A pottage is simply a very thick stew or soup-like dish that was cooked in a pot or similar cooking vessel. Here, I have curated a growing collection of very old pottage recipes that were cooked in Britain many centuries ago but can still be prepared in modern kitchens. Let’s have fun keeping British food history alive from the comfort of our own kitchens!
The beauty of a pottage is that you do not have to be precise in measurements or ingredients. Pottages were tailored to whatever ingredients were on hand. Medieval peasants or serfs made do with simpler ingredients – oats, barley, peas, cabbage, herbs, stale bread crumbs, and the like- while richer members of society added meat, fish, poultry, and exotic ingredients such as almonds, expensive spices, and rose water. So feel free to switch out any of the ingredients and create your own pottage!
Table of Contents
- Pottage recipes from A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes BY CHARLES ELMÉ FRANCATELLI, [1852]
- The Lady’s Own Cookery Book, And New Dinner-Table Directory; In which will be found A LARGE COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL RECEIPTS, Including not only THE RESULT OF THE AUTHERESS’S MANY YEARS OBSERVATION, EXPERIENCE, AND RESEARCH, but also the CONTRIBUTIONS OF AN EXTENSIVE CIRCLE OF ACQUAINTANCE: Adapted to the use of PERSONS LIVING IN THE HIGHEST STYLE, as well as those of MODERATE FORTUNE. [1844]
- The Art of Cookery Made Easy and Refined By John Mollard, Cook, [1802]
- Stuart Era Pottage Recipes from The Accomplisht Cook, or The Art & Mystery of Cookery by Robert May [1685]
- Pottage in the Italian Fashion.
- Pottage otherways in the Italian Fashion.
- Pottage of Mutton, Veal, or Beef, in the English Fashion.
- Pottage in the French Fashion.
- Pottage otherways in the French Fashion of Mutton, Kid, or Veal.
- Pottage in the English Fashion.
- Pottage without sight of Herbs.
- To make an excellent Pottage called Skinke.
- To dress Snails in a Pottage.
- To make all manner of Pottagesfor Fish-Days.
- The Queen-like Closet or Rich Cabinet by Hannah Woolley Stored with all manner of RARE RECEIPTS For Preserving, Candying and Cookery. Very Pleasant and Beneficial to all Ingenious Persons of the FEMALE SEX. [1670] 2nd Edition
Pottage recipes from A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes BY CHARLES ELMÉ FRANCATELLI, [1852]
Economical Vegetable Pottage.
In France, and also in many parts of Europe, the poorer classes but very seldom taste meat in any form; the chief part of their scanty food consists of bread, vegetables, and more especially of their soup, which is mostly, if not entirely, made of vegetables, or, as is customary on the southern coasts of France, Italy, and Spain, more generally of fish.
The most common as well as the easiest method for making a good mess of cheap and nutritious soup is the following:—If you are five or six in family, put a three-gallon pot on the fire rather more than half full of water, add four ounces of butter, pepper and salt, and small sprigs of winter savory, thyme, and parsley; and when this has boiled, throw in any portion or quantity, as may best suit your convenience, of such of the following vegetables as your garden can afford:—Any kind of cabbages cleaned and split, carrots, turnips, parsnips, broad beans, French beans, peas, broccoli, red cabbages, vegetable marrow, young potatoes, a few lettuce, some chervil, and a few sprigs of mint. Allow all this to simmer by the side of the hob for about two hours, and then, after taking up the more considerable portion of the whole vegetables on to a dish, eat one half, or as much as you may require, of the soup with bread in it, and make up your dinner with the whole vegetables and more bread. The remainder will serve for the next day. Let me persuade you, my friends, to try and persevere in adopting this very desirable kind of food, when in your power, for your ordinary fare. I, of course, intend this remark more particularly for the consideration of such of my readers as are or may be located in the country, and who may have a little garden of their own.
Vegetable Porridge.
Scrape and peel the following vegetables:—six carrots, six turnips, six onions, three heads of celery, and three parsnips; slice up all these very thinly, and put them into a two-gallon pot, with four ounces of butter, a handful of parsley, ditto of chervil, and a good sprig of thyme, and fill up with water or pot liquor, if you happen to have any; season with pepper and salt, and put the whole to boil very gently on the fire for two hours; at the end of this time the vegetables will be done to a pulp, and the whole must be rubbed through a colander with a wooden spoon, and afterwards put back into the pot and stirred over the fire, to make it hot for dinner.
Pumpkin Porridge.
