[Sca-cooks] Sops

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

This thread made me hungry, so I had sops for dinner.  I chose a Spanish 
recipe (surprise!) from de Nola.

LOMBARDY SOPS (SOPAS A LA LOMBARDA)

Make broth from good meat which should be quite fat; and cast much 
saffron into it, that it should be quite yellow and
very deep in color; and the broth should be well-salted; and then take 
slices of bread, removing the crust, and toast them
and scrape off the burnt part, and scald these sops with the said broth; 
and when they are scalded, place them in an iron
casserole, making a layer of sops and another layer of buttery cheese of 
Parma, or of Aragon, or of Navarra; and so fill
all the casserole; when it is full, set it on the fire to cook over good 
coals or in the oven, and cook it little by little; and
as it cooks, cast in that broth, from time to time, fatty and yellow, by 
spoonfuls inside the casserole, sprinkling it over
the sops; and when it is more than half cooked, cover the casserole or 
frying pan with an iron lid which should be laden
with coals on top; and cook it in this way for an hour, looking and 
ascertaining occasionally that it should not dry up
too much, and  that it should be well supplied with said broth, which 
should be the fattest; and when you put it on the
table, do it in such a manner that they go dry.  And having done this, 
prepare dishes or if you wish to make plates of
them, let it be as you wish.

http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-MANUSCRIPTS/Guisados1-art.text

This was a last-minute decision, so some of my choices were based on 
convenience.  I took a loaf of French bread and cut it into thick 
slices.  I would have prefered a round loaf, but none were available 
tonight in the supermarket bakery section.  I did not remove the 
crusts.  I toasted the slices on a baking sheet in the over.  Meanwhile, 
I simmered some packaged chicken broth with a pinch of saffron.  I 
soaked the toasted bread briefly in the hot broth, then layered it with 
cheese in a casserole.  The cheese was pre-shredded.  I chose a 6-cheese 
Italian blend, which included Fontina, Provolone, Parmesan, Mozzarella, 
Asiago, and Romano.  I sprinkled some additional broth over the sops, 
and added more when it seemed necessary.  The sops baked for 45 minutes 
in a 325 F oven.  After the first 25 minutes, I covered the casserole.

The result was tasty, though the texture could have used some 
improvement.  A firmer bread would have worked better, and I think I 
added a little too much broth.  There's a fine line between too dry and 
too soggy.  Definitely worth trying again.

To further add to the discussion, here's a second sops recipe from de Nola:

GOLDEN SOPS (SOPAS DORADAS)

Take a loaf of bread and make slices of it.  And toast them moderately, 
so that they do not burn, and take good broth and
cook it in a separate pot with all your provisions, and skim it well, 
and then have ready grated cheese, and when you
want to eat take some egg yolks, and blend them with the best fatty beef 
broth of the pot.  And cast in a little ginger
and then take those toasts, and soak them in the broth, and when they 
are done soaking, remove them from that broth;
and prepare dishes of those slices of bread or sections; and cast upon 
them the broth with the eggs.  Then cast the cheese
on them.  And these are called golden sops.

-- 

Brighid ni Chiarain
Barony of Settmour Swamp, East Kingdom
Robin Carroll-Mann *** rcmann4 at earthlink.net