Every morning, a fleet of small fishing boats steams out of the harbour to hunt the rocky coastline for seafood, returning in the early evening to sell its catch on makeshift stalls at the edge of the pier. The people of the town cluster round, haggling for fish which they will cook that night, while the rest of the catch sizzle on pavement charcoal grills outside bars and restaurants on the waterfront. Neither over-fishing, nor world wars, nor careless pollution, nor factory processing, nor refrigerated transport have changed the centuries-old habits of these fish-loving Europeans.
They are a rare breed now. Few coastal villages like this one in the north-west corner of Spain continue to preserve such an intimate relationship with the sea, and certainly none in Scotland. But to stand on such a pier, surrounded by the freshest fish, the infectious enthusiasm of the local people and the smoky aromas of grilling fish in the background, is an unforgettable experience. It’s also a reminder of how it used to be. How coastal communities around the long Scottish coastline must have waited for their supplies of fresh fish straight from the boats.
Scotland’s strong tradition of coastal fishing and foraging for seafood, has been largely influenced by its extensive coastline (one of the largest in Europe), its unpolluted waters, and proximity to good fishing grounds in the North Sea and beyond. The 18th and 19th centuries were prosperous times for the fishing industry. There may not have been a tradition of sizzling fish on pavement charcoal grills, but armies of fishwives sold fish and shellfish from market stalls in the towns, as well as door-to-door around the country. In Edinburgh, they made their daily trudge from the fishing boats in Leith and Newhaven up Leith Walk to the Mercat Cross in Edinburgh, to sell fresh fish — straight from the boats.
Supplies are landed now mainly at Aberdeen, Peterhead and Fraserburgh, but there are also landings at smaller ports such as Ayr, Buckie, Eyemouth, Lossiemouth, MacDuff, Lerwick, Pittenweem, Arbroath, Garliestown, Isle of Whithorn, Wick, Oban, Tarbet, Mallaig, Ullapool, Lochinver, Stornoway, Kinlochbervie and Campbeltown.
Though processing plants, and lorry-loads of refrigerated fish for export both account for a large amount of the catch, there are those who still believe in preserving the intimate link with fish, straight from the boats. Some fish merchants have been inspired by visits to other countries, where the link has been better preserved. Some now cooperate with local chefs and sell according to day-to-day quality and availability. This means, of course, that the chef must be able to operate a more flexible menu, his dishes reflecting, not what he wants to cook, but what the fish-merchant has chosen for him as the best of today’s catch.
Others see the value of preserving the intimate link with the sea by selling fish and shellfish from seafood bars and fish shops at or near the fishing ports or near the lochs where shellfish is grown and harvested. On the West Coast, the trailblazers of this philosophy have been oyster farmers, John Noble and Andrew Lane who began in 1978, inspired by a rich oyster-eating history in 18th- and 19th-century Scotland. They started by selling their farmed oysters from a makeshift stall at the side of the road and now have three Oyster Bars and a wet fish shop, besides running a seafood fair on Loch Fyne, now into its seventh year.
In the South-West there is the Galloway Smokehouse at Carsluith near Newton Stewart where Alan Watson’s wet fish display reflects daily landings at Garliestown and Isle of Whithorn. At Troon, in Ayrshire, there is the MacCallum brothers enterprise selling wet fish to Glasgow and Edinburgh restaurants as well as in two shops in Glasgow plus a seafood bar on the pier at Troon. On the West Coast there is Alba Smokehouse where one of the most welcome sights for seafood lovers touring the West Coast last year was Mike Leng’s seafood trailer, parked during the day on the pier at Inveraray selling ready-to-eat seafood snacks, such as hot smoked salmon baguettes, dressed half lobsters and crabs, and langoustine salads. Unfortunately planning permission has been refused this year for Inveraray pier, but the trailer will continue in the less picturesque position of the Lochgilphead Co-op car park with another trailer this year in Oban Co-op’s car park.
As well as wild-caught crabs, lobsters, squat lobsters, langoustines, whelks and razor fish, there are now reliable, and plentiful, supplies of farmed oysters, mussels and scallops (king, queen and princess) from around 300 registered shellfish farms scattered up and down the coastline. Most are members of the Association of Scottish Shellfish Growers.
Common mussel (Mytilus edulis), Horse mussel (Modiolus modiolus) known as Clabbies or Clabbie Dubhs from the Gaelic Clab-Dubh meaning large black mouth. (Common mussel — usually from 5-8cm/2-3in in length; horse mussel — usually from 15-20cm/ 6-8in in length; blue black shells, bright orange flesh.)
The first recorded evidence of cultivated mussels in Scotland was in the 1890s. Several experiments took place on the East Coast of Scotland growing mussels on ropes, but the idea was abandoned following a series of disasters. In 1966 experiments were resumed, cultivating again on ropes. Commercial ventures were started in the early 1970s using ropes attached to both longlines and rafts. Both methods continue to be used, with each farmer developing a system which suits his particular site. Once harvested they are washed and graded.
Horse mussels are harvested from natural beds lying at extreme low water mark.
Mussels are farmed mainly on the West Coast from Dumfries and Galloway to Shetland, though there are some mussel farms in Lothian. There are 109 shellfish farming sites producing for sale approximately 882 tonnes a year.
Season/buying:
Mussels in Scottish waters will spawn around the end of February, their quality less good for the next three months until they fatten up again in June. In the run-up to spawning, they are at their plumpest.
Clean-shelled, rope-grown, farmed mussels are the best for mussel broths where the shells are part of the dish. These are young mussels, two to three years old, which will have less flavour than wild mussels which are more blue-black in colour and with a deeper orange, richer-flavoured muscle — better for frying with bacon.
Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas), European native oyster (Ostrea edulis). Native oysters are fan-shaped, almost circular, one half of the shell is flat, the other cupped. The shell of the Pacific oyster is more deeply cupped, rougher and more elongated than the native. Most of the West Coast oysters are Pacific and are graded by size 70-80g; 80-95g; 95g and upwards. They are a wide variety of colours and textures according to their origin while the sea-tasting flavour is determined by the feeding, and varies from loch to loch. In terms of the quality of flavour, most Scottish oysters are Grade A, meaning they have not been purified by passing through purification tanks or been held in aerated ‘holding’ tanks before sale.
