Recipes

Scottish cuisine has been greatly influenced by the cooking traditions and practices of Great Britain and incorporates some of the cooking styles of the Scandinavian Peninsula as well.

However, Scottish cuisine does have unique features, distinctive tastes and a variety of recipes that are all its own. The wide availability of game , dairy, fish, fruit and vegetables contribute to traditional Scots cooking. The food was historically simple due to a lack of spices from abroad, which were often very expensive.

Foods like haggis with a side of "tatties and neeps" are traditional Scottish fare . Check out the recipes and see if you want to try it out at home!

Broken Biscuit Cake

When biscuits were sold loose rather than packaged as they are today, grocers sold broken biscuits at a lower price. This recipe was a good way of recycling old broken biscuits and turning them into cake and is somewhat similar to the bread pudding we eat in the United States. In this recipe the butter holds the biscuits together and is not very heart-healthy!

Ingredients:

  • One pound plain chocolate
  • Once pound of butter or firm margarine
  • One pound of broker mixed biscuits
  • Half pound of chopped mixed roasted nuts
  • One teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Melt the butter and chocolate together and stir. Mix in the well broken biscuits, nuts and essence/extract and pour into a 10" by 15" baking tin, lined with greaseproof paper (vegetable parchment). Smooth to a level top and leave until the butter has set. Cut into fingers size slices.

Oatmeal Potatoes

Oatmeal has a long history in Scottish culinary traditions because oats are better suited than wheat to the short, wet growing season. Here is a simple way to liven up the serving of potatoes - using one of Scotland's traditional ingredients - oatmeal. While pin-head oatmeal (the kernel has been cut in half and the floury meal taken out) any rough oatmeal (such as that used for real porridge) will do.

Ingredients:

  • Potatoes (new ones are best)
  • 2 tablespoons pinhead oatmeal
  • 1 tablespoon butter

Directions:
Boil your normal quantity of potatoes in the usual way. While they are cooking, toast the oatmeal slowly on a tray in the oven using a low/medium heat. Drain the potatoes and add the tablespoon of butter. Stir to allow the butter to coat the potatoes. Then add the toasted oatmeal and stir again. Serve the potatoes with a sprinkling of finely chopped parsley or chives.


St Fillan's Fruit Pudding

St Fillan's is a Perthshire village at the eastern end of Loch Earn. Here is a recipe which originated many years ago in the Scottish Women's Rural Institute. The quantities are sufficient for 4/6 people.

Ingredients:

  • 4 oz (125g or one cup) flour
  • 2 oz (50g or third of a cup) fine granulated sugar
  • Half teaspoon baking soda
  • Half teaspoon cream of tartar
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1.5oz (40g or less than half a stick) butter or margarine
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • One pound stewed fruit (eg apples, pear, rhubarb, gooseberries or figs etc)

Directions:
Mix together the dry ingredients and then rub in the butter. Mix (but don't beat) the white and yolk of the eggs, make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the eggs. Mix to a thick batter adding milk as required.
Place the stewed fruit along with their juices in the foot (bottom) of an oven-proof dish. Drop in the batter on top in spoonfuls.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 375F for half an hour or until the paste has risen and turned golden and cooked through. Serve warm or cold.

 

William Wallace was a Scottish patriot who vowed to free Scotland from the control of kings of England. With a small army, he defeated the large and better-equipped English army at the battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297. A year later, however, the English king himself marched north with his troops and overpowered Wallace's smaller army at Falkirk.

Wallace escaped to France where the French king refused to help him and threw him into jail. He returned to Scotland a year later. In 1305 he was captured by his enemies and cruelly executed. The Wallace Monument outside Stirling reminds all Scots of William Wallace, a man of great courage and brave heart.

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