[1] The word derives from the Anglo-Norman and Middle French hochepot, "a dish containing a mixture of many ingredients, especially a kind of stew made with minced beef or goose and various vegetables".
A 16th-century reference occurs in Arthur Golding's version of Metamorphoses: "Out she brought hir a Hotchpotch made of steeped Barlie browne And Flaxe and Coriander seede and other simples more".
[1] In The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (1780), Hannah Glasse specifies a mixture of diced beef, veal and mutton; the vegetables are turnip, celery, carrot and lettuce, and, when in season, peas.
[5] In her 1788 book The Lady's Complete Guide; Or Cookery in All its Branches, Mary Cole does not call for mixed meats, but gives recipes for hodge podges based on either beef, mutton, veal, hare or turtle, with onions and a variety of other vegetables such as a turnips, carrots, leeks and celery.
[10] A recipe from the 1924 volume of American Cookery calls for "at least four different kinds" of meat, such as lamb, beef, smoked ham, chicken or other combination, simmered with lettuce, chives, celery and butter.
[12] A Yorkshire version, more a stew than a soup, calls for mutton or lamb cooked in water, added to a braised mixture of onions, carrots, turnips and celery and simmered before serving.