They were eaten with great relish throughout Scotland during their heyday in the 18th and 19th centuries. So cheap and plentiful was the supply, that contemporary recipes for soups and stews often demanded a mere 60 oysters. These were the large European native oysters which are mentioned by Martin Martin in his Description of the Western Islands of Scotland (1703) as growing on rocks and ‘so big that they are cut in four pieces before they are ate [sic]’.
The native oyster beds, which were the original source of supply, fell victim to pollution and over-fishing and by the mid-20th century were almost totally wiped out. Their revival, in the last 20 or so years, has depended entirely on farming commercially cultivated oysters. Almost all of this production has been gigas oysters, though some farms are now experimenting with natives in sheltered sea lochs on the West Coast, and also on some of the islands and in Orkney.
The gigas oyster has largely been used for this farming venture since the cold water inhibits breeding, which means they do not retain their eggs and can therefore be sold all year round without tasting unpleasant.
Lochs chosen for oyster farming must have both shelter, total lack of pollution, and a rich supply of natural nutrients in the waters. The most common method is to put the young seed (brought from hatcheries at about 12-15mm/½-⅝in) into mesh bags which are put on metal or wooden trestles at low-water mark, or put into plastic trays which are stacked on the sea bed or suspended from a headline. The first method gives the farmer access to sort and grade during the spring tides and the second, weather permitting, allows the oysters to be worked at any time. Allowing the oysters to be uncovered is considered important since it allows them to close tightly and survive in air, essential when they are eventually transported for sale. They are usually harvested after two to three summers’ feeding.
They are mainly farmed on the West Coast from Dumfries and Galloway to Shetland.
Season/buying:
For gigas, all year. For natives the ‘R’ rule (months with an ‘R’ in them) when they taste less pleasant because of breeding does not apply in Scotland where spring arrives later. Some would suggest a close season from 1 June to 1 October would be more appropriate.
Norway lobster (Nephropos norvegicus); other names: Langoustine — French; Scampo — Italian; Dublin Bay ‘prawn’. Maximum length, not counting the claws, 24cm (9½in); minimum legal carapace size 25mm (1in); carapace is pink, rose or orange-red, often quite pale; its claws are banded pink and white.
There is evidence that Norway lobsters were sold in Billingsgate in the 19th century (W B Lord, Crab, Shrimp and Lobster Lore, 1867) but it was not until the 1950s that they became an important commercial catch in Scotland, taking a ‘gourmet’ tag and demanding high prices. The Irish appear to have been the first to appreciate their potential, when fishing boats started landing them in Dublin Bay, though whether they were in fact caught in the bay is debatable. They were certainly sold in the streets, and because of their size and similarity, were initially described as ‘prawns’. In fishing lore it is a misnomer which has stuck, and West Coast Scottish fishermen, who put down creels in Highland lochs to catch Norway lobsters continue to be known as ‘prawn’ fishermen, their product still referred to as ‘prawns’.
Norway lobsters continue to attract a gourmet following and are exported around the world. In the last five to ten years, however, they have been appearing more frequently on native Scottish menus as chefs follow the trend towards making more use of local and national foods. Several Highland restaurants now have arrangements with creel fishermen to purchase the entire catch directly from their boats and some have speciality seafood restaurants selling only freshly caught shellfish of this kind.
They are fished in clear waters with a hard mud seabed, where they are able to dig burrows, on both the East and West Coast, particularly in the Firth of Forth, the Moray Firth, the Minch and the Clyde.
Season/buying:
They are most plentiful and in best condition from April to November. Creel-caught are considered superior since the shellfish remain alive after catching. Those trawled suffer damage and many die giving a flabbier, often crumbly, cotton-wool texture and less flavourful meat. They may be sold live (if creel-caught), frozen or processed.
King, Queen and Princess scallops: Great or King scallop (Pecten maximus); flat bottom shell and a concave upper shell — muscle diameter approximately, 5cm (2in); minimum legal carapace size 1cm (½in); Queen scallop, (Chlamys opercularia); top and bottom shells both concave — muscle diameter approximately. 3cm (1¼in); Princess scallop (an immature Queenie) — muscle diameter approximately 1cm (½in). Queen and Princess scallops may be smoked. The Great scallop and the Queen scallop have creamy shells, a creamy-white muscle surrounded by an orange roe. The Princess scallop has a reddish-pink shell, a creamy-white muscle but the roe, because of its age, has often not developed.
An important dredged and dived scallop industry developed in the 1950s and 60s, harvested from natural West Coast scallop beds. The development of the farmed scallop began in 1974 and its popularity has grown with the age of the scallop controlled to around five years, guaranteeing a tender muscle and regular size. (Scallops from natural scallop beds can live for up to 20 years, when the texture of their muscle becomes quite tough.)
Solway boats have around 155 square miles of Queen scallop fishing grounds stretching out into the Irish Sea. For a fisherman’s favourite breakfast-at-sea, the small scallops are fried with bacon and served on toast with scrambled eggs.
In the wild, scallops spend most of their life on the seabed and spawn many millions of eggs each year. These go through a free swimming stage, during which time they are carried around on currents and tidal streams. After three or four weeks they settle on a suitable substrate such as seaweed.
Scallop farming produces a more uniform supply than wild scallops. The young ‘spat’ are carried by currents into ‘spat collectors’ where they attach themselves to the sides of the nets. As their shells begin to grow they fall off the nets and are gathered and put into free-floating ‘lantern’ nets suspended in the sea water where they feed and grow (Queen scallops for 1½-2 years; King scallops for 4-5 years). Princess scallops are harvested when they are about a year old.
Aquaculture is still a developing industry and methods are constantly undergoing change. Ranching or bottom culture is seen by some farmers as the way forward. This has always been a risky business because it is not possible to protect stocks from dredgers or divers. Recently, however, the first Several Fishery Order has been recommended by the Secretary of State for Scotland to be granted to scallops giving their stocks legal protection.
Season/buying:
In good quality all year except in November when they spawn. Farmed available all year. Scallops may be bought either live, in the shell, or shelled. Shelled scallops, to prevent them drying out, may have been soaked in water. ‘Soaked’ scallops are likely to have considerably less flavour than ‘unsoaked’ or live in the shell; they should also be cheaper since they will have absorbed added water. Soaked scallops are not suitable for frying or grilling though they can be used poached and in sauces.
