Who poured the boiling soup on the head of the Savoyard?

Legend has it that a certain Huguenot, Catherine Royaume, who had sought refuge in Geneva after the Saint Bartholomew’s Day massacre, threw a pot of her boiling vegetable soup on the head of a Savoyard soldier as he and his mates were trying to besiege Geneva. This happened during the night of 11-12 December 1602. Ever since, she has been known as the Mère Royaume, or “Mother Royaume.”

Photo courtesy of FotoSearch.

And ever since, 12 December has been a day of celebration, referred to as the Escalade, which means literally “climbing,” as in rock climbing. In 1602, Geneva was surrounded by high stone ramparts and circled by several concentric high stone walls, so the poor guy who had the boiling soup poured over his head already had a hard day of climbing behind him.

Ingredients in La Mère Royaume’s cast iron cauldron

Geneva was quite a different place then. According to the food La Cocagne cooperative, people ate vegetable soup at every meal, so there was always a big iron cauldron or marmite on the fire. The vegetables changed according to the season, and on special occasions or Sundays, the more fortunate threw a piece of meat into the pot. Times were often hard after the arrival of the Huguenots and other Protestants, so the Genevois started importing rice from Italy and lentils from all over to help fill all the refugee bellies.

The vegetable soup of a cold December in 1602 was quite different from any vegetable soup we would eat today. It was not a velouté or a bouillon with a few drops of truffle oil. There was no fresh green asparagus imported from Peru.

Instead, it consisted of the vegetables available within a very restricted area around Geneva. For instance, there were no potatoes, because even though potatoes had been brought from the Andes and North America as early as 1536, they hadn’t yet reached Geneva. And carrots were white, probably what we call parsnips or panais today.

La Cocagne’s recipe for Escalade vegetable soup

So if we want to imagine what the typical soup of 1602 was, says La Cocagne, we might use a head of cabbage, two onions, a turnip, 4 or 5 leeks, 4 or 5 parsnips, a little spinach, 200 grams/7 oz. of lentils, 200 grams/7 oz. of rice, and 250 grams/8.8 oz. of pork belly or lard.

They say to start by dicing the vegetables and the pork belly or lard and shredding the spinach.

In a large soup pot, brown the pork, onions lentils, and rice. Add the rest of the vegetables, except the spinach. Cover with water. Add salt and pepper.

When the vegetables are all tender to your liking, add the spinach. When the spinach has wilted, the soup is ready to eat. Adjust seasoning.

Put a hefty slice of whole grain bread in a soup bowl, and cover the bread with the soup.

To add a little “oomph” and modernize this bland soup

Purist that I am, I tried the 1602 recipe, cutting down on the pork fat I must admit, and it was a bit bland for modern tastes.

If you aren’t a purist, and especially if you have high cholesterol, I would suggest you cut the fat and give a little life to the 1602 recipe. You can still use local, seasonal vegetables, but you might want to add a bit of “oompf” to your probably not cast iron pot.

OPAGE, the office for promoting Geneva agricultural products, gives a list of what local products are available at the moment. I just went to the market on Saturday, so I would add celery root, kohlrabi, and potatoes to their list, along with the vegetables listed in the recipe above. If you add cardoons, count on a longer cooking time. You can add other kinds of dried beans, or a mixture of dried beans, but take soaking and cooking times into account.

And the Huguenots and Protestant work ethic have long ago made Geneva a rich city, so we can afford to add a large chunk of stewing beef to liven it up, and maybe chives or other herbs, which are still plentiful in the farmers markets.

If you want to remain at least a little authentic, I would steer away from summer vegetables, such as Mediterranean mixes.

Eating Escalade soup is more symbolic than anything, but you still want it to taste good!

Related links: La Cocagne (in French).

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