britishfood

One of my favorite treats when I was a child was a Scotch Egg. A hard-boiled egg wrapped in sausage meat and breaded is the perfect snack and great to take on picnics, plus they just taste great! I haven’t had one in years since I would have to make them myself here in the US and my husband can’t eat eggs, but here’s the recipe so I can feel nostalgic….

To make 6 Scotch Eggs, you will need:

6 hard boiled eggs, chilled

1 lb sausage meat / breakfast sausage

1/2 cup flour

2 eggs, beaten

3/4 cup breadcrumbs

oil for frying (yes, these are fattening!)

Divide the sausage into 6 portions. Shell the eggs, roll in flour, and then use your hands to press the sausage around the egg.  Dip in the beaten egg and roll in breadcrumbs.

Fry in hot oil for 4-5 minutes. Drain.

They can be eaten hot or cold. Personally, I like cold but to each his own.

Today’s ingredient is oats and although I know everyone is familiar with them, they form such a staple in Scottish cookery that it is important to know the different types.

Most of us think of oats and we think of porridge. I have particularly nasty memories of trying to scrub porridge pots in a Scottish hotel. The most common oats used in porridge are rolled oats. The finer the oat, the quicker the cooking time so instant oatmeal uses crushed oats which are almost powdery in their form. Then you have Scotch oats, also known as pinhead or steel cut oats. They are the least processed but also need the longest cooking time to create your morning porridge. They all have the same nutritional value but the resulting porridge will have a different consistency, depending on what type of oats you have used.

So what else can you use them in? I am a big fan of oatcakes, a dry oat-based cracker. They’re hard to find in the US but have a low-GI value, are low in fat, and are great with cheese and pickle.

Oats are also a key ingredient in haggis and some sausages, acting as a filler. Then of course you have desserts - oat cookies, flapjacks,  crumble, and so on. There’s a lot more to the humble oat than porridge. How about this scrummy sounding recipe for Cranachan, courtesy of the BBC :

250 ml fresh double cream

1 tbs thick heather honey

1 tbs Scottish whisky

1 tbs toasted oatmeal

2 punnets of fresh raspberries

Whisk the cream with the honey and whisky. Fold in the oatmeal and serve on top of fresh raspberries. Serves 4, no cooking required, but some good Scottish ingredients.

How can anyone not want to try making something with the charmingly Scottish name of “Clootie Dumplings.”

So what is a clootie?  It is a strip of cloth which the dumpling is wrapped in for cooking. According to Wikipedia , “the saying “Ne’er cast a cloot til Mey’s oot” conveys a warning not to shed any clothes before the summer has fully arrived and the may flowers are in full bloom.”

A Clootie Dumpling is a traditional dessert made with dried fruit and suet. The mix is then wrapped in the cloth (or clootie) and simmered.

Here’s what you need:

1lb self raising flour

1 cup breadcrumbs

1 cup suet

1 cup sugar

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

8 oz currants

12 oz raisins

half pint milk

1 apple, peeled, cored and grated

1 tbs treacle / golden syrup

Sift flour and spices together, then mix in sugar, breadcrumbs and dried fruits.  Add the suet. Stir the treacle into the milk then pour the mix into the dry ingredients. Mix to form a dough. Scald a pudding cloth (cotton muslin),dust with flour and put the dough on the cloth. Tie the cloth securely into a ball but leave room for the pudding to swell during cooking.

Place an upturned plate in a large pot with enough water to come half way up the pudding. Bring the water to a boil, the put the pudding in the pan. Cover and boil gently for 3 1/2 hours. Note that it must boil continuously so when it needs to be topped up, do so with more boiling water.

Remove the pudding from the pan, unwrap the cloth (carefully!) and dry the pudding in a warm oven for 20 minutes.

Enjoy! (Recipe courtesy of Scottish Cooking )

Last week, we looked at Welsh cooking and this week we’re going to turn northwards to talk a little about Scottish food.

As with the rest of the British Isles, the traditional food of Scotland is based very much upon what is available locally: fish, beef, locally grown vegetables, oats. Of course most people think of whisky and haggis when asked about Scottish food. We’ll look at haggis later this week. Whisky I’ll save for a week devoted to British wines, beers and spirits.

So here’s what we’ll be discussing this week:

Tomorrow, I’ll be sharing a recipe for Clootie Dumplings.

On Wednesday, our special ingredient will be oats. We all know what they are but Scottish cooking uses them so frequently, we’ll look at some of the different types and how we can cook with them.

On Thursday, I’ll give you a recipe for one of my favorite snacks, Scotch Eggs.

On Friday, we’ll look at some Scottish books and websites.

Don’t worry, I promise to mention haggis at the weekend.

See you tomorrow to learn what a Clootie Dumpling is.

Whenever I visit my family back in Kent, they always take me to their favorite place to eat: The Kings Arms Hotel in Sandwich.

My mother had been raving about it for months. An elderly friend goes there for every family celebration or holiday, and once my mother had tried their food, she became an instant fan. I’ve been there twice and have been more than satisfied each time. The Button Mushrooms with cream,  bacon, garlic and Parmesan are wonderful, as is the Chicken Tikka Salad.

My true love though is the Steak and Kidney Pudding. Living in the US now, I rarely get to enjoy one of my favorite meals so I have ordered it both times I’ve eaten at the Kings Arms. Before I tried it, a friend warned be that it is “as big as my head.” She’s not far off. The pudding is on the large side but how often do I get to eat it? The suet crust pastry is divine and the thought of the filling is making me hungry as I write this.