Mussel brose was a common dish, mentioned in a poem by Robert Fergusson (1750-74), and according to a traditional recipe (F M McNeill, 1929) it was made with cooked mussels and their liquor, plus fish stock and milk. The mussels and the liquid were then poured on top of a handful of oatmeal in a bowl, in the traditional method of making brose, and the mixture returned to the pan for a few minutes to cook through.
This was served at a Scottish dinner at the 1991 Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery. The shellfish came from the Argyllshire coast and were transported live, overnight to Oxford in a refrigerated lorry. John MacMillan at the Sea Fish Authority research station at Ardtoe (Arnamurchan) dived for the razor fish. Hugh MacPherson, an Ardtoe fisherman, supplied the wild langoustines, squat lobster and farmed princess scallops. Norrie Etherson supplied the Loch Etive mussels and John MacMillan collected and packed all the shellfish before its journey south.
The shellfish was served unshelled, so there was a picking session, first with finger bowls and napkins. Then some guests lifted their soup plates to slurp the good flavoured bree and others copied.
Quantities according to taste and availability:
mussels
Princess scallops
razor fish
squat lobster
Norway lobster (langoustines)
Accompaniments: lemon, brown bread and butter
Cook the shellfish in half an inch of boiling water until the shells open for the molluscs (mussels, scallops, razor clams); the squat lobster for 1-2 minutes and the Norway lobster for 2-3 minutes depending on size.
Pile the shellfish into a large wide bowl while still hot. Adjust the flavour of the bree, adding more water if it is too salty. Pour over the shellfish to about half way up the shells. Serve hot with lemon, brown bread, finger bowls and napkins.
While seaweeds were traditionally used in broths or eaten raw, the salty, iodine flavours are very good deep fried, says Julian Clokie, of the Sea Vegetable Company in Easter Ross. Julian is a marine biologist who started seaweed gathering after working for the oil industry in the Moray Firth. He set up the Sea Vegetable Company in the early 1980s, using some of the outhouses of his little cottage in Fearn as giant drying ovens where he dries out and packages the seaweed.
To visit Julian is to get involved in tasting his latest seaweed invention. Some dulse which he is toasting on the hot-plate of his Aga to eat like crisps. A pressure-cooked concoction which he reckons is a brilliant version of a Japanese seaweed pickle. What do I think? I actually prefer this idea he has of coating dried sloke in tempura batter and deep-frying.
15g (½oz) dried sloke
2-3 tablespoons flour for drying
oil for deep frying — preferably groundnut or soya plus
a few teaspoons of sesame oil
tempura batter (see p.181)
Put the sloke into water and leave for half and hour or so to rehydrate.
Heat oil to 190C/375F. Remove sloke from the water, shake off excess water then dry off thoroughly in flour. Dip in batter twirling it round to coat thoroughly, lift out and allow excess batter to drip off.
Fry quickly in oil for about a minute, turning once, until a light gold. Do not overfill the pan. Remove, drain on kitchen paper and serve immediately. Skim off any debris from the oil and continue frying.
The Japanese serve it with a soy sauce and fresh ginger-flavoured dip.
Historically they are humble everyday staples, yet nothing represents Scotland more than the food and drink traditions which have developed around oats and barley. While porridge, haggis and oatcakes use oats as their distinctive ingredient, it’s barley which makes the whisky. Until the end of the 17th century both oats and barley were commonly used for cooking but it was around this time that barley’s power as a malted grain for distilling began to develop.
It was the Highlander’s enthusiasm for home-distilling, a useful method of
preserving surplus barley, which gave cold northerners their attractive warming drink. The ‘water of life’ (Gaelic — uisge beatha, Scots — usquebae, iskie bae) was a staple drink, taken regularly with meals by both adults and children before tea became the everyday stimulant. In every Highland glen, sacks of barley would be soaked in the burn for a few days to soften the grain and begin germination. Then the grain would be spread out to allow it to sprout, which would be halted by drying over a peat fire. The now ‘malted’ grain would go into a large tub with boiling water and yeast to ferment. Once fermented, it would be passed twice through the pot still and the middle cut (the drinkable part) would be separated from the foreshots, and the aftercuts or feints.
It was a skilled operation, which produced a quality of product distinctly flavoured by local water and peat smoke. Because of this added character, it was more highly esteemed than whisky malted and distilled in the Lowlands. The Highlanders’ distilling activities grew and developed, but in 1707 the tax on spirits was increased and they began, with great ingenuity, to smuggle their malted whisky illicitly. In 1742 taxes on spirits were lowered and legal whisky production increased. The passing of the Excise Act in 1823 signalled the beginning of a new era for the Highlander’s malt whisky when old smugglers became ‘legit’, linking their considerable whisky-making skills to the business of large-scale whisky production.
By this time the whisky industry had become so sophisticated that pure crops were grown of carefully selected barley, geared entirely for whisky-distilling. It was only in the remote areas of the Hebrides, Orkney, Caithness, and in some parts of the North-East, that some barley continued to be used in the old way as a flour for making into porridge and for baking bannocks and scones. As a whole grain it has also survived in the national barley broth, where its gentle thickening powers and mellow flavour continues to add character.
The main preservers, however, of old barley as a staple grain for baking into bannocks are the Orcadians, who continue to grow the flavourful northern variety, now an endangered plant, known as ‘bigg’ (Hordeum vulgare), or ‘bere’ (pronounced ‘bare’ in the north). It’s a variety of barley which has four ear rows, rather than the usual six, yielding a lower amount per acre but producing a grain of remarkable flavour. Between 12 and 15 tons are grown in Orkney each year, and every Orkney baker makes a daily supply of the bere bannock — a 15cm (6in) round, 1-2.5cm (½-1in) thick, flat, girdle-baked, soft scone.
The original beremeal bannock, before raising agents were developed in the late 19th century, was a very thin soft chapati-type pancake, like a modern potato scone. Though the old bannock is now extinct, it is still remembered by a generation whose mothers never knew chemical raising agents. At the Clatt village hall in Aberdeenshire, where farmers’ wives supply traditional baking for an unusual tearoom operation, Jim Lumsden, an 80-year-old retired farmer and manager of the tearoom remembers:
‘My mother made beremeal scones. My wife made them too. They used to boil up the meal in a pot first with water to make a stiff paste which they rolled out like oatcakes, very, very thin. It was cut into four and put on the girdle and baked on both sides. We spread them with butter and syrup and rolled them up very tight from one corner. Then we ate them like a stick of rock.’
