[Sca-cooks] period oion soups

[Maggie MacDonald]

At 02:27 PM 9/6/2006,Gretchen Beck said something like:

>Why not try the oyle sops from the two-15th C cookery books; it can be
>interpreted as an onion soup in a beer base:
>
>.xxxiij. Oyle Soppys.?Take a gode quantyte of Oynonys, an mynse hem not to
>smale, an sethe in fayre Water: þan take hem vp, an take a gode quantite of
>Stale Ale, as .iij. galouns, an þer-to take a pynte of Oyle fryid, an caste
>þe Oynonys þer-to, an let boyle alle to-gederys a gode whyle; then caste
>þer-to Safroune, powder Pepyr, Sugre, an Salt, an serue forth alle hote as
>tostes, [leaf 11.] as in þe same maner for a Mawlard & of a capon, & hoc
>qu?re.*

I did that particular oil soppys for Caid 12th night 2006.  It went over 
very very well.  My biggest tip would be to seriously brown the onions in 
batches if you're making very large quantities. I had attempted to brown 
them by baking since I was doing a 20 lb bag of onions at one time, and it 
was less than successful.

On the upside, this gives your local brewers a chance to shine by making 
you a brew to use in the soup.  We used a very light ale, and it was just 
fantastic. This was also done on a very small scale with Guinness, and that 
was also pretty nice (though not every one appreciated the slight 
bitterness of guinness).

Good luck!!
Maggie MacD.