Cherry Sops and Hippocras
This week’s episode details some dishes that are very rarely found on your average menu. Indeed, the names of these dishes are a bit unfamiliar and sound more like good names for cats than for tasty treats. That unfamiliarity might render them a little suspect to modern diners. Still, their historical context makes them a bit like a culinary time machine, allowing us to step back into the past with each bite. They might not become a daily meal, but they are an exciting link to the way people ate in the early medieval period, and you may recognize them as the ancestors of later dishes, such as Welsh rabbit (a bit like a savoury sop) and Gluhwein (a later version of hippocras). Bon appetit - or should I say Prost! Salud! Sante! Cheers and Chin chin!
Cherry Sops
Ingredients
1 lb cherries
1/3 liter white wine
4 oz. butter (113 g) (and more for toasting bread)
1/4 cup sugar plus a few teaspoons for finishing
Loaf of Italian bread
Instructions
Melt four oz. butter in a saucepan, then add the wine. Bring to a boil, until wine has colored.
Add sugar and cherries to the wine and butter mixture. Cook for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it's a thick syrup. Watch to make sure it doesn't boil over.
Right before the cherries are done, fry bread slices in a skillet with butter.
Pour cherries on toasted bread and sprinkle with sugar.
Serve this straight away as a dessert. You could use blueberries or strawberries in place of cherries, and experiment with different white and rose wines. The wine doesn’t have to be the highest quality you can find - it is, after all, going to be cooked with a lot of sugar, fruit, and butter, so don’t waste your best bottle on this recipe. Now, is the resulting sops rich, boozy, and sweet? Yes - that’s the point! This is feasting food, not everyday fare. It would make a nice finishing touch to your Renaissance-themed Christmas party. What, doesn’t everyone have those?
Now we move on to the hippocras.
Hippocras
Ingredients:
1 bottle red wine (feel free to use cheap and cheerful plonk - the spices and sugar are, after all, meant to cover up not-so-good wine)
4 cinnamon sticks
2-inch piece of fresh ginger, sliced
2 slices of a whole nutmeg, or 1/4 t ground
4 whole cloves
4 black peppercorns
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1/3-1/2 c sugar (optional)
Instructions
Combine the wine, spices, and sugar if you are using it in a large container with a lid. You could use a water jug or a very large jar for this.
Cover tightly and let the wine infuse at room temperature for at least 24 hours before you plan to serve it. Strain out the spices before serving using a metal or cloth strainer.
Serve at room temperature in regular wine glasses.
Hippocras, like so many very old recipes, has many versions. You can try different combinations of additions to your wine, depending on your taste and what you have on hand. Cinnamon sticks, orange and lemon zest, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, fresh herbs like sage or thyme, dried fruit such as cranberries or apricots, and honey instead of sugar are all possible here. Of course, these additions will change the flavour of your hippocras. Keep in mind, too, that medieval taste buds appreciated sweet and savoury together, so don’t be alarmed by the presence of peppercorns or herbs alongside sweeter ingredients. Enjoy!
Jennifer