Now the modern, leavened bannock appears on Orkney tea tables in the evening: a staple with home-made farmhouse cheese. Tasting the grey-brown, characterful old bannock in a farmhouse kitchen on the island of Shapinsay with tea and a slice of fortnight-old farmhouse cheese, it’s difficult to understand why the rest of the country abandoned old barley. Less mellow than oats, more gentle than rye, it has its own robust earthy tang. The culinary treasure, which the Orcadians have preserved, is to add only a spread of their rich butter and a slice of creamy cheese.
The MacDonalds of Montgarrie Mill in Alford, Aberdeenshire, have been grinding oatmeal for three generations. Unlike other water-powered mills, which have been renovated with the help of development grants, there are no tourist signs attracting attention to teas and guided tours. The three of us, who have come to visit the mill, have made our own arrangements with the present miller, Donald MacDonald, who is always happy to show round those interested in the mill’s workings. We are: two redundant millwrights on a nostalgic visit to see the old belts and bearings still in operation, and myself, just curious to discover why the flavour of this oatmeal should be so much better than others.
As we look down from the platform into the huge silos of newly-harvested oats waiting to be milled, a heady scent of ripened grain fills the air. The grain is being dried or ‘conditioned’, where the moisture content is reduced to around 15 per cent. We climb down to the basement, to see the smokeless fuel furnace and the long, 30ft chimney which takes the heat up to the top storey of the mill. Then it’s a long climb up steep stairs to where the oats are spread out for drying on a large floor of perforated metal sheets. They are turned by hand with large shovels until the moisture content is reduced to around four to five per cent, when the meal will take on its mild nutty flavour.
Donald gets hold of one of the shovels and starts turning the meal as we talk. The slow, gentle warmth, he explains, creates more aroma in the grain as it lies slowly toasting on the floor. He is a purist who follows the old, and some would say inconvenient, and time-consuming methods. But they have a purpose.
‘Think of the difference,’ he says, ‘between a slice of toast, toasted slowly in front of an open fire, and toast from a modern toaster. What we do here is toast slowly, to develop the flavour. Factories which mill oats, using a blow-drying method, just drive out the moisture.
‘What you get by slow-toasting is an entirely different flavour in the grain, when the moisture content is reduced in this way.’
The milling begins with shelling the husks, then the grains are ground between stone millwheels to the required ‘cuts’ or grades: pinhead (whole grain split into two) — used for haggis; rough — used for porridge, brose and sometimes oatcakes; medium/rough (sometimes known as coarse/medium) — used by butchers for mealie puddings; medium — used for porridge, brose, skirlie and baking; fine and super-fine — used in baking and for feeding to babies.
As we stand beside the milling stones, the noise is deafening. Donald gestures to us to pick up some of the meal, just as it comes out from between the millstones, and we savour the fresh nutty sweetness of newly milled grain. Donald explains later that despite the friction, the stone millwheels do not heat up, protecting the natural flavour of the oats.
All in all, we have been wandering around the toasting and milling grain for a couple of hours and are almost as dusty as the miller himself when we come out into the bright autumn sunshine, shaking the fine mealy dust from our hair and clothes. Beremeal is milled today, not on Orkney, but on the mainland at the Golspie Mill, by Fergus Morrison, a self-taught miller who discovered the mysteries of the belts and bearings at the water-powered Boardhouse Mill in Birsay, Orkney, in the 1970s. He milled there throughout the 80s, another milling enthusiast who, like Donald, is always willing to show interested visitors round the mill. He also mills peasemeal, the dustiest of all grains to mill. In the early 1990s he moved the milling operation to another old mill which he has renovated at Golspie where he continues to mill Orkney bere and peasemeal.
It was the roller-mill revolution (1872) which was responsible for making these old mills redundant. The first roller-milling plant in Glasgow introduced the factory mill and a more efficient milling process, but at the same time changing the character and the quality of the grain. From this time onwards, many of the old watermills became derelict and it is only in the last 30 years or so that there has been a valiant, and valuable, last ditch attempt to save some of them. Montgarrie and Golspie are just two of a handful in Scotland which belong to a movement which has gathered more momentum in England, where a strong literary and artistic image of milling has stimulated more public interest in preserving the lifestyle of the traditional miller and his unique product.
The English painter, Constable, claimed in 1822, when writing to a friend, that old mills were the main source of his inspiration:‘The sound of water escaping from mill-dams, etc, old rotten planks, slimy posts and brickwork … those scenes made me a painter.’ Then George Eliot wrote The Mill on the Floss (1860), which evoked other emotions associated with the country miller.
The derelict mills in Scotland which have been brought back to life in the last decade or so by campaigning millers and preservationists are to be found at Aberfeldy and Blair Atholl in Perthshire and Drummuir in Morayshire and the Lower City Mill in Perth, while there are also some factory mills which stone-grind oatmeal in the traditional way.
Rolled oats or oatflakes: developed in America by the Quaker Oat company in 1877 are made by steaming and rolling pinhead oatmeal. Jumbo oatflakes are made by steaming and rolling the whole groat. Oatbran is the extracted bran.
Recipes vary in the proportion of beremeal to wheat flour. Most printed Orkney recipes suggest about half and half, but some Orcadians make their bannocks with very little wheat flour preferring the stronger flavour of the beremeal. The flour is mixed with baking soda and buttermilk to make a springy, moist bannock.
Makes l large or 8 small bannocks:
175g (6oz) beremeal
50g (2oz) plain flour
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon cream of tarter
buttermilk to mix (approximately 1 cup (250ml/8fl oz) or use
fresh milk soured with lemon juice
Preparing the girdle:
Heat slowly till the surface is pleasantly hot when you hold your hand about 2.5cm (1in) from the surface. Grease lightly with some oil.
Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the buttermilk and mix with a knife to a soft elastic dough. Divide into two and roll out on a floured board to make a round which will fit the girdle, from 1-2.5cm (½-1in) thick.
Sprinkle the girdle with some beremeal and bake on both sides till cooked — about two minutes each side. Cool on a rack and wrap in a cloth to keep soft.
