Scottish Cooking

From Bawd Bree to Partan Bree- a distinctive culinary repertoire awaits the traveler to Scotland, and those who associate Scottish cooking with such deadly sounding dishes as haggis and black bun is in for a pleasant surprise. Blessed with a wealth of natural produce from its rich land and teeming waters, Scotland has developed a culinary repertoire of exceptional quality and variety. Partridge, grouse and pheasant from the rolling moorlands, venison from the red deer running wild in the mountains, salmon and trout from Highland rivers, succulent beef from the Aberdeen Angus herds, shellfish of all kinds - with ingredients like these, only a truly lamentable cook could fail to come up with a feast.

City folk tend to look back to bygone days when the streets of the larger Scottish cities rang to the cries of ‘oyster wives’ and vendors of everything from hot peas to Het Pints - a brew of ale, eggs and whisky flavoured with nutmeg and sold from a steaming copper kettle. Those were the times when a fish dinner, including ale and perhaps a dozen oysters, cost little more than one cigarette does now. As far back as the thirteenth century, salmon was so plentiful that it was pickled for export to London to be fed to the poor, and only a hundred years ago servants in big houses had contracts stipulating that it was to be served to them no more than three times a week.

But those are bygone days indeed. The allure of traditional Scottish fare, however, has carried through to modern times in all but price. Breakfast and tea have a special place in Scottish cooking, and the visitor who might think of these meals as something light has another think coming. It was Dr. Samuel Johnson who wrote: ‘If an epicure could remove by a wish in quest of sensual gratification, he would breakfast in Scotland.’ Oatmeal is still a staple of the national diet, and certainly most of the older people start the day with a bowl of porridge - flavoured with salt, not sugar, please. Then come the soft warm rolls known as baps, kippered herring from Loch Fyne or smoked haddock (‘smokies’) from Aberdeen and Arbroath, scones and oatcakes with heather honey, jams, jellies and marmalade, claimed by Scots as their own invention. Tea is the occasion for another mammoth spread of cold meats and eggs, potato scones, crunchy shortbread and such delicacies as Dundee cake, a fruity concoction strewn with almonds.

There is much advice around on the making of tea from this nation whose "other" national drink it has been for more than two centuries. The only thing to be repeated about the making of tea, is the adage from the side of the Victorian teapot:

'Those who love good tea
Must please remember me
Be sure allow the water to boil
Then the tea you will not spoil'.

To which can be added - use freshly drawn water. Water re-boiled is only fit for washing up. The following advice is also worth remembering about keeping a pot of tea going and producing more cups:

'Do not drain the pot dry and then fill it up again; fill half the cups at a time and replace in the teapot the water you have taken from it; always with boiling water'.

An elaborate dinner or late supper will bring out the smoked salmon, rich dark venison or feathered game, roast beef or tender mutton, perhaps lobster from the Firth of Forth. Auld Alliance, a savoury of creamed cheese laced with whisky and served with hot buttered toast, can be a superb climax to the meal.

The visitor who comes across haggis or black bun should not be put off by the unappetizing names. Haggis consists of the heart, liver and lights of a sheep, cooked with oatmeal and onions inside its stomach bag. Hard to believe, but it’s delicious. Black bun, also known as Scotch bun, is a cake made with raisins, currants, almonds, ginger, cinnamon and brandy.

The names of many Scottish delicacies are nothing if not colourful. A few examples: Bawd Bree (hare soup), Bubblyjock (roast turkey), Cock-a-Leekie (chicken and leek soup), Inky-Pinky (beef and carrot stew), Stovies (sliced potatoes cooked with onions and lamb) and Melting Moments (biscuits in rolled oats).

One US cup is equivalent to 250 ml or 8 fl. oz.
A level teaspoon equates to 5 ml;
a level dessertspoon equates to 10 ml
and a level tablespoon is equal to 15 ml.

The U.S. pint is 16 fluid ounces, and not 20 fl.oz like the British Imperial pint.

1 U.S. cup = 8 fl.oz = 250 ml
1 British cup = 10 fl.oz = 300 ml
The teaspoon and tablespoon measurements are the same.
1 teaspoon = 5 ml
1 tablespoon = 15 ml
1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons