Cabbages in Pottage or Cabbage Soup

Scholastica Joycors

May 3, 2023

3 min read

by Lady Scholastica Joycors — The Culinary Bard

Trial by Fire 2022 - Winner - Vegetable Category

Cabbages in Pottage or Cabbage Soup

Scholastica Joycors

Caboches in potage.

Take caboches and quarter them, and seeth them in gode broth with oynouns minced and the whyte of lekes slit and carved small and do þereto safron and salt and force it with poudre douce.

Curye on Inglysch

Take cabbages and quarter them and seethe them in good broth with minced onions and the whites of leeks sliced and carved small and do thereto saffron and salt and force it with powder douce.

Redaction

1 large head of Cabbage

2 yellow onion

2 leeks

4 cups (475ml) beef broth or chicken broth

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon of pepper, optional

Saffron (optional)

Salt and powder douce* to taste

For the cabbage, quarter the cabbage, dice the onion and leek. Place all of the ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil on the stove. Reduce to a simmer and cover. Let cook for 25-30 minutes.

*1/8 teaspoon coriander & ground cardamom with a pinch of sugar (option if you don’t have powder douce)

The recipe for Caboches in Potage or, as we would understand it today, cabbage soup, was rewritten in the 1780 work The Forme of Cury, A Roll of English Cookery, Complied, about A.D. 1390, by the Master-Cooks of Richard II, Presented afterwards to Queen Elizabeth, by Edward Lord Stafford, and now in the Possession of Gustavus Brander, Esq. Illustrated with Notes, And a copious Index, or Glossary. A rather long title to accompany a fairly simple soup. As the title notes, the recipe was utilized by the cooks of Richard II and was therefore a recipe for royalty or those deemed worthy of dining in a royal court. The use of spices also indicates the dish’s upper-status use. Interestingly, the word “Potage,” which is clearly of French origin, marks the lasting effects of French culture on English cuisine during the 14th century.

NOTE: The original recipe calls for the cabbage to be quartered, but having the cabbage rough chopped or sliced makes for easier serving.

Fine Powder, also known as Sweet Powder or Poudre Douce

This one spice blends that seems to be prominent in the culinary recipes recorded during the Middle Ages. Although each cook might personalize the blend to his own taste; there appears to be two ingredients that make the blend a "Fine Powder": Sugar and Ginger.

Specie dolce per assay cosse bone e fine.

Le meior specie dolze fine che tu fay se vuoi per lampreda in crosta e per altri boni pessi d'aque dolze che se faga in crosto e per fare bono brodetto e bon savore. Toi uno quarto de garofali e una onza de bon zenzevro e toy una onza de cinamo leto e toy arquanto folio e tute queste specie fay pestare insiema caxa como te piaxe, e se ne vo' fare piú, toy le cosse a questa medessima raxone et è meravigliosamente bona.

Translation by Helewyse de Birkestad, OL (Louise Smithson):

Sweet spices, enough for many good and fine things

The best fine sweet spices that you can make, for lamprey pie or for other good fresh water fish that one makes in a pie, and for good broths and sauces. Take a quarter (of an ounce) of cloves, an ounce of good ginger, an ounce of soft (or sweet) cinnamon, and take a quantity (the same amount of Indian bay leaves and grind all these spices together how you please. And if you don’t want to do more, take these things (spices) in the same ratio (without grinding) and they will be marvelously good.