hutspot

[Victor Steinbok]

Dutch legend dates the origin of hutspot (a.k.a. hutsepot, carrot, onion
and potato mash--a particular type of stamppot) to the Spanish siege of
Leiden in 1574. This is interesting, considering how early this would
have been for potato to be considered a normal left-over food to be
thrown into a communal pot. But compare that to OED records for
"hotchpot" and "hodge-podge". In fact, OED etymology note for hotchpot
mentions hutspot:

> With sense A. 1 compare Dutch /hutspot/ (1527; < /hutsen/ to shake
> (see hotch v.) + /pot/ pot n.1, perhaps after Middle French /hochepot/).

So much for the Spanish potatoes!

Hotchpotch
> A. n.
> 1. A confused mixture of disparate things; a medley, a jumble.
> /c/1410 Chaucer /Melibeus/ (Harl. 7334) l. 2447, Èœe haue cast alle
> here wordes in an hochepoche.
> 1549 H. Latimer /2nd Serm. before Kynges Maiestie/ 3rd Serm. sig. Jii
> v, Germany was visited xx. yeares wyth goddes word, but they ... made
> a myngle mangle and a hotchpotch of it.
> ...
>
> 2. /Cookery/. A dish containing a mixture of many ingredients; /spec./
> a thick soup of barley, peas, and other vegetables, and sometimes
> meat. Also: a mutton and vegetable stew.
> 1567 A. Golding tr. Ovid /Metamorphosis/ (new ed.) v. f. 63v, Out she
> brought hir ... a Hotchpotch made of steeped Barlie browne And Flaxe
> and Coriander seede and other simples more.
> 1583 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin /Serm. on Deut./ lxxii. 443 We make a
> hotchpotch of halfe figges and half reysons as they say.
> ...
>
> B. adj.
> Confused, jumbled; inconsistent.
> 1556 J. Ponet /Apol./ vi. sig. Gviii v, And doth not D. Gardiner the
> like in his hotch potch book set out vnder the name of Marcus Antonius?
> 1613 S. Purchas /Pilgrimage/ 87 Of those Drusian Robbers ... and of
> this hotch-potch Religion.
> ...

Hotchpot
> A. n.
> 1. = hotchpotch n. 2.
> 1381 /Diuersa Servicia/ in C. B. Hieatt & S. Butler /Curye on
> Inglysch/ (1985) 66 For to make gees in hochepot ... schald hem ... &
> hew hem wel in gobettys ... and seþ hem in her owyn grees, and cast
> þerto wyn ... onyons ... and boyle yt.
> ?/c/1425 /Recipe/ in /Coll. Ordinances Royal Househ./ (1790) 432 Goos
> in Hochepot.
> 1530 J. Palsgrave /Lesclarcissement/ 233/1 Hotchepotte of many meates,
> /haricot/.
> 1591 R. Percyvall /Bibliotheca Hispanica/ Dict. at /Almodrote/, A
> hotchpot of garlicke and cheese.
> ...
>
> 2. /fig./ = hotchpotch n. 1.
> /c/1405 (1390) Chaucer /Melibeus/ (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 289 Ye han cast
> alle hire wordes in an hochepot [/c/1410 /Harl./, /c/1415 /Lansd./
> hoche poche].
> 1580 J. Bell tr. J. Foxe /Pope Confuted/ sig. H3v, Contrariwise those
> gracious fathers do so iumble and wrappe vp this grace of God ... in
> one hotchpot mingled as it were with their beggerly byhang decrees.
> 1588 J. Udall /Demonstr. Trueth of Discipline/ (Arb.) 4 Schismes, that
> make a hotchpot of true religion and poperye.
> 1622 C. Sibthorp /Friendly Advt. Pretended Catholickes/ ii. i. 72 For,
> what is Poperie ... but an Hotchpot, or Bundle of errors, and heresies.
> ...
>
> †B. adj.
> = hotchpotchadj. /Obs./
> 1588 A. Fraunce /Lawiers Logike/ Ded. sig. ¶3, That Hotchpot French,
> stufft vp with such variety of borowed words, wherein our law is written.
> 1619 H. Hutton /Follie's Anat./ sig. B4v, Let cease the clamor of thy
> hotchpot verse.
> ...

Hodge-podge
> 1. A dish made of a mixture of various kinds of meat, vegetables,
> etc., stewed together; a haricot; esp. in /Sc./ = hotchpotch n. 2.
> 1622 J. Mabbe tr. M. Alemán /Rogue/ ii. 275 A hodge~podge of boyled
> mutton, that was nothing but mammockes.
> ...
>
> 2. /contemptuous/. A clumsy mixture of ingredients.
> 1615 G. Sandys /Relation of Journey/ i. 65 Hodgpodges made of flower,
> milke, and hony.
> ...
> 3. a. A heterogeneous mass or agglomeration; a medley, farrago,
> gallimaufrey.[As to the origin of this sense compare hotchpot n. 2]
> /c/1426 J. Audelay /Poems/ (1931) 27 Cast ham in a hogpoch to-gedur
> fore to daunce.
> 1561 J. Daus tr. H. Bullinger /Hundred Serm. vpon Apocalips/ xx. 126
> Many at this day make an hogepotche of papistrie and the Gospell.
> 1579 E. K. in Spenser /Shepheardes Cal./ Ep. Ded., They haue made our
> English tongue a gallimaufray or hodge~podge of al other speches.
> ...

The reason I bring this up is because early French cookbooks (in
English--French food, that is, not written in French) have a "hochepot"
sauce. [More on this book later.]

http://goo.gl/VWIOJ
> No 79.--/Le Hochepot. /
> /Tournez/some carrots, and blanch them, in winter time. When they are
> as yet new, that however may be dispensed with. Fry them white in a
> little butter, /mouillez /with the /Espagnole /and a little sugar.
> Give, them a good seasoning, skim the grease, and serve up.

On one hand, most vegetable cooking, in this book, is relegated to the
Sauce and Soup sections (everything else deals with protein cooking). On
the other hand, there is no question that this dish is related to
hutspot. To make it even more odd, the Dutch distinguish between summer
(peen) and winter (wortel) carrots. The winter carrots look like the
orange version of a large daikon--sort of a cross between a carrot and a
rutabaga (1.5-2.5 in. in diameter and over 1 ft in length). Of course,
no seasonal distinction is meaningful these days, but the traditional
division perseveres. But also note that Ude makes the winter/summer
carrot distinction--something that would only occur to someone for whom
these represent different items. (Of course, he could just be saying
that the late, large carrots stored for the winter in the cellar would
be tougher and less flavorful, but even then the distinction should not
be discarded.) The Dutch Wiki page clearly refers to hutspot being made
with both peen (pl. penen) and wortel carrots, although Wiki itself does
not offer any recipe tips (and, unlike the English version, the Dutch
version has a Wiki-cookbook!). We have winter squash and summer
squash--and the distinction is not trivial (the particular types of
squashes have very different names). So I am also curious if English
ever had different expressions for summer and winter carrots, a la Dutch.

VS-)

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