Name: Oyle Soppys: Medieval Onion and Ale Soup
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: Medieval English
Ingredients: 4 large onions, sliced; 8 cups ale or beer; 1/4 cup olive oil; Generous pinch of saffron; 1 tablespoon sugar; 1 teaspoon black pepper; 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste; 8 slices sturdy bread, toasted

Oyle Soppys, a medieval onion and ale soup from Harleian MS 279 served over toasted bread sops

Oyle Soppys, or Oil Sops, a medieval onion and ale soup from Harleian MS 279

Published: December 24, 2015
Updated: June 18, 2026

Few recipes in Harleian MS 279 demonstrate the ingenuity of medieval cooks quite as clearly as Oyle Soppys. Built from onions, ale, bread, oil, and a handful of seasonings, this fifteenth-century onion soup transforms simple household ingredients into a satisfying and economical first course.

When researching medieval pottages, two recipes immediately caught my attention: Soupes Dorroy and Oyle Soppys. Both recipes begin with onions, yet they produce remarkably different dishes. Soupes Dorroy relies upon wine and almond milk to create a rich golden broth, while Oyle Soppys turns instead to ale, producing a humbler but no less interesting soup.

At first glance, Oyle Soppys appears almost too simple to merit attention. There are no elaborate garnishes, expensive meats, or complex preparations. Yet recipes like this offer an important reminder that medieval cooks spent far more time preparing practical daily meals than creating the grand dishes that often dominate modern discussions of historical food.

The result is a medieval onion and ale soup that reveals not only what people ate, but how cooks stretched common ingredients into nourishing meals suitable for households, travelers, and large feasts.

Bread, Ale, and Everyday Medieval Life

Bread and ale were among the most important foods of medieval England. By the fifteenth century they appeared at nearly every table regardless of social status. Wealthier households might enjoy finer wheat breads and stronger or better-quality ales, but nearly everyone consumed some form of both on a daily basis.

Their importance was great enough that both products were regulated under the Assize of Bread and Ale, one of England's earliest food laws. First issued during the thirteenth century, the Assize established standards for the weight, quality, and sale of bread while also regulating the price of ale. The existence of such legislation shows just how central these foods were to everyday life.

Oyle Soppys brings these staples together in a single dish. Ale forms the foundation of the broth, while toasted bread serves as the sop that absorbs the liquid before serving.

Modern diners often think of bread as something served alongside soup. Medieval cooks frequently treated bread as part of the dish itself.

What Are Sops?

The word sop refers to bread soaked in liquid before serving. Medieval recipes frequently instruct cooks to place toasted bread in a bowl and cover it with broth, wine, milk, sauce, or another seasoned liquid.

The practice appears throughout medieval cookery. Bread could add texture, stretch expensive ingredients, thicken liquids, or simply provide a convenient way to serve a meal. In Oyle Soppys, the toasted bread absorbs the onion and ale broth, becoming an integral part of the finished dish rather than a side accompaniment.

Kitchen Note: If you enjoy thick, bread-rich soups, let the toasted bread sit under the broth for a minute or two before serving. If you prefer more texture, add part of the toast just before eating.

Why Ale?

One detail that often surprises modern readers is the instruction to use stale ale.

"A gode quantite of Stale Ale, as .iij. galouns."

To modern ears, stale ale sounds unpleasant. Medieval cooks, however, were not necessarily referring to spoiled drink. More likely, the phrase describes ale that had aged, lost its freshness, or gone flat enough that it was no longer preferred for drinking.

Using older ale in cookery allowed households to make practical use of an important commodity rather than waste it. Ale appears in numerous medieval recipes and was frequently used in pottages, sauces, and stews. Oyle Soppys provides an excellent example of how beer could move from the drinking vessel into the cooking pot.

The Importance of Onions

The true star of this recipe is not the ale but the onion.

Onions were among the most common vegetables available to medieval cooks. They stored well through the winter, transported easily, and provided flavor at relatively low cost. Rich households and modest households alike relied upon onions as a kitchen staple.

The recipe's instruction to use "a gode quantyte of Oynonys" suggests that onions were intended to provide both flavor and substance. Combined with bread and ale, they create a surprisingly hearty dish from remarkably simple ingredients.

The Original Recipe

The recipe for Oyle Soppys appears in Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books, edited by Thomas Austin, from Harleian MS 279.

.xxxiij. Oyle Soppys. - Take a gode quantyte of Oynonys, an mynse hem not to smale, an sethe in fayre Water : þan take hem vp, an take a gode quantite of Stale Ale, as .iij. galouns, an þer-to take a pynte of Oyle fryid, an caste þe Oynonys þer-to, an let boyle alle to-gederys a gode whyle ; then caste þer-to Safroune, powder Pepyr, Sugre, an Salt, an serue forth alle hote as tostips, as in þe same maner for a Mawlard & of a capon.

Translation

Take a good quantity of onions and mince them not too small. Boil them in clean water, then remove them. Take a good quantity of stale ale, about three gallons, and add a pint of oil. Add the onions and allow everything to boil together for a good while. Then add saffron, pepper, sugar, and salt. Serve hot over toasted bread.

