BISQUE.

haute cuisine or soup du jour?

From the dawn of stone age implements to the height of culinary technique, man has enjoyed his soup. During the early days of hunters and gatherers the skill of making pottery was learned and passed on through nomadic tribes. The formation of such pot

vessels increased the dining repertoire of Mesopotamia man-boiling now an option--hot pots of soupy contents were possible. Archaeological researchers in Switzerland unearthed early forms of pottery, the contents of which, revealed a recipe for a type of berry, wheat, nut, and fish porridge (Acton). In Asia, soupy elixirs were brewed to heal any collection of ailments. Cooking vessels vastly improved during the Bronze Age as the craft of making the vessels took on more artistic qualities. The porridges and soups of ancient Rome are some of the earliest recorded recipes. Pultes tractogalatae or milk soup, a combination of dried dough, milk, and honey, was a staple. Varieties of kale, barley, and vegetable soups enriched with mulsum, a honey-wine, were also among the culinary delights in Pompeii. By the Middle Ages, "porridges" were the rage in Europe. Combinations of oats and milk gradually gave way to fragrant herb and spice gruels of nuts, meat, and seafood. One such dish, le stockfish originated in the late 1400s with the arrival of seafaring traders from Norway who brought with them salted, dried cod. The stew of soaked cod, egg, butter, cream, and a generous amount of oil became popular in the coastal provinces of southern France (Pitt-Rivers 11). Until the 1600s these soup-like meals eaten from bread vessels were common fare. Though chicken was the meat of choice, mainstay potages were studded with beef, pork, swan, stork, peacock, crane, and even whale (Kiple and Ornelas 1211). Originally, bisque was used to describe any highly spiced dish of boiled meat or game (Montagne 99). The 1690 publication of Antoine Furetiere's Dictionaire universal documents this definition:

An exquisite soup made with the several pigeons, chickens, offals, lamb jus, and other good ingredients, it is no wonder it was served on the table of grand Sirs. The word bisque comes from the word "bis cocta" or greyish-casserole, because it is made with many offal tidbits, it is necessary to cook the offals separately before they are combined and cooked together. A fish bisque is made from a forcemeat of carp, carp eggs, carp milk, and shrimp.