Deep-Fried Mars Bars are battered and fried chocolate bars. The chocolate bars used are Mars Bars — caramel and nougat covered in chocolate. The batter used is the same batter as is used for fish and chips. The caramel and chocolate melts; the batter holds it together. The fat used for the deep-frying is usually…
Scottish Food
Deep-Fried Pizza
Deep-Fried Pizza is pizza which is deep-fried before serving to customers. Its spiritual home is Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland. In Scotland, it is made at fish and chip shops (“chippies”) from an uncooked frozen personal-size pizza, the kind that you would normally bring home from the supermarket and pop into the oven for a few…
Digestive Biscuits
Digestive Biscuits are made from a mix of coarse wholewheat and white flours. They are firm, but still soft (rather than being crisp, like Crackers or Water Biscuits.) The biscuits are semi-sweet. They can be served as a sweet (you can even buy them already covered with milk chocolate), or you can use the plain…
Drambuie
Drambuie is a golden coloured liqueur based on aged scotch whisky (Talisker brand), honey and herbs and spices. Among the flavouring, experts figure, is lemon, saffron and sugar; its colour may come from the saffron. It is 40% alcohol. It can be drunk on its own, straight-up or on ice, or used as a mixer…
Drambuie Cream
Note: as of 2004, Drambuie Cream is a defunct product. Drambuie Cream is a liqueur made in Broxburn, Scotland by the Glenard company, as a joint venture between Scottish companies Glenmorangie and The Drambuie Liqueur Company Ltd 17% alcohol, it has actual dairy cream (stabilized) in it, along with honey. It is very sweet and…
Ecclefechan Butter Tarts
Ecclefechan butter tarts are Scottish tarts made with melted butter, brown sugar, egg, white vinegar, and nuts and / or currants. Canadian butter tarts and American pecan tassies are later variants
Elizabeth Craig
Elizabeth Craig was a prolific 20th century cookbook writer, writing over 40 books. She was Scottish but worked most of her career in England.
Farls
Farls are thin, flat bread shaped like a triangle. The base of the triangle is actually rounded slightly, such that if you fit four of them together, you more or less make a circle. They are made from wheat flour (white or whole wheat) or oatmeal. There will be a leavener in the mixture, such…
Finnan Haddock
Finnan Haddock is haddock processed in Finnan, north of Arbroath in Scotland, 5 miles (8 km) south of Aberdeen. The haddock are headed, cleaned, split open (but not de-boned) and soaked in 175 F (80 C) brine for 7 to 15 minutes, depending on the fish size. They are then cold-smoked at 75 to 80…
Girdle
A girdle is like a griddle, in that it’s a flat cooking surface, but instead of being set on top of the heat source, it’s hung over it. A girdle was used for “baking” items such as bannock and scones. You cook the items on it, as you would a pancake.
Glorious 12th
On the 12th of August, grouse season starts in England and Scotland. The date has been set in law since the Game Act of 1831.
Gordon Ramsay
Gordon Ramsay is a celebrity chef and cookbook author in England. He is as well-known for his temper as he is for his cooking and his spats with other food personalities.
Haggis
Haggis is a very large, rounded sausage stuffed with oats and offal. It is cooked by steaming, and often served at festival occasions in Scotland.
Hattit Kit
Hattit Kit is a Scottish dessert made from milk with sugar and a flavouring such as cinnamon or nutmeg. It is essentially a fresh, soft-curd cheese. In its preparation, it is very similar to Crème Fraîche. To make the “genuine” recipe, you would use unpasteurized milk. Variants may call for (unpasteurized) sour cream. More modern…
Hogmanay
The 31st December, Hogmanay, is New Year’s Eve in Scotland. After midnight, dark-haired men set out to “first foot” houses with gifts of whisky and an oatmeal bannock.
IRN BRU: A Scottish Soft Drink
IRN BRU is an orangey-rust coloured, fizzy, sweet Scottish soft drink. It tastes like a cross between bubble gum and cream soda. It comes in cans, and glass and plastic bottles. The bottles are 750ml, with a 20p deposit on them (as of 2005.) A bottle size sold in America is 500ml, on a trial…
John Lawson Johnston
John Lawson Johnston Vanity Fair Magazine 1897 Life and Times John Lawson Johnston was the inventor of Bovril. He was born in Roslin, Scotland (of Da Vinci Code fame) on 28 September 1839. His parents were William Johnston and Jane McWilliam. John grew up to become a butcher. Chronology of his life 1863 — At the age…
Krappin and Stap
Krappin and Stap is a Shetland Islands savoury dish. The Krappin part is a stuffing made from oatmeal and fish liver. The stuffing is usually used to stuff either the cleaned cavity or head of a fish. Stap is livers from haddock, boiled, mixed with boiled meat from the head of the fish, and served…
Lorne Sausage
Lorne Sausage © Denzil Green Lorne Sausage is a Scottish sausage that instead of being pressed into a tubular sausage skin, is pressed into a loaf form with no casing on it. It can be made of mutton, pork, pork and beef, or beef, along with cereals and spices. In Scotland, it is sold sliced,…
Marymass
The 15th of August is Marymass in Scotland. It is a festival marking the start of the harvest.
Neeps
Neeps is a Scottish term for cooked swede, diced or mashed. It is usually cooked by boiling, but can be steamed or microwaved. Sources Smillie, Susan. Are ‘neeps’ swedes or turnips? Manchester: The Guardian. 25 January 2010.
Partan Bree
Partan Bree is Scottish crab soup. You need 1 large crab, or ½ pound of crabmeat (frozen or canned.) Lobster may be used instead. The crab is cooked first, and the meat cleaned off it, with the white claw meat keep separate. The meat is set aside. Rice is then boiled in milk until tender….
Pope’s Eye
In Scotland, a Pope’s Eye is a beef steak cut from the Round at the top of the leg. Though it’s a pretty tough cut, it is sold for frying or grilling / broiling. See also main entry for “Beef Round.”
Porridge
Porridge is a dish of stewed grains. In the English-speaking world, the grain is typically oats. Temperature is a key element of the dish. Garnish preferences vary but typically involve cow’s milk.