Small bannocks can be made by removing tablespoons of the dough, flouring the hands well with beremeal, and tossing the dough gently till it is well coated and dropping onto the girdle. Press down lightly to flatten surface. The advantage of this method is that it keeps the handling of the dough to a minimum thus preventing toughening. Finish as before.
Next to the shed where clucking hens laid eggs was the honey shed. For most of the year an unused storehouse of hives, combs, glass jars and beekeeping clamjamfrie where the powerful aroma of beeswax and honey always lingered. In late summer, as the combs filled with honey from the heather moors of the Angus glens, extracting began. Besides selling tea and coffee in the family shop in Castle Street in Dundee, my uncles, J and G were enthusiastic beekeepers. Their bees were moved to the heather moors of Glen Clova every summer, the honey sold — as my grandfather had done — in the shop first opened in 1868 and now run by my cousin, Allan Braithwaite.
‘Your uncles are extracting,’ my grandmother would say. And I would go to watch, inhaling the powerful honey aromas, while they de-capped the combs, fitted them into the extractor and waited while it spun round, and the honey ran down the sides of the drum where it was left to settle before being poured out of a tap and into jars.
When I was old enough, I was allowed to de-cap the combs, fill jars, and every now and again got rigged out in a white boiler suit and a bee-hat and veil and went to the hives as Assistant Puffer of the Smoker (a bellows-like box filled with smouldering hessian, which was used to clear away the bees while the beekeeper checked out how things were going on in the combs). It was some time later before I realized that putting honey into jars is a tad more complicated than my childhood experiences in the honey shed.
Before sugar, honey was the natural sweetener in the Scottish diet, often mixed with the distinctive flavours of oatmeal and whisky. Honey was collected from wild colonies of bees as Osgood Mackenzie, describes in A Hundred Years in the Highlands (1921):
‘… the boys were able to collect large quantities of wild honey, which, by applying heat to it, was run into glass bottles and sold at the Stornoway markets. Hunting for wild-bees’ nests was one of the great ploys for the boys in the autumn … . Cameron tells me that, as a young boy, before he left his home, there was an island in Loch Bhad a Chreamha … where there was no necessity for hunting for bees’ nests, as the whole island seemed under bees, the nests almost touching each other in the moss at the roots of tall heather … My stalker, too, informs me that his home at Kernsary used to be quite famous for its wild bees, but they finally disappeared …’
Bee-keeping, which originated as a hobby, or as a sideline for people running other businesses, continues to attract an enthusiastic following and the flavour of heather honey is highly esteemed for its distinctive character. Atholl Brose and Drambuie depend on it. And it’s an integral part of a Cranachan (the harvest home celebration dish of toasted oatmeal, cream, fresh soft fruits, whisky and honey). It’s also used as a flavouring in cakes and biscuits and appears on the traditional breakfast table with Dundee marmalade and oatcakes.
It may come from three varieties of heather — ling, bell heather and cross-leaved heath — though it’s seldom sold as solely from one type of heather. Pure ling honey can be distinguished from the others by its thick, jelly-like (thixotropic) consistency and strong, sharp flavour. Unlike other honeys it is pressed out of the comb rather than spun out by centrifugal force and may have air bubbles trapped in the gel. Bell is thinner with a more bitter edge while cross-leaved is also thin with a much lighter flavour.
To ensure purity, hives are filled with unused combs and ‘flitted’ each summer, to the heather as it comes into bloom around the middle of July allowing the bees to collect the maximum amount of nectar in the shortest possible time. A commercial beekeeper, extracting honey, will first shave off the outer caps. The combs will then be subjected to a Honey Loosener (nylon needles with a bulbous end which disturbs the honey). The combs are then put into a Tangential Swinging Basket Reversible which extracts by operating two slow swinging movements and two fast. Sieving and seeding is the next process when the honey is sieved into barrels and ‘seeded’ (mixed with about a tenth volume of honey of the correct texture from the previous year’s honey) before it is poured into jars.
The production varies from year to year depending on the amount of rain and cold during the period the heather is flowering and also on the number of days/nights with perfect nectar-collecting conditions. The beekeeper may be unlucky one year, when the amount produced could average out at as little as 350g a hive which happened in 1985. In a luckier year, 1984, the average per hive was a record 69kg. In a normal year the average per hive is usually around 23-30 kg. A medium to large producer will have around 300-400 hives.
Season/buying:
If the yield is good, heather honey will be available all year. In a bad year, however, it may be sold out by Christmas. For authentic ‘Scottish heather honey’, check the label on the jar for the name and address (a legal requirement) of the beekeeper. Jars from this source are the most reliably authentic. Some honey comes from firms of honey blenders who may, or may not, be beekeepers. They may blend heather honey with other honeys.
Selected combs which are cut and boxed are more liable to crystallize therefore should be used as soon as possible. Jars which have a chunk of comb in the middle of a clear extracted honey are also less stable and may start to crystallize sooner. Comb honey should be eaten by starting with a hole in the centre, so that the honey from the cut edges runs into a pool in the centre. To judge the flavour of honey requires a sensitive palate. There is a natural flavour and freshness in good honey which is lost if it has been overheated. Honey which has been heated too much to prevent crystallization is a darker colour. Honey which contains honey-dew (a sticky secretion from insects which bees may gather) is also a dark colour and gives honey a strong treacly or molasses flavour.
The best way to judge is by the aroma. A 100 per cent heather honey will have a strong aroma. Pure ling can always be distinguished by its jelly-like set. If the water content is too high, the viscosity will be thin and the flavour poor. To test viscosity tilt the jar with the lid on; if it’s a clear honey and runs quickly it will have less flavour, if it’s thick it will run more slowly and have a stronger flavour.
Tasting honey is full of surprises. For beekeepers who do not specialize in a pure honey, there is always the chance of a spectacularly good, or a disappointingly bad, flavoured honey. My uncle G, who is a qualified honey judge, rates highly a honey which this year his bees have gathered from a mixture of bell heather and clover nectar; the strong, normally dominant heather flavour is mellowed by the sweeter more fragrant clover. It’s a perfectly balanced honey. It would be much more interesting, he says, if an outstanding honey, like this, could be described on the label. Instead, because it’s a mixture, it goes under the pedestrian ‘blossom’ label.
Both jars and combs should be kept at room temperature, or in a warm place in the room, since a gentle warmth will do no harm and slows crystallization.
