 'sops' for a reason, you know.
 
Yes. Sops, even through the Renaissance, were toasts of bread or  
similar soggy crusty items, served in a dish, sopping with some  
liquid. For the most part, it was not the diner's job to decide which  
crudite he would dunk in the liquid. See sops chamberleyn, soppes  
d'oree, etc.
Adamantius
 
"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?"
     -- Susan Sheybani, assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry  
Holt, 07/29/04