Before I get carried off into dreams of Steak and Kidney, their other dishes are also excellent. My dad enjoys their Steak and Ale Pie; Nic liked the Lamb Kleftico very much, and my mother always has good things to say about the fish or the duck.

When I eat out, I tend not to eat many desserts, preferring to enjoy a good starter, but the Bread and Butter Pudding is worth a taste, and, if you’re a fan of creme brulee, I’ve been assured that the Lemon Brulee is a MUST.

The staff are friendly, the setting is wonderfully traditional, but it is the food that already makes me wish I were traveling back to Sandwich soon.Next time you’re nearby, definitely have Sunday lunch or an evening meal at The Kings Arms.

It seems unfair to let a week of Welsh cooking pass without mentioning leeks. A national symbol of the Welsh, some countrymen still celebrate St. David’s Day by wearing one of these vegetables in their buttonhole. It remains one of the staples in Welsh cooking and so I’m including here a recipe for a simple but nutritious Leek Broth.

1 oz butter

6 leeks - be sure to wash them thoroughly and then cut into inch long pieces

3 potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 carrot, peeled and cubed

1 pint of chicken stock

salt and pepper

1 1/2 pints milk

1 tbs fresh parsley

Melt the butter in a pan and gently cook the vegetables until they are soft but not brown. Add the stock and season with salt and pepper. bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes. Add the milk and heat but do not bring back to a boil.

Stir in the parsley and serve with a good crusty bread, grated cheese and some crumbled bacon.

I don’t know about you but I love lamb. Fortunately Welsh cooking makes good use of its plentiful homegrown lamb and this recipe would make a wonderful traditional Sunday roast dinner. Why not use some locally produced honey to really bring out the flavors. Note that the cider used in British cooking is what is known in the US as “hard cider.” I think that America-style cider (ie. nonalcoholic) would also work well to bring a rich apple flavor.

4lb leg of lamb

6 tbs clover honey

sprig of fresh rosemary

salt and pepper

1/2 pint cider

Preheat the oven to Gas 6 or 400 F. Line a roasting tin with foil and put the leg of lamb in the tin. Brush with 4 tbs of warmed honey and season with salt and pepper. Put the sprig of rosemary on top of the lamb. Form a tent with the foil around the meat and roast for 15 minutes. Lower the heat to Gas 4 or 350 F and roast for 1 1/2 hours until the juices are slightly pink. For the last 20 minutes of cooking time, open the foil up so you can have a nice crispy brown skin. To make the gravy, use the meat residue from the pan, mixed with the remaining 2 tbs honey and the cider. Boil until it has reduced to two thirds.

Serve the lamb with potatoes and vegetables and the gravy.

If I were to mention eating seaweed, most of us would instantly think of the Japanese, but the Welsh eat a variety of seaweed known as laver. Like other edible seaweeds it is incredibly nutritious, high in protein, iron, iodine and some vitamins.

Traditionally the laver was gathered from the Gower Peninsula along the south coast of Wales, and although some still comes from there, some is harvested along the Scottish coast.

So how do you eat it?

IN Wales, you can buy it already prepared and tinned, but if you buy it fresh, you must first wash is thoroughly to remove any sand. You then boil it for 30-40 minutes until it looks like cooked spinach. Drain it and chop it finely and you have laverbread (not a bread at all). You’re now ready to use it in recipes. You might want to try the traditional Welsh breakfast of Laverbread Cakes:

1 lb laverbread

4 oz oatmeal

Mix the laverbread and oatmeal together and form round flat patties. Fry them in hot fat on both sides and serve with bacon.

More information about laver, including its history, recipes and where to buy it can be found at The Laverbread Page.

As promised, here is the recipe for Glamorgan sausages to continue our Welsh week. They’re not really sausages since they do not contain meat, and I know they’re fried but as long as you don’t eat them everyday, you’ll be ok. So here’s what you need:

4 oz Cheddar, grated - get the good strong stuff for this.

4 oz breadcrumbs

1 onion, chopped very finely

1 tsp mustard powder

1 tbs chopped parsley, fresh if possible

pinch of thyme

salt and pepper

3 eggs

breadcrumbs for coating

oil for frying

In one bowl, beat 2 of the eggs with the mustard, parsley, thyme, salt and pepper. In another bowl, mix the cheese, breadcrumbs and onion. Combine both bowls together. Form the mix into about 10 sausage shapes. Beat the remaining egg and dip the sausages in the egg, then coat them in the breadcrumbs. Fry until golden.

These make a great supper with a side salad.

Come back tomorrow to learn about laverbread.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be looking at some of the regional variations in British cooking and I want to start with a look at Wales. Wales has long enjoyed the benefits of both the land and the sea in its cooking. Lamb is probably the most popular meat, although beef cattle are also raised in parts of Wales. There are several wonderful Welsh cheeses on the market, including Caerphilly and a regional variation of Cheddar. Then there is the seafood: cockles, laverbread (which we will look at on Wednesday), and a plethora of shellfish, commonly caught around the Gower peninsula area on the South Coast of Wales.

So here’s what you can learn this week about the cuisine of Wales:

Tomorrow I’ll share a very simple but yummy recipe for Glamorgan sausages.

On Wednesday, we’ll look at the mysterious sounding laverbread.

On Thursday, we’ll celebrate a number of traditional Welsh ingredients with a recipe for Honeyed Welsh Lamb, and on Friday I’ll be offering some links and book recommendations to learn more.

In the meantime, I highly recommend The Welsh Foodie website for a number of recipes, both modern and traditional.

See you tomorrow!