What is "pease porridge"? I always thought it was "peas porridge"?

Answer 1

It is. If you look at the spelling in the recipe below, you can see that we're lucky it resembles "pea" in any shape or form. The food predates standardized spelling.

Split Pea Soup.

Pease porridge hot,
Pease porridge cold,
Pease porridge in the pot
Nine days old.

A large kettle containing a thick porridge made of peas hung over the fire in many English and Scottish homes during the Middle Ages and was customary even in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Because few of the peasants could afford meat, they based their meals on pease porridge with an abundance of whatever vegetables were on hand. When the fire died down at night, the morning porridge was quite cold. Each day the fire was relit, and more peas and vegetables were added to the kettle. Indeed, the original ingredients in the kettle could have been nine days old.

Pease porridge actually evolved from Pease Pottage, a very thick porridge made of dried peas that was served with highly salted bacon. The pease porridge, cooked without salt, relied on the bacon for flavor.

http://www.vegparadise.com/highestperch52.html

Several cookbooks make reference to ingredients and preparation of the delicious green pea soup quoted below from one primary source, Two Fifteenth-century Cookery Books [Harleian ms 279, ab. 1420 A.D., Pottage , Dyverse, ij, Lange Wortes de pesoun].

Here's ye olde pease porridge recipe pasted from the website:

Split Pea Soup with Beans and Onions

"Lange wortes de pesoun:

Take grene pesyn, an washe hem clene an caste hem on a putte, an boyle hem tul they breste, an thanne take hem vyppe of the potte, an put hem with brothe yn a-nother potte, an lete hem kele; than draw hem thorw a straynowre in-to a fayre potte, an than take oynonys, an screde hem in to or three, an take hole wortys and boyle hem on a fayre bord, an cytte on iij or iiij, an key hem to the oynonys in the potte, to be drawyd pesyn; an let hem boyle tyl they ben tender; an thanne tak fayre oyle and frye hem, or ellys sm fresche brothe of sum maner fresche fysshe, an cast there-to, an safron, an salt a quantyte, and seruv it forth."

This seems to say: "Take green peas, and wash them clean and cast them in a pot, and boil then til they burst, and then take them up of the pot and put them with broth in another pot, and let them cool; then draw them through a strainer into a fair pot, and then take onions, and screde them in two or three, an take whole beans and boil them in fair water; and take then up, and lay them on a fair board, and cut in three or four, and key them to the onions in the pot, to be drawn peas; and let them boil til they be tender; and then take fair oil and fry them, or else some fresh broth of some manner fresh fish, and cast there-to, and safron, and salt a quantity, and serve it forth."

http://www.bordermarch.org/peasprrdge.htm

Answer 2

Pease pudding, sometimes known as pease pottage or pease porridge, is a baked vegetable product, which mainly consists of split yellow or Carlin peas, water, salt and spices, often cooked with a bacon or ham joint

Answer 3

pease porridge (also peasemeal porridge) - made from dried peas, traditionally English and Scottish