Peas Porridge Hot
Researched and adapted by Countess Mistress Tessa of the Gardens, Founding Baroness Bordermarch
Several cookbooks make reference to ingredients and preparation of the delicious green pea soup quoted below from one primary source, Two Fifteenth-century Cookery Books [Harleian ms 279, ab. 1420 A.D., Pottage , Dyverse, ij, Lange Wortes de pesoun].
Split Pea Soup with Beans and Onions:
"Lange wortes de pesoun:
Take grene pesyn, an washe hem clene an caste hem on a putte, an boyle hem tul they breste, an thanne take hem vyppe of the potte, an put hem with brothe yn a-nother potte, an lete hem kele; than draw hem thorw a straynowre in-to a fayre potte, an than take oynonys, an screde hem in to or three, an take hole wortys and boyle hem on a fayre bord, an cytte on iij or iiij, an key hem to the oynonys in the potte, to be drawyd pesyn; an let hem boyle tyl they ben tender; an thanne tak fayre oyle and frye hem, or ellys sm fresche brothe of sum maner fresche fysshe, an cast there-to, an safron, an salt a quantyte, and seruv it forth."
This seems to say: "Take green peas, and wash them clean and cast them in a pot, and boil then til they burst, and then take them up of the pot and put them with broth in another pot, and let them cool; then draw them through a strainer into a fair pot, and then take onions, and screde them in two or three, an take whole beans and boil them in fair water; and take then up, and lay them on a fair board, and cut in three or four, and key them to the onions in the pot, to be drawn peas; and let them boil til they be tender; and then take fair oil and fry them, or else some fresh broth of some manner fresh fish, and cast there-to, and safron, and salt a quantity, and serve it forth."
Therefore, what to do.
Put the peas into a saucepan with water. Bring to boil and cook gently for 1 and 1/2 hours, partially covered. Meanwhile boil the string beans until tender but still crisp. Fry the sliced onions in the oil until golden. Chop the drained string beans and add to the onions in the pan. Cook for a few minutes. Drain off the oil and add the onions and the beans to the pea soup. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
The below recipe is already doubled from its original form in Cookery Books
so as to render plentiful bowlfulls.
2 cups split peas
3 large onions, sliced
10 cups water
8 TBs olive oil
½ pound string beans
2 tsp salt
½ tsp ground pepper
Personal adaptations to this recipe
When this recipe is prepared on the electric stovetop in my kitchen, often a measure of hambone broth or chicken broth is used as a portion of the required water; sometimes remnant ham or salt pork is added.
I use dried split green peas. A variation is to add lentils. I have found that fresh, frozen or canned green beans each do well in the recipe, with the fresh naturally needing to be cooked slightly longer than frozen or canned.
I use dried split peas, which have no need for soaking (although fresh, frozen, or canned green peas will do, even *if* slightly less palatable). To please the taste of my lords, I use fewer onions.
For flavor, texture, and color, thinly sliced (or chopped) carrots are added. Also fresh parsley.
Sometimes chopped potaotes. Added ingredients are supported in other period cookbook sources.
Sir Kenelme Digbie’s recipes add parsley, coriander-seed and half a pound of sweet butter for a gallon of porridge, to "sue [serve] hem [them] forth" for a well-to-do family. A poorer household would use beans, "ground, stripped of their hulls."
Caerthe’s cooks add shredded lettuce and use four (4) cups of chicken broth to two and a half (2 ½) cups of peas.
Lacking modern refrigeration, historically, a medieval kitchen had a soup pot of some kind brewing all along for days on end. It may begin from stewed meat or boiled vegetables. One day another vegetable broth might be added, or meat broth on yet another. Peas today, maybe potatoes tomorrow. The amount of porridge left over today remains in the pot for to eat the next day or the next.
This peas dish is what I often take to Bordermarch’s annual 12thNight where the custom is for attendees bring contributions to a buffet for the evening feast. This recipe item alone, with bread, would easily feed eight hungry folks. As a buffet item, using smaller servings, this recipe makes a dozen to fifteen bowlsful or more.
I cook it at home on the stove top, then transfer to a crock pot to keep it warm for serving at the pavillion. If time and electricity or heat permit, I serve it from a pottery turine. At feast’s end, there is seldom any pea soup remaining in the pot (or turine), so tomorrow’s soup must start be started a-new!
Sources for "Pease Pottage" / "Pea Soup" / "Peas Porridge"
Austin
Two Fifteenth-century Cookery Books Thomas Austin, ed., published for the Early English Text Society by the Oxford University Press (London 1888); reprinted 1964), from Harleian MS (manuscript) 4016, with additional extracts from Ashmole MS 1439, Laud MS 553 and Douoce MS 55.
Baillie
How to Cook Forsoothly by Katrine de Baillie du Chat,
Raymond’s Quiet Press (Albequerque 1979), p 36.
Barony of Caerthe
The Caerthen Book of Cookery Caerthen Cooks Guild Society for C
reative Anachronism (Denver 1979) "My Lord Lumley’s Pease Pottage" p 6.
McKendry
Seven Hundred Years of English Cooking edited by Arabella Boxer, Maxime McKendry, Exeter Books (New York, 1973) "From the Fourteenth to the Sixteenth Century" p 25.
Digbie
The Closet of Sir Kenelme Digbie Opened Published by his Son’s consent (London 1669) "Perrey of Peson" xx.iii.x. and "For to make drawn benes- a dish of the poorer housholder" ii.
Sass
To the King’s Taste –
Richard II’s book of feasts and recipes adapted for modern cooking by Lorna J Sass,
(The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1975), "Pea Soup" p 45.