Creepy Cuisine: Cat Soup

¿Sopa de gato? The first time I heard someone reference the dish, I was incredulous, so I repeated it. ¿Sopa de gato?

Image Source: http://imgfave.com/view/1115755

I thought about it for a moment. Cat soup? Cat soup?! Maybe they meant some hipster thing where someone actually was marketing soup for cats. It had to be! The alternative was horrifying.

¿Sopa de gato?

Not sure whether it’d be worse if it turned into some sort of racist rant or a sick joke about cruelty to animals, the images it conjured were truly horrific.

But it turns out that sopa de gato (literally cat soup) is neither soup nor made of kittens. Legend has it that the dish was born out of blockades created while the city of Cádiz was besieged by marauding pirates. In my mind, I summarized that the pirates created the cat soup, because it was a lot to take in while in a state of culinary shock...

(Obviously, I thought to myself, these must have been male pirates, because female pirates would've understood the true value of a cat--beyond the witchy one--and never make soup out of them! And speaking of female pirates, if I do NaNoWrimo this year, I may be adding to my steampunkish tale and the time-travelling descendants of Granuaile. Just for fun, check out more about female pirates here http://www.wonderslist.com/10-notorious-female-pirates-in-history/)

Cádiz is a port city in the south of Spain, a small peninsula surrounded by water, and as pirates attacked the town in the 16^th century its residents were left with limited resources to feed themselves. You can make cat's soup as comfort food now, but then it was peasant food borne of necessity.

image source: http://cadenaser.com/ser/2014/02/19/gastro/1392817387_534321.html

Sopa de Gato (Cat Soup)

(original recipe source: https://andalusiancountrykitchen.com/2014/05/21/cats-soup-sopa-de-gato/)

Ingredients

3-5 cloves of garlic (or more to taste)

extra virgin olive oil for sautéing

1/2 loaf day old bread, sliced thinly

sea salt

water (about 5 tablespoons or more for a soggier version)

finely chopped parsley

Method

In an oven-friendly saucepan or casserole, fry the slices of bread in olive oil until golden on both sides. In a separate pan, gently fry the garlic in more olive oil until pale gold, adding a little salt and water (or stock) after a minute or two to prevent the garlic from burning. (Some recipes call for the garlic to boil in the liquid.)

Pour the garlic mixture into the pan with the bread and place in a hot oven. Bake until the bread is golden. (I suggest baking at about 400-degrees for 5-8 minutes, or run under the broiler for 3-5 minutes.) 

Serve sprinkled with the parsley.

Andalusian Country Kitchen suggests enriching the dish by adding beaten eggs and sheep’s cheese stirred into the mixture before letting it bubble over in the oven.

Image source: http://www.asopaipas.com/2010/11/sopas-de-gato.html

Essentially we are talking about bread slices, moistened by stock and seasoned by sautéed garlic—meant to fool the stomach into believing it had a full meal. But you need not stick to the original, meager recipe; you may add herbs and spices, and adorn the dish with shredded cheese or root vegetables, sprinkle with bacon bits or shredded carnitas. Be daring!

Image Source: http://ecijagastronomica.blogspot.com/2013/06/sopa-de-gato_17.html

Why sopa de gato? Maybe they were trying to psyche out the pirates with the name (more horrifying than cannibals?). Maybe it was a misheard phrase and someone butchered sopa de ajo (garlic soup). I don’t really know. But admit it, that is one creepy dish to add to your Halloween menu!