Forms: α. 8 -zootje, -zuche, -zouchee, -zoochey, 9 -zootie, -zuchée, -zoutchee; β. 8 -sokey; γ. 8 -soochy, -sutchy, -sousee, 9 -souchee, souchet, 8–9 -suchy, -souchy. [a. Du. waterzootje, f. water WATER sb. + zootje, zoodje boiling (of fish), dim. of zode boiling, related by ablaut to zieden SEETHE v. A solitary example of MF. soucié (a. Du. zootje) is given by Godefroy.
The form sokey is prob. due to association with SOAK v.; the form souchet seems to be pseudo-Fr.]
Fish (properly perch) boiled and served in its own liquor.
1731. Fielding, Grub St. Opera, III. xi. An Irishman loves potatoes;… a Dutchman, waterzuche.
1736. Bailey, Househ. Dict., s.v. Soochy, A Water Soochy, a Dish of Perch dressed after the Holland fashion.
1737. [G. Smith], Cur. Relat., I. 214. I then order’d a couple of Chickens to be roasted, and a Water Zootje (boild Perch) to be made.
1747. Mrs. Glasse, Cookery, ix. 90. Water-Sokey.
1756. Mrs. Calderwood, in Coltness Collect. (Maitl. Club), 155. A gentleman … desired him to show him the way of dressing a water-sutchy.
1762. Ann. Reg., II. 34. His water souchy was borrowed from Marshal d’Auverquerque’s table, when he was first in Holland.
1763. Gentl. Mag., XXXIII. 221/2. Gentry from London, who come to feast on water sousee [at Dorking].
1769. Pennant, Brit. Zool., III. 212. The Dutch are particularly fond of it [the perch] when made into a dish called Water Souchy.
1769. Mrs. Raffald, Eng. Housekpr. (1778), 37. To dress Perch in Water Sokey.
1775. T. Bridges, Dutchman, I. vi. 22 Song. Myn[heer]. Water Zouchee is a Dish In the foremost Rank of Fish.
1779. Warner, in Jesse, Selwyn & Contemp. (1844), IV. 290. Pray tell me how you choose to have the perch dressed, in a water-zoochey, or plain boiled.
1826. Margravine of Anspach, Mem., II. 282. The Dutch are phlegmatic, from their fondness for water-zooties.
1842. Barham, Ingol. Leg., Sir Rupert. How she Apologised much for their plain water-souchy.
1846. Soyer, Cookery, 135. Flounders, Water Souchet.
1847. Disraeli, Tancred, II. xv. A fish dinner!… terrines of turtle, pools of water souchee.
1848. W. F. Campbell, Life in Normandy (1863), II. 1. A very rich variety of water zoutchee.
1848. Thackeray, Bk. Snobs, xx. Go and reclaim your rights over bowls of water-souchy.
1862. Ld. W. Lennox, Recreat. Sportsm., II. 206. ‘Eels stewed, boiled, and spitchcocked,’ ‘perch water zuchée,’ said the waiter, as the tureens and dishes were uncovered.
1863. Miss Braddon, Aurora Floyd, xvi. A day on which stern business men … rush wildly to the Crown and Sceptre, to cool their overheated systems with water souchy and still hock.
Comb. 1816. Gifford, B. Jonson’s Wks., III. 300. Our days have witnessed an attempt to revive the Collegiates—but this was a water-suchy club, merely ridiculous.
b. By Walpole jocularly used for: A sodden mass (said of a ruined hay or corn crop).
1769. H. Walpole, Lett. to Cole, 26 June. My hay is an absolute water soochy. Ibid. (1784), Lett. to H. S. Conway, 30 June. ’Tis very dear to make nothing but a water-souchy of it [the hay-crop]. Ibid. (1784), Lett. to Earl of Strafford, 7 Sept. It was cruel to behold such expanse of corn everywhere, and yet see it all turned to a water-souchy. Ibid. (1789), Lett. to Miss Mary Berry, 30 June.
Hence (back-formation) Water-zoutch v. trans. To stew (flounders, etc.) in just enough water to cover them. rare–1.
1846. Smart, Dict., Suppl., To Zoutch v. … Hence Water-zouched, a.
1861. J. Brown, Horæ Subsec., Ser. II. 7. Dinners at Lovegrove’s with founders water-zoutched, and iced claret.
