Medieval Chicken Soup | Chicken Potage | Medieval Meals Ep: 2

Medieval Meals Ep. 2 | Capon Pottage 🥘

It’s so easy to underestimate meals that were conceived centuries ago but this dish truly impressed me in every way. “Pottage” refers to any dish cooked in a pot. The limited resources of the peasants meant that their main cooking facility was the stewpot over fire, and this in turn meant that soups and pottages were considered common meals.

Researchers:
Igi Gomez
Vince Cariño

Resources:
Hieatt, C. B., Hosington, B., & Butler, S. (1996). Pleyn Delit: Medieval Cookery for Modern Cooks (2nd ed.). University of Toronto Press.
Tasting History with Max Miller

INGREDIENTS:

Pottage Capon:
1 Whole Capon, Large Chicken, Small Turkey
2 Cuts of Beef Shins
1 Cup Almonds, Peeled and Crushed
1/2 Cup White Wine
1/2 Cup Verjuce (or Sour Grape Juice, Alternatively: Lemon Juice)
4 inches Ginger
Hand Full Star Anise
1 tbsp Cardamom, Ground
1 tbsp Black Peppercorns, Ground

Almonds:
1/2 Cup of Almonds
Lard (Or Duck Fat) for Cooking

INSTRUCTIONS:
Slice your chicken into quarters, and add it into a pot with your beef shins. Add water and salt and boil the meat til the chicken is cooked through. After that remove the chicken from the broth but leave the beef shins inside to cook down for longer.
Ground peeled almonds to a fine paste and add it into the stewpot.
Crush green grapes in a bowl, and strain through a cheesecloth. Add the verjuice-like mixture into the stewpot along with some white wine.
In a mortar and pestle, grind together cardamom and cloves. This will act as a replacement for grains of paradise, but if you have some feel free to add those instead.
Add this spice mix into the stewpot, and allow it to simmer.
In a separate skillet, fry the chicken legs in duck fat, oil, or lard. After removing the chicken from the pan, toast some raw almonds using some of the residual oil and fat. Set those aside for later.
Shred the remainder of your chicken until it resembles strings of white chicken.
Top the chickens and almonds back into the pottage. Serve and enjoy!