November 30th
Celebrate Scotland, pray naked.
The History
X Marks the Spot
St. Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland (also of Russia, fishermen, singers, unmarried women, and would-be mothers). He became their patron saint sometime in the tenth century and was believed to have been a fisherman. Unfortunately for him, Andrew was crucified on a tilted cross, or an “X”-shaped cross, because he did not feel worthy of being put up on the same cross as Jesus. This tilted cross has been on the Scottish flag for over a thousand years.
St. Andrew’s Day traditions have transformed over the years—where it was once a religious observance, it has now come to be a celebration of Scottish culture. In the village of St. Andrews, this holiday is a week-long festival of music, games, plays, and traditional Scottish fare. Now we’re talking!
Sweet Dreams
Like many other medieval holidays, there are several superstitions associated with the day. Young women would say the St. Andrew’s prayer while naked, then would kick a straw bed, in order to have visions of a potential husband. Um, okay. In Romania, girls would put grains of wheat under their pillow before falling asleep so that they would dream about their potential husbands. This seems a lot more reasonable than naked bed-kicking.
That’s Not Beef
One of the most notable dishes that hails from Scotland is haggis. Most of us cringe when it’s mentioned, but this dish has taken on a more modern flavor profile. Chefs in Scotland have found delicious ways to serve up this savory pudding of minced meats, onions, and spices. Yes, it’s all thrown into an animal’s stomach and stewed, but we can get over that, especially when it is served with a creamy mustard sauce! (Scottish folk are most probably cringing if they read this; most of them are purists when it comes to haggis.)
We chose to skip over the haggis (leave that to the pros) and tackle an old Scottish recipe—Atholl Brose.
Atholl Brose Whip on Tipsy Oatcakes
Go home, cookie, you’re drunk.
Ingredients for Atholl Brose
2 cups Drambuie
½ cup rolled “old fashioned” oats
¼ cup honey
2 cups heavy cream
½ tsp nutmeg, plus some extra for garnish
2 Tbsp confectioners’ sugar
Directions for Atholl Brose (a three-day process)
Mix the Drambuie and oatmeal together in a container with a lid. Store the liquid in a cool, dark place for two days.
At the end of the second day, strain the oatmeal from the liquid; however, do not throw the oatmeal away. That is a key ingredient to make for our drunken oatcakes. Add the honey and store the liquid in the refrigerator for another day.
On the third day, add heavy cream in a stand mixer, and whip. As the mixture is forming stiff peaks, add the nutmeg and confectioners’ sugar. By now, the liquid should be thick and ready to use.
Pour the liquid from the refrigerator into a large bowl. Gently fold the whipped cream into the liquid and repeat until the liquid is incorporated into the whipped cream. If you have “over folded” the cream and it seems flat, you can add it back to the mixing bowl and whip. It will not get back to what it once was, but it will help quite a bit.
Once the dessert is ready, you can serve it in a glass bowl along with the drunken oatcakes and a generous sprinkle of nutmeg.
Ingredients for Drunken Oatcakes
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
⅓ cup sugar
1 egg
Oatmeal from Atholl Brose
¾ cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp salt
⅛ tsp cinnamon
Directions for Drunken Oatcakes
Preheat the oven to 325°F. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Scrape the bottom of the mixing bowl to ensure that all the butter is mixed with the sugar.
Add the egg and mix into the butter. Once fully mixed, add the drunken oats, flour, salt, and cinnamon.
Generously grease an 8x8-inch cake pan and press the batter into the pan. Cook in the oven for 25 minutes until the oatcakes are soft but firm to the touch. Immediately use a small cutter to cut out the oatcakes and put onto a cookie rack.
Sprinkle with nutmeg or cinnamon. Do not throw out the remaining crumbles from the pan. Put those in a container and use as garnish for the Atholl Brose . . . or just gobble them up; we won’t tell.
Atholl Brose gets its name from the 1st Earl of Atholl, John Stewart. Stewart was a Scottish nobleman and ambassador to England. In 1475, he filled a well with a concoction of oatmeal brose, honey, and whiskey so that the Highland rebels would get tipsy and be easily captured. Very sinister, but very delicious. As the recipe developed, cream was added later on, and we’re not complaining.
Zut Alors!
Food in medieval Scotland consisted of all sorts of meats: mutton, beef, and veal as well as wild birds such as swans, geese, pheasants, and peacocks. The meats were expensive, so the products produced by their game and cattle (innards, dairy, and eggs) were more commonly used for sustenance.
In Scotland, everything was sweetened with honey. Their vegetable selection was limited to things like cabbage, leeks, and onions. Wheat was difficult to grow in the damp climate, so their main source of carbohydrates was oats.
Mary Queen of Scots should be thanked for introducing French cuisine to the country. When she returned to Scotland in 1561, she brought back a full staff of French chefs that changed Scottish flavor profiles forever. Mon dieu! The combination of two cultures resulted in some unique cooking terms: cannel (cinnamon), gigot (a leg of mutton), and howtowdie (a boiling fowl), just to name a few.
French cuisine in medieval times consisted of a wide variety of meats, roasts, and rich sauces as well as complicated desserts, delicate pastries, and sugared fruits.
A French dish for a Scottish queen.
Ingredients
1½ lb pork roast, cubed into 1-inch pieces
1½ lb beef roast, cubed into 1-inch pieces
Flour
Olive oil
4 oz diced pancetta
1¼ cup red wine
1 cup chicken broth
1½ cup currants
1 cup diced dates
8 egg yolks
1½ tsp salt
1 Tbsp ginger
2 Tbsp sugar
9-inch pie shell
1 sheet of puff pastry
1 egg, set aside
Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F. Take the pork and beef cubes and lightly roll them in flour, shaking off any extra flour. Swirl olive oil in the bottom of the pan to coat. Add pancetta to the pan until it starts to crisp. Now add the beef, then the pork, to the pan. Sauté for just a few minutes, until the meat is warmed but not cooked thoroughly. Remove all of the meat from the pan.
Deglaze the pan to get all those great crispy bits up: add the red wine and chicken broth to the pan. The remaining traces of flour will add a thickness to the liquid as it starts to boil. Once at a boil, add the meat back into the pan. Lower the heat and simmer on low for 5 minutes.
Remove meat once again from the pan, while reserving the cooking liquid. Place the drained meat in a large mixing bowl and cool for a few minutes. Add currants, dates, egg yolks, salt, ginger, and sugar into the bowl with the meat and mix together. Add ¼ cup of the cooking liquid into the mixture and mix thoroughly.
Place the mixture into the 9-inch prepared pie shell. The mixture will be higher than the shell; our recommendation is to make a mound in the middle that slopes downward as you move out toward the crust. You can add more liquid, but the more you add the runnier it will be (if that is your thing, go for it). Roll out the chilled puff pastry sheet and place it over the pie. Press the puff pastry and piecrust together, creating a seal, and cut away any excess puff pastry that hangs over the side. Whisk the remaining egg in a bowl and, using a pastry brush, lightly brush the egg over the puff pastry.
Place the pie pan onto a cookie sheet (or some other pan that can catch juices if they were to bubble over; this is especially important for all you people who like it extra runny). Put into the oven and cook for 45 minutes. Remove from the oven (it should be a lovely golden color on the top), and set aside to cool for no less than 10 minutes. Cut into slices and serve warm.