Translation Note: The Mystery of "Oyle Fryid"

One phrase in this recipe has puzzled translators and historical cooks for years:

"oyle fryid"

When I first prepared this dish, I chose to interpret the phrase as referring to oil added cold rather than oil used as a frying medium. At the time, that interpretation was based on similarities between the manuscript spelling and words related to Old French freid, frait, freit, and froit, all meaning cold and ultimately giving rise to modern French froid.

The medieval culinary manuscripts themselves provide additional evidence. Several recipe titles use related spellings in connection with cold almond dishes:

Froyde Almoundys - Harleian MS 279, Potage Dyvers, xj
Fride Creme of Almaundys - Harleian MS 279, Potage Dyvers, xij
Froyte de Almondes - Harleian MS 4016, recipe 111
Fried Creme de Almondes - Harleian MS 4016, recipe 112

These examples demonstrate that spellings such as froyde, froyte, fride, and fried could be associated with cold preparations rather than frying. Cindy Renfrow's glossary in Take a Thousand Eggs or More similarly notes that fraid and fryid may mean either "fried" in the sense of already used or prepared, or "cold" from the French froid.

Thomas Austin, editor of Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books, further observed that French culinary terms were frequently altered by medieval scribes, specifically noting that readers might not immediately recognize "Froide as Fryit."

Taken together, the Old French linguistic evidence, the parallel recipe titles, Austin's editorial observations, and Renfrow's glossary provide substantial support for interpreting oyle fryid as oil added cold. While medieval spellings are not always consistent and absolute certainty remains impossible, the evidence strongly supports the cold-oil interpretation used in this reconstruction.

Historical Interpretation Note: I have preserved my original interpretation of oyle fryid as cold oil, but the 2026 update strengthens the note with additional linguistic, manuscript, and glossary evidence.

Modern Reconstruction: Oyle Soppys

Serves: 8
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

4 large onions, sliced
8 cups ale or beer
1/4 cup olive oil
Generous pinch of saffron
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
8 slices sturdy bread, toasted

Method

Place the sliced onions in a large saucepan and cover them with water.
Bring to a simmer and cook until the onions are tender.
Drain the onions and set them aside.
In a soup pot, combine the ale, olive oil, saffron, sugar, salt, and pepper.
Add the cooked onions to the ale mixture.
Simmer gently for approximately 15 minutes.
Place one slice of toasted bread into each serving bowl.
Ladle the hot onion and ale broth over the toast.
Serve immediately.

Kitchen Notes

My original kitchen test was prepared as a much smaller two-serving batch. I liked this soup, although I found it a bit bland in its original tested form. My teenage non-SCA taste testers also enjoyed it, and as I was typing up the original post, they were finishing it.

The one thing I would do differently is cook the onions directly in the ale instead of boiling them in water first. The manuscript instructs the cook to boil the onions separately and then add them to the ale, and that method is reflected in the reconstruction above. However, simmering the onions directly in the ale gives the finished soup a deeper onion flavor.

The saffron contributes more color than flavor in this amount. The pepper carries most of the seasoning, while the sugar softens the sharper edges of the ale and onions.

Modern Cooking Suggestion: For a stronger onion flavor, skip the first water-boil and simmer the onions directly in the ale. This is a modern preference rather than a strict reading of the manuscript.

The Steward's Table

Need to scale this recipe up or down?

This modern reconstruction is written for approximately 8 servings. Oyle Soppys scales especially well because it is built from simple ingredients: onions, ale, oil, seasoning, and bread.

Use The Steward's Table to resize the recipe for a smaller household meal, a dayboard, or a larger feast course.

Scaling Notes for the Tool:

Base Yield: 8 servings
Best Use: Pottages & First Course
Scales: Easily
Watch: Salt, pepper, saffron, and bread texture
Service Tip: Toast the bread separately and add it close to service so the sops do not collapse before reaching the table.

The original recipe calls for three gallons of ale, a pint of oil, and a good quantity of onions, making it clear that the dish was intended to scale. For modern service, I would use the recipe above as the base entry in The Steward's Table and adjust from there.

Because the recipe contains no meat stock, dairy, or eggs, it can also serve as a flexible option for diners with dietary restrictions. The main caution is the ale itself. For a modern event, cooks should clearly label the dish as containing alcohol unless using a non-alcoholic beer or alternate broth.

Final Thoughts

Oyle Soppys may not have the richness of Soupes Dorroy or the drama of more elaborate medieval dishes, but that is exactly what makes it valuable. It shows the practical side of medieval cookery: onions, ale, oil, bread, and seasonings transformed into a warm and filling dish.

Recipes like this remind us that the medieval table was not made only of spectacle. It was also made of careful household management, economical ingredients, and cooks who knew how to make something satisfying from what was already close at hand.

And then there is that tiny manuscript puzzle, "oyle fryid," sitting in the middle of the recipe like a little ink-stained gremlin. Whether it means cold oil, heated oil, or something else entirely, it invites us to look more closely at the text, the language, and the choices medieval cooks made in the kitchen.

Sources

This article was originally published on December 24, 2015, and was updated on June 18, 2026. The update preserves the original kitchen testing while expanding the historical context, translation discussion, feast notes, and modern recipe structure.

AI-assisted editing and research support were used in the 2026 update. Final interpretation, recipe testing history, and editorial decisions remain my own.

Oyle Soppys (Oil Sops): Medieval Onion Soup Recipe with Ale | Harleian MS 279