I am aware that pumpkins are not generally grown in this country as an article of food for the poorer classes, and more is the pity, for they require but little trouble to rear, and yield an abundance of nutritious and cooling food, at a small cost; the chief reason for the short supply is, I imagine, the want of knowledge for turning the pumpkin to good account as an article of food. I am now about to supply easy instruction to convey that knowledge to whomsoever may stand in need of it. Peel and slice up as much pumpkin as will produce about eight ounces for each person, and put this into a boiling pot, with two ounces of butter, and a quart of water; set the whole to boil very gently on the fire, until the pumpkin is reduced to a pulp, and then add half-a-pint of buttermilk, or skim milk, to every person who is to partake of the porridge. You then stir the porridge over the fire for about fifteen minutes longer, taking care that it does not boil over; season with salt and a little nutmeg, and eat it with toasted bread for breakfast, or any other meal.
The Lady’s Own Cookery Book, And New Dinner-Table Directory; In which will be found A LARGE COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL RECEIPTS, Including not only THE RESULT OF THE AUTHERESS’S MANY YEARS OBSERVATION, EXPERIENCE, AND RESEARCH, but also the CONTRIBUTIONS OF AN EXTENSIVE CIRCLE OF ACQUAINTANCE: Adapted to the use of PERSONS LIVING IN THE HIGHEST STYLE, as well as those of MODERATE FORTUNE. [1844]
Potage.
Boil a leg of beef, and a knuckle of veal, with a bunch of sweet herbs, a little mace and whole pepper, and a handful of salt. When the meat is boiled to rags or to a very strong broth, strain it through a hair sieve, and when it is cold, take off the fat. With raw beef make a gravy thus: cut your beef in pieces, put them in a frying-pan with a piece of butter or a slice of bacon, fry it very brown, then put it to some of your strong broth, and when it grows browner and thick till it becomes reduced to three pints of gravy, fill up your strong broth to boil with a piece of butter and a handful of sweet herbs. Afterwards a chicken must be boiled and blanched and cut in slices; and two or three sweetbreads fried very brown; a turnip also sliced and fried. Boil all these half an hour, and put them in the dish in which you intend to serve up, with three French rolls (cut in halves) and set it over a fire with a quart of your gravy, and some of your broth, covered with a dish, till it boils very fast, and as it reduces fill up with your broth till your bread is quite soaked. You may put into the dish either a duck, pigeon, or any bird you please; but whichever you choose, roast it first, and then let it boil in the dish with your bread. This may be made a pea soup, by only rubbing peas through a sieve.
Scotch Pottage.
Place a tin saucepan on the fire with some boiling water; stir in Scotch oatmeal till it is of the desired consistence: when done, pour it in a basin and add milk or cream to it. It is more nutritious to make it of milk instead of water, if the stomach will bear it. The Scotch peasantry live entirely on this strengthening food. The best Scotch oatmeal is to be bought at Dudgeon’s, in the Strand.
The Art of Cookery Made Easy and Refined By John Mollard, Cook, [1802]
Plum Pottage.
To veal and beef broths (a quart of each) add a pound of stoned pruens and the crumb of two penny french rolls, rubbing all through a tamis cloth; then mix to the pulp half a pound of stoned raisins, a quarter of a pound of currants, a little lemon juice, some pounded cinnamon, mace, and cloves, a pint of red port, a pint of claret, a small quantity of grated lemon peel, and season to the palate with lump sugar.
Let all simmer together for one hour; then add a little cochineal to make it of a nice colour, and serve it up in a tureen.
Let it be of the consistence of water gruel.
Oatmeal Pottage, or Gruel.
Mix together three table spoonfuls of oatmeal, a very little salt, and a quart of water; put them over a fire, and let it boil gently for half an hour. Then skim and strain it, add to it an ounce of fresh butter, some loaf sugar, a little brandy, and grated nutmeg; or instead of these ingredients put pepper, salt, and fresh butter, to the palate; then boil it again five minutes, mix it till very smooth, and let it be of a moderate consistence.
Stuart Era Pottage Recipes from The Accomplisht Cook, or The Art & Mystery of Cookery by Robert May [1685]
Pottage in the Italian Fashion.
Boil green pease with some strong broth, and interlarded bacon cut into slices; the pease being boiled, put to them some chopped parsley, pepper, anniseed, and strain some of the pease to thicken the broth; give it a walm and serve it on sippets, with boil’d chickens, pigeons, kids, or lambs-heads, mutton, duck, mallard, or any poultry.
Sometimes for variety you may thicken the broth with eggs.
Pottage otherways in the Italian Fashion.
Boil a rack of mutton, a few whole cloves, mace, slic’t ginger, all manner of sweet herbs chopped, and a little salt; being finely boiled, put in some strained almond-paste, with grape verjuyce, saffron, grapes, or gooseberries; give them a warm, and serve your meat on sippets.
Pottage of Mutton, Veal, or Beef, in the English Fashion.
Cut a rack of mutton in two pieces, and take a knuckle of veal, and boil it in a gallon pot or pipkin, with good store of herbs, and a pint of oatmeal chopped amongst the herbs, as tyme, sweet marjoram, parsley, chives, salet, succory, marigold-leaves and flowers, strawberry-leaves, violet-leaves, beets, borage, sorrel, bloodwort, sage, pennyroyal; and being finely boil’d, serve them on fine carved sippets with the mutton and veal, &c.
