Wednesday, March 25, 2009

What

Haggis & shortbread are the only real ones i can think of!!!





JM




Traditional Scottish Recipes


- Abernethy Biscuits





Surprisingly, Abernethy biscuits do not get their name from the town in Perthshire but from a Dr Abernethy who suggested the addition of caraway seeds and sugar to plain biscuits. And of course a "biscuit" in America is a "cookie"!





Ingredients:


8 oz plain flour


3 oz caster sugar (granulated will do)


3 oz butter


Half a level teaspoon baking powder


Half a level teaspoon of caraway seeds


One tablespoon milk


One standard egg





Method:


Sift the flour and baking powder and rub in the butter until it is thoroughly mixed. Mix in the sugar and caraway seeds and then add the egg and milk to make a stiff dough.


Roll the mixture on a floured surface until it is the thickness required for a biscuit/cookie. Cut out with a three-inch plain cutter, rolling the trimmings to make more, as required. Prick the top of the biscuits with a fork and place on greased baking trays (cookie sheets) and bake in a pre-heated oven at 375F/190C/Gas Mark 5 for ten minutes until golden brown. After they have cooled, store in an airtight tin (unless you can't resist eating them all immediately!)








Traditional Scottish Recipes


- Apple Scone





There are many different varieties of scone - this one uses finely chopped apple to supply its flavour.











Main Ingredients:


One medium cooking apple


8 oz (250g or two cups) self raising flour (all-purpose flour with baking powder)


teaspoon salt


Level teaspoon baking powder


2 oz (60g or stick) butter


2 oz (60g or cup) castor (fine granulated) sugar


Up to pint (150ml or half cup) milk


Ingredients for glaze:


A little milk


1oz demerara (light brown) sugar





Method:


Pre-heat the oven to 200C (400F or Gas Mark 6).


Peel and core the apple and then finely chop. Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder. Then rub in the butter followed by the sugar and chopped apple and mix. Add milk until you have a soft but not sticky dough.


Roll out on a floured surface to about " thick and 8" round and mark into 8 wedges. Place on a greased baking sheet, brush the top with milk and sprinkle with the demerara (light brown) sugar. Bake in the pre-heated oven at 200C (400F or Gas Mark 6) for 20-25 minutes. Serve warm with butter.








On a Christmas shopping trip to Brisbane with my Australian wife, we bought an atlas for her daughter.








Mars bars are battered and deep-fried in some chip shops





On the train home, I passed the time by reading the atlas. Each country had a narrative describing its culture, people and customs, as well as the occasional quaint fact.





I read the quaint fact about Scotland and nearly fell out of my seat.





"Scotland has the worst diet of any developed country in the western world, and the highest incidence of heart disease," it said.





"One delicacy is the deep-fried chocolate bar, covered in a protective layer of batter, and favoured by the nation's school children."





"Who writes this garbage?" I groaned.





My wife grabbed the volume, eager to read the text which had so upset me.





Favourite snack





"Yes I remember that on television," she said.





I sat in silence and allowed my outrage to subside. I recalled the TV reports on both Scotland Today and Reporting Scotland, when reporters visited Scottish towns to cover the phenomenon of the "deep-fried Mars bar".





The chip shop owner was interviewed in a humorous vein. School pupils were filmed on their lunch break as they devoured their favourite snack and announced that it tasted "pure dead brilliant".





Why, oh why, does the Scottish media feel compelled to report these types of stories with such a light-hearted and 'wha's like us' slant?








The reporter performed the obligatory tasting. "Mmmm," he gushed. "It's not bad. Not bad at all."





"This report you saw on TV," I asked my wife. "Was it filmed from Scotland?"





"Sure," she said. "They were inside a food shop talking to the owner and some school kids."





Why, oh why, does the Scottish media feel compelled to report these types of stories with such a light-hearted and 'wha's like us' slant?





Is it any wonder that Scotland has such an appalling worldwide reputation for poor health and diet when, instead of condemning such harmful fare being offered up to our children, our television companies treat it as a "fun item" to be broadcast at the end of the programme.





When Celtic's Japanese star Shunsuke Nakamura arrived in Scotland and was being interviewed by a posse of reporters, one hack asked, amid much merriment from his fellow scribes, "Have you sampled a deep-fried Mars bar yet?"





Some may think I should chill out and see the lighter side, but when you read this sort of stuff about your own country from the other side of the world, it just ain't funny.





Scotland has a distinctive cuisine, often based on very traditional foods. Of the many culinary delights on offer, we list some of the more traditional Sco




I've been wondering this myself. I'm moving to scotland for a year for a job in the hospitality sector as a pastry chef. I google searched their dishes and their were some pretty interesting things I found out. Haggis, but if that isn't your cup of tea. As im sure, sheep heart, liver and intestines grounded up and seasoned with oats, onions and other spices.. and cooked in the animals stomach for 2-3 hours isn't something you are looking for.





They make these meat pie/pastry things. they sound pretty delish




Gee, maybe I should copy off a couple of pages of wikipedia and post. Sheesh...





You're not going to have much problem unless you're planning to eat at McDonalds the whole time. A typical 'big breakfast' is eggs, bread roll, beans, black pudding, bacon,a bap,and a baked tomato.


You can various 'rolls' for breakfast like a haggis roll, bacon roll , e.t.c For lunch there's always fish and chips with malt vinegar spread over everything. (BTW...the Scot's foods tend to be pretty greasy and way too much salt. No wonder they lead the UK in heart attacks. ) There's meat pies, salmon, Forfar bridies, kippers. A lot of the soups are good.





I happen to like haggis so I had that quit a few times. Always good to my taste. As Burns wrote :





"Ye Pow'rs wha mak mankind your care,


And dish them out their bill o' fare,


Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware


That jaups in luggies;


But, if ye wish her gratefu' prayer,


Gie her a haggis! "




Well there is always Haggis, but I would stick with the wonderful seafood that you can get there.




Haggis (sounds gross to me), deep fried mars bars




Haggis, Kippers etc

No comments:

Post a Comment