To intoxicate: take oatmeal, whisky and heather honey. Mix together and use against your enemies. There will be no battle, no bloodshed, just an unconscious army which has succumbed to the powers of Atholl Brose. It’s a technique which has reputedly worked very well for the Atholl family in Perthshire. So well, that their name has now become attached to the mixture, which uses three of Scotland’s most distinctive ingredients.
The legend of the family’s brose exploits emerges first in the 15th century when an Atholl earl is reputed to have used the great intoxicater to rid the Scottish king of a particularly troublesome Lord of the Isles. Another legend involves a young man who rids the district of a wild savage by employing the intoxicating liquor and claiming as his reward the hand in marriage of a young Atholl heiress.
In the way that charming legends can obscure the facts, it seems unlikely that the Atholl family actually invented the intoxicating brose. A mealy brose was daily fare for the people. Mixing it with the national drink of the Highlands and the natural sweetener, appears in other mixtures based on the three flavours, but combined in different ways. Sometimes cream was added. Coming in frozen from the hill, Highlanders mix themselves something which they call a cromack sometimes pronounced gromack.A cromag’s-fu being the quantity of oatmeal which can be lifted when the fingers and thumb are brought together. The meal is put into a mug or bowl and whisky, honey and cream added according to need and taste. There is also a stapag, which can take many forms, but is sometimes made with cream, oatmeal, whisky and honey. Intoxicating mixes were as common as peat smoke, yet the Atholl legend lives on.
This is a recipe published by the Atholl family and drunk by Queen Victoria when she visited Blair Atholl in 1844:
‘To make a quart, take four dessertspoonfuls of run honey and four sherry glassfuls of prepared oatmeal; stir these well together and put in a quart bottle; fill up with whisky; shake well before serving.
To prepare the oatmeal, put it into a basin and mix with cold water to the consistency of thick paste. Leave for about half an hour, pass through a fine strainer, pressing with the back of a wooden spoon so as to leave the oatmeal as dry as possible. Discard the meal and use the creamy liquor for the brose.’
The Edinburgh version, without oatmeal from Meg Dods (1826):
‘Put a pound of dripped honey into a basin and add sufficient cold water to dissolve it (about a teacupful). Stir with a silver spoon, and when the water and the honey are well mixed, add gradually one and a half pints of whisky, alias mountain dew. Stir briskly, till a froth begins to rise. Bottle and keep tightly corked. Sometimes the yolk of an egg is beat up in the brose.’
‘Mix half a pound of run honey and half a pound of fine oatmeal together with a little cold water, and then pour in very slowly a quart of well-flavoured malt whisky. Stir the whole vigorously (using a silver spoon) until a generous froth rises to the top; then bottle and cork tightly. Keep for two days and serve in a silver bowl.’
Or with cream:
‘Beat one and a half teacups of double cream to a froth; stir in a teacup of very lightly toasted oatmeal; add half a teacup of dripped heather honey and just before serving two wine-glasses of whisky. Mix thoroughly and serve in shallow glasses.’
A version of Atholl Brose in The Scots Cellar by F M McNeill, (1956)
1 bottle Scotch whisky
300ml (10fl oz) double cream
450g (1lb) honey
whites of 6 eggs
1 handful of oatmeal
Soak the oatmeal in Scotch whisky. Beat the egg whites until stiff, then fold cream into them. Add the honey. Very slowly blend in the whisky and oatmeal. Pour into bottles and store for a week, shaking — and no doubt tasting! — occasionally.
A version of Atholl Brose in The Hogmanay Companion by Hugh Douglas, (1993)
Put one heaped tablespoon of finely ground oatmeal (grind medium oatmeal in a coffee grinder, if it’s not available) in a bowl, add four tablespoons of whisky. Leave for five minutes, or longer. Stir through two tablespoons of thickly whipped cream and dribble a tablespoonful of runny honey on top.
Pushing through the door of Auchendean Lodge at Dulnain Bridge, near Granton-on-Spey, there is a waft of fungal, rotting autumn from a tray of shaggy ink caps. The hotel owners have displayed them in the same way that fishermen in fishing hotels proudly lay out their salmon catch for public inspection. The catch from the Rothiemurchus forests, however, is accompanied by a note which describes the ink cap’s distinguishing features and draws attention to the fact that for this evening’s dinner they will be made into a soup.
Ian Kirk and Eric Hart, who run this Edwardian shooting lodge, are among a growing band of hoteliers and restaurateurs who make use of native wild mushrooms, encouraging the wary with their original hallway display. Perhaps the time has come for chemists in mushroom-rich areas to provide a mushroom-identification service, filling their windows, as they do in France and Italy, with safe and unsafe specimens. For mushrooms are a rich source of natural flavouring, which Scotland has in abundance.
Considering the lack of pollution, the plentiful woodlands, and the long rotting season, it’s surprising they have not featured more prominently in the national diet. The season may last from June through to the first frosts of winter, but there is no trace in old recipes of wild mushrooms being used in the diet.
Now there is a greater awareness of these natural flavourings and in Speyside they are being marketed commercially though mostly sold to Italy and France. Strathspey Mushrooms was set up by Duncan Riley who operates between Aviemore and Muir of Ord, collecting and marketing wild mushrooms. On a particularly good Sunday this autumn (1995) he reports that his volunteer mushroom gatherers (who have been carefully instructed how to pick without damaging the habitat) have collected 1,000kg of penny buns, Boletus edulus, from the Speyside woods. This was an unusually large amount — a record, he says.
The other most prolific, and good eating mushroom in Scottish woods is the chanterelle. Because of the unusually hot weather in July and August this has been a bad year (1995) for them. A summer mushroom, they need more dampness with warmth in the summer months. Both ceps and chanterelles are easy to recognize, the chanterelles by their bright orange colour and trumpet shape, the penny bun with its chestnut brown cap and tubes rather than gills. Riley is looking for Grade A specimens of boletus, rock solid, he says, and between the size of a golf ball and tennis ball, with no discolourations or soft patches.
Moist, firm and full of flavour, this is the kind of flat round Spanish-style omelette which is cut into square chunks and served as a tapa with chilled Fino.