Pottage in the French Fashion.
Cut a breast of mutton into square bits or pieces, fry them in butter, & put them in a pipkin with some strong broth, pepper, mace, beaten ginger, and salt; stew it with half a pound of strained almonds, some mutton broth, crumbs of manchet, and some verjuyce; give it a warm, and serve it on sippets.
If you would have it yellow, put in saffron; sometimes for change white-wine, sack, currans, raisins, and sometimes incorporated with eggs and grated cheese.
Otherways change the colour green, with juyce of spinage, and put to it almonds strained.
Pottage otherways in the French Fashion of Mutton, Kid, or Veal.
Take beaten oatmeal and strain it with cold water, then the pot being boiled and scummed, put in your strained oatmeal, and some whole spinage, lettice, endive, colliflowers, slic’t onions, white cabbidge, and salt; your pottage being almost boil’d, put in some verjuyce, and give it a warm or two; then serve it on sippets, and put the herbs on the meat.
Pottage in the English Fashion.
Take the best old pease [peas]you can get, wash and boil them in fair water, when they boil scum them, and put in a piece of interlarded bacon about two pound, put in also a bundle of mint, or other sweet herbs; boil them not too thick, serve the bacon on sippets in thin slices, and pour on the broth.
Pottage without sight of Herbs.
Mince your herbs and stamp them with your oatmeal, then strain them through a strainer with some of the broth of the pot, boil them among your mutton, & some salt; for your herbs take violet leaves, strawberry leaves, succory, spinage, lang de beef, scallions, parsley, and marigold flowers, being well boil’d, serve it on sippets.
To make an excellent Pottage called Skinke.
Take a leg of beef, and chop it into three pieces, then boil it in a pot with three pottles of spring-water, a few cloves, mace, and whole pepper: after the pot is scum’d put in a bundle of sweet morjoram, rosemary, tyme, winter-savory, sage, and parsley bound up hard, some salt, and two or three great onions whole, then about an hour before dinner put in three marrow bones and thicken it with some strained oatmeal, or manchet slic’t and steeped with some gravy, strong broth, or some of the pottage; then a little before you dish up the Skinke, put into it a little fine powder of saffron, and give it a warm or two: dish it on large slices of French Bread, and dish the marrow bones on them in a fine clean large dish; then have two or three manchets cut into toasts, and being finely toasted, lay on the knuckle of beef in the middle of the dish, the marrow bones round about it, and the toasts round about the dish brim, serve it hot.
To dress Snails in a Pottage.
Wash them very well in many waters, then put them in an earthen pan, or a wide dish, put as much water as will cover them, and set your dish on some caols; when they boil take them out of the shells, and scowr them with water and salt three or four times, then put them in a pipkin with water and salt, and let them boil a little, then take them out of the water, and put them in a dish with some excellent sallet oyl; when the oyl boils put in three or four slic’t onions, and fry them, put the snails to them, and stew them well together, then put the oyl snails and onions all together in a pipkin of a fit size for them, and put as much warm water to them as will make a pottage, with some salt, and so let them stew three or four hours, then mince tyme, parsley, pennyroyal, and the like herbs; when they are minced, beat them to green sauce in a mortar, put in some crumbs of bread soakt with that broth or pottage, some saffron and beaten cloves; put all in to the snails, and give them a warm or 2, and when you serve them up, squeeze in the juyce of a lemon, put in a little vinegar, and a clove of garlick amongst the herbs, and beat them in it; serve them up in a dish with sippets in the bottom of it.
This pottage is very nourishing, and excellent good against a Consumption.
To make all manner of Pottages
for Fish-Days.
French Barley Pottage.
CLeanse the barley from dust, and put it in boiling milk, being boil’d down, put in large mace, cream, sugar, and a little salt, boil it pretty thick, then serve it in a dish, scrape sugar on it, and trim the dish sides.
Otherways.
Boil it in fair water, scum it, and being almost boil’d, put to it some saffron, or disolved yolks of eggs.
To make Gruel Pottage the best way for service.
Pick your oatmeal, and boil it whole on a stewing fire; being tender boil’d, strain it through a strainer, then put it into a clean pipkin with fair boiling water, make it pretty thick of the strained oatmeal, and put to it some picked raisins of the sun well washed, some large mace, salt, and a little bundle of sweet herbs, with a little rose-water and saffron; set it a stewing on a fire of charcoal, boil it with sugar till the fruit be well allom’d, then put to it butter and the yolks of three or four eggs strained.
Otherways.
Good herbs and oatmel chopped, put them into boiling liquor in a pipkin, pot, or skillet, with some salt, and being boil’d put to it butter.
