Pottage

Pottage

An example of pottage.
Type	Stew
Place of origin	Great Britain
Main ingredients	Vegetables, grains, meat or fish

Pottage is an obsolete term for a thick soup or stew made by boiling vegetables, grains, and, if available, meat or fish,. As explained in The Oxford Companion to Food, it was a staple food for many centuries. The word pottage comes from the same Old French root as potage, meaning a similar dish of more recent origin.

Pottage commonly consisted of various ingredients easily available to serfs and peasants and could be kept over the fire for a period of days, during which time some of it was eaten and more ingredients added. The result was a dish that was constantly changing. Pottage consistently remained a staple of the poor's diet throughout most of 9th to 17th-century Europe. When wealthier people ate pottage, they would add more expensive ingredients such as meats. The pottage that these people ate was much like modern-day soups. This is similar to the Welsh cawl, which is a broth, soup or stew often cooked on and off for days at a time over the fire in a traditional inglenook.

In Nigeria the words pottage and porridge are synonymous, and it is consumed as a main meal. Nigerian yam pottage/porridge includes tomatoes and other culinary vegetables along with the yam. It may also have fish and/or other meat.

Pottage was typically boiled for several hours until the entire mixture took on a homogeneous texture and flavour; this was intended to break down complex starches and to ensure the food was safe for consumption. It was often served, when possible, with bread.