For a main course for 4/for 8-10 tapas:
½ cup (125ml/4fl oz) olive oil
500g (1lb) sweet onions, finely chopped
salt
500g (1lb) mushrooms, preferably wild, finely diced
2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
freshly ground white pepper
4 medium eggs, beaten
Heat about two tablespoons of the oil in a deep 23cm (9in) frying pan and add the onions and salt. Cook uncovered over a low heat for about 30 minutes until they are soft, but uncoloured. Remove and add another three tablespoons oil and then the mushrooms. Salt them and cook over a high heat for 2-3 minutes, tossing occasionally. Chop the parsley and garlic together and add to the mushrooms. Cook for a minute until their scent is released. Add the onions and mix through. Remove to a bowl and add the eggs and seasoning, mix well.
Meanwhile, put the remaining oil in the pan and heat. When hot, pour in the mixture. Leave on a low heat till set but still soft on top. Place a plate on top and invert and slide back into the pan. Cook for another few minutes, then slide out onto a board and cut into mouthful-sized squares and serve tepid or cold. Or serve in the pan as a main course with salad and crusty bread.
Variation — Black Pudding and Apple Omelette:
Glasgow’s Gibson Street hosts one of the city’s more adventurous eating-out establishments, appropriately named Stravaigin (in Scots meaning: having fun in a raffish and colourful way). The stravaigar in the kitchen is Colin Clydesdale, who can often be found cooking up unusual dishes like omelettes flavoured with black pudding and apples. Follow method above, substituting 250g(8oz) black pudding, previously fried and chopped roughly and two eating apples, grated, for the mushrooms. Omit the garlic. Alternatively, use black pudding and apples with four eggs and stir-fry quickly in a wok.
An earthy, filling stew which should be served with a contrasting sharp, crisp texture such as baked garlic toasts. Vegetarians can omit the bacon.
For 4-6 servings:
2 tablespoons oil
250g (8oz) Ayrshire bacon
1 onion, finely chopped
250g (8oz) pearl barley, washed
500 g (1lb) mushrooms, preferably wild
125ml (4fl oz) water
2 teaspoons miso paste (optional)
salt and pepper
4 slices of bread
2 tablespoons olive oil
Chop the bacon, finely. Heat oil in a large pan and cook bacon till crisp. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon. Add the onion and cook gently till lightly browned. Add the barley and return the bacon to the pan. Cook for five minutes stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, chop half the mushrooms very finely, or pulse in a food processor, and slice the remainder. Add the mushrooms and continue to cook, stirring occasionally. When all the mushrooms have softened, mix the water with the miso and add. Cover and cook for five minutes.
To serve: Brush the oil over the bread and bake in a hot oven until crisp. Serve with the barley.
This is a common method of preserving wild mushrooms in countries where they are gathered in large quantities.
500g (1lb) mushrooms
50g (2oz) salt
300ml (10fl oz) dry white wine
300ml (10fl oz) white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 teaspoon oregano
2 cloves garlic
4 tablespoons olive oil
Trim stalks, if necessary and blanch in boiling salted water for about 2-3 minutes. Drain. When cold, pack into jars.
Boil white wine, vinegar and peppercorns for about five minutes. Add garlic and oregano. Cool. Pour over mushrooms. Cover with oil as a sealing layer. Cover and store for a month.
With thick coats and sturdy feet, beef breeds such as Galloway and Highland can be maintained on exposed hill and marginal land, which Scotland has in abundance. It’s their natural habitat. They eat a natural diet, thrive and produce prime quality beef on low cost winter rations and in summer and on unimproved rough grazing which is otherwise useless as arable land. It makes sense to breed beef. The other native breeds, Aberdeen Angus and Beef Shorthorn, though wintered inside, are still fed a natural high-quality diet based on silage (preserved grass). This extensive system of husbandry, where calves are allowed to feed from their mothers until they are able to feed for themselves, has been the method for centuries earning Scotland the tag of a premier beef-breeding country. These native breeds have attracted the attention of environmentalists who are concerned about the disadvantages of intensive farming.
Around three-quarters of the beef produced in Scotland comes from beef-breeding herds, not all of which are pure-bred native breeds. Farmers describe them as ‘beef-suckler herds’ and the animals which produce this prime Scottish beef will reach the highest prices on the market. Cheaper beef comes from dairy cattle, past their age of useful production, or from herds which have been more intensively reared indoors, known as ‘bull-beef’ which are fed on a less natural diet.
In distinguishing the difference, when it comes to buying beef, the High Street butchers play a vital role, many working closely with farmers to get the best shape and size of the muscles and correct percentage of fat on the carcass (some butchers own their own herds and take the responsibility for ‘finishing’ the cattle themselves). It’s the way to improve quality, but also a precaution since the unsavoury facts regarding the feed of intensively reared beef were first revealed in 1986.The butcher who can trace back to the source of his beef can confidently reassure his customer.
While this is the most widely known Scottish breed, it’s also the most recently established. Pioneer breeder, Hugh Watson (1780-1865) from Keillor near Dundee, first showed his black polled cattle in 1820, and by 1829 was sending some of his stock from the Highland Show in Perth to Smithfield. While previously cattle had been transported on the hoof for fattening in Norfolk and Suffolk, the trade to London of prime beef in carcass (sending only the most expensive cuts) developed, alongside the success of Watson’s herd. With the completion of the railway to London in 1850, this new, and more sophisticated, method became the norm.
Watson is regarded as having ‘fixed’ the type of the new breed and by the time his herd was dispersed, in 1861, it had been highly selected within itself. For the 50 years of its existence, it seems that he never bought in a bull. He sold stock to William McCombie (1805-1880) of Tillyfour, near Aberdeen, who carried on with the breeding, attaching the same importance to meeting the requirements of the London market.
The breed’s main rival in Scotland was Amos Cruickshank’s Scotch Shorthorn (established in the 1830s) which could be fattened more rapidly, but which did not milk so well and was less hardy. To overcome its problems, and introduce more rapid fattening in the Aberdeen Angus, the characteristics of the two breeds were combined by crossing them, and the Aberdeen-Angus cross Shorthorn became the source of most of the prime beef produced in Scotland.
The Polled Cattle Herd Book was started in 1862 and the Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society inaugurated in 1879. In 1891, a separate class at the Smithfield Show was provided for the breed, and at the Perth bull sales in 1963 a single bull made history with a world record price of 60,000 guineas.
Changes have occurred in the breed in the last three decades. Firstly a peak demand developed in the 1960s for a small, thick bull with a lot of meat. A trend which was reversed with entry to the EU when a fashion developed in the 1970s and 80s for a taller, leaner animal with a minimum of fat. Now there has been a return to more fat marbling which has stimulated a new era in the history of the breed as breeders and retailers have established more effectively the importance its succulence and flavour. Quality rather than quantity has been the criterion, in the 90s established with the Certification Trade Mark registered by the Aberdeen Angus Cattle Society.
The breed has a special ability to thrive on low-quality pasture, rough grazing and natural rations, such as silage and arable by-products. For unknown reasons it converts these rations, more effectively than most other breeds, into high-quality, early maturing beef with a marbled fat, making it both economically and environmentally desirable. There are around 500 registered pedigree herds throughout the UK. The season is best in late summer, after summer feeding, and autumn.
Though the bloodlines of Galloway (Belted Galloway) and Aberdeen Angus eventually followed very different paths, these two modern Scottish breeds of black, hornless beef-cattle still have some superficial similarities, which reflect their descent from the same primitive stock. While the Angus has responded to intensive feeding, resulting in a rapidly maturing animal, in keeping with the farming practices in its native North-East, the Galloway has made the most of its native marginal and hill lands of the South-West by producing a slower maturing breed.
During the 18th century, South-West Scotland had been a major source of store cattle, which were taken south by drovers to be fattened in Norfolk and Suffolk for the London market. By the mid-19th century, however, the droving trade had ended. Cattle farmers in the South-West had turned to dairying, and the beef cattle were forced to live in the hills.
The Galloway Cattle Society was formed in 1877 in Castle Douglas, which is still the headquarters of the breed for administration and for the main sales. Until its inception, the polled Angus or Aberdeen cattle and the Galloways were entered in the same Herd Book, but with the founding of the society the copyright of the Galloway portion was purchased.
During World War II the value of the pure-bred Galloway for hill grazing was recognized and numbers were expanded under Government encouragement. While the breed has maintained its position, despite subsequent changes in Government policy, its most recent history has also been significantly affected, once again, by its practical ability to forage on rough ground without too much extra feeding expense, making it an attractive breed in a period of rising costs.
Out-wintered and maintained on exposed hill and marginal land, they survive on low-cost winter rations and in summer on unimproved rough grazing. They are particularly suited to more natural extensive husbandry. Most herds are to be found in southern Scotland, with the greatest concentration in the South-West. There are some in Cumbria and other parts of the North of England plus a few in other parts of England and Ireland.
Native long-haired, black or dun coloured Highland cattle were an important part of the traditional clan-based economy. Used as a supply of milk, cheese and butter, the dairy cows were driven at the beginning of summer to the mountain pastures as the women and children moved with them to live in ‘sheilings’ (summer pastures and dwellings in the hills) where they made cheese and butter. Surplus cattle were herded south, along ancient drove roads, to markets in Falkirk and Crieff where they were bought for ‘finishing’ on more lush Lowland pastures on which specialist graziers fattened them for slaughter.
By the mid-19th century the trade had declined, partly as a result of the break-up of the clan system, followed by the Highland Clearances in the first half of the 19th century, but also because of a demand for a better quality of beef. The Highland cattle which were driven along the ancient drove roads were often four to five years old and their carcasses did not provide the kind of tender meat which could be obtained from young animals, reared and fattened on the new fodder crops nearer the market.
Although it suffered in popularity, the breed was encouraged by certain lairds, notably the Stewart brothers of Harris, MacNeil of Barra, the Duke of Hamilton and the Duke of Argyll. Stock seems to have been selected from island and mainland populations with no evidence of Lowland blood having been brought in. Hardiness has remained a key characteristic of the breed. Like the Aberdeen Angus, it is quite closely related to the Galloway with a common ancestry in primitive native stock, but influenced in its physical development by the more rugged and more severe weather conditions of the Highlands.
The breed society was founded in 1884 with 516 bulls listed in the first herd book, most of which were black or dun. Some went to Canada in 1882 and in the 1920s exports were made to the USA and South America. Today there has been a revival of interest in the breed, particularly for the quality of its meat, and some pioneering butchers have taken to specializing in pure Highland beef, attracting a loyal and growing following from both the domestic and catering market.
The animals can survive well on rough mountain pasture, with some additional feeding in winter. Because of their hardiness and very long thick coats they have a natural ability to withstand extreme cold and thrive outside during the winter. Most herds are in Scotland, with many in the Highlands, but there are other herds throughout the UK.
The Beef Shorthorn or ‘The Great Improver’, as it has often been called, has a recorded history of over 200 years and has played a major part in the beef industry throughout the world. Though it is generally considered that the pure Shorthorn breed was first developed in Yorkshire in the late 18th century, the pioneering of the Scotch Shorthorn (later described as the Beef Shorthorn) began in the 1830s when Amos Cruickshank and his brother became tenants of an Aberdeenshire farm. By the 1870s, the Cruickshanks’ bull calves were being sold to neighbours as crossing bulls. New herds were being built up and it was from this source of beef cattle that the Beef Shorthorn developed. The beefy type of Shorthorn was eventually treated as a separate breed from the Dairy Shorthorn.
By the 1940s and 50s, Beef Shorthorns were numbered in the thousands and considerable emphasis was placed on the export market. The fashion was for early maturing ‘baby beef’, short and dumpy by today’s standards. Fat animals were the order of the day and in the following decades the breed suffered a decline.
As a result of some dedicated breeders, however, who have modernized the breed to ensure it meets the requirements of height and smooth fleshing, while still retaining the other qualities of flavour and character in the meat, the breed has now been experiencing a substantial revival.
It is used in regions where there is a need for extensive farming, where ease of calving and hardiness are essential. Their eyes, skin pigment and coat texture ensure a greater tolerance of excessive weather conditions and their excellent feet and legs make them ideal for range conditions. In the UK there is a population of around 590 pedigree females; most are in Scotland and North Yorkshire with other small herds throughout the country.
In recent years the issue of flavour and succulence has become an important factor in beef breeding. Twenty years ago when supermarket policy was to provide lean, pink, fresh-looking beef the farmers were challenged to look, not to native breeds, but to Continental breeding stock, intermingling