Otherways.
With a bundle of sweet herbs and oatmeal chopped, some onions and salt, seasoned as before with butter.
To make Furmety.
Take wheat and wet it, then beat it in a sack with a wash beetle, being finely hulled and cleansed from the dust and hulls, boil it over night, and let it soak on a soft fire all night; then next morning take as much as will serve the turn, put it in a pipkin, pan, or skillet, and put it a boiling in cream or milk, with mace, salt, whole cinamon, and saffron, or yolks of eggs, boil it thick and serve it in a clean scowred dish, scrape on sugar, and trim the dish.
To make Rice Pottage.
Pick the rice and dust it clean, then wash it, and boil it in water or milk; being boil’d down, put to it some cream, large mace, whole cinamon, salt, and sugar; boil it on a soft stewing fire, and serve it in a fair deep dish, or a standing silver piece.
Otherways.
Boil’d rice strained with almond milk, and seasoned as the former.
Milk Pottage.
Boil whole oatmeal, being cleanly picked, boil it in a pipkin or pot, but first let the water boil; being well boil’d and tender, put in milk or cream, with salt, and fresh butter, &c.
Ellicksander Pottage. [celery]
Chop ellicksanders and oatmeal together, being picked and washed, then set on a pipkin with fair water, and when it boils, put in your herbs, oatmeal, and salt, boil it on a soft fire, and make it not too thick, being almost boil’d put in some butter.
Pease Pottage.
Take green pease being shelled and cleansed, put them in a pipkin of fair boiling water; when they be boil’d and tender, take and strain some of them, and thicken the rest, put to them a bundle of sweet herbs, or sweet herbs chopped, salt, and butter; being through boil’d dish them, and serve them in a deep clean dish with salt and sippets about them.
Otherways.
Put them into a pipkin or skillet of boiling milk or cream, put to them two or three sprigs of mint, and salt; being fine and tender boil’d, thick them with a little milk and flour.
Dry or old Pease Pottage.
Take the choicest pease, (that some call seed way pease) commonly they be a little worm eaten, (those are the best boiling pease) pick and wash them, and put them in boiling liquor in a pot or pipkin; being tender boil’d take out some of them, strain them, and set them by for your use; then season the rest with salt, a bundle of mint and butter, let them stew leisurely, and put to them some pepper.
Strained Pease Pottage.
Take the former strained pease-pottage, put to them salt, large mace, a bundle of sweet herbs, and some pickled capers; stew them well together, then serve them in a deep dish clean scowred, with thin slices of bread in the bottom, and graced manchet to garnish it.
An excellent stewed Broth for Fish-Day.
Set a boiling some fair water in a pipkin, then strain some oatmeal and put to it, with large mace, whole cinamon, salt, a bundle of sweet herbs, some strained and whole prunes, and some raisins of the sun; being well stewed on a soft fire, and pretty thick, put in some claret-wine and sugar, serve it in a clear scowred deep dish or standing piece, and scrape on sugar.
Onion Pottage.
Fry good store of slic’t onions, then have a pipkin of boiling liquor over the fire, when the liquor boils put in the fryed onions, butter and all, with pepper and salt; being well stewed together, serve it on sops of French bread or pine-molet.
Almond Pottage.
Take a pound of almond-paste, and strain it with some new milk; then have a pottle of cream boiling in a pipkin or skillet, put in the milk; and almonds with some mace, salt, and sugar; serve it in a clean dish on sippets of French bread, and scrape on sugar.
Otherways.
Strain them with fair water, and boil them with mace, salt, and sugar, (or none) add two or three yolks of eggs dissolved, or saffron; and serve it as before.
The Queen-like Closet or Rich Cabinet by Hannah Woolley Stored with all manner of RARE RECEIPTS For Preserving, Candying and Cookery. Very Pleasant and Beneficial to all Ingenious Persons of the FEMALE SEX. [1670] 2nd Edition
To make French Pottage.
Take an equal quantity of Chervil, hard Lettice and Sorrel, or any other Herb as you like best, in all as much as a Peck will hold pressed down, pick them well, and wash them, and drain them from the water, then put them into a Pot with half a pound of fresh Butter, and set them over the fire, and as the Butter melts, stir them down in it till they are all within the Butter, then put some water in, and a Crust of bread, with some whole Cloves and a little Salt, and when it is well boiled, take out the Crust of bread, and put in the yolks of four Eggs well beaten, and stir them together over the fire, then lay some thin slices of white bread into a deep dish, and pour it in.
To make Cabbage Pottage.
Take a Leg of Beef and a Neck of Mutton, and boil them well in water and salt, then put in good store of Cabbage cut small, and some whole Spice, and when it is boiled enough, serve it in.
More pottage recipes being added daily! So do pop back soon! Let’s cook more pottages and keep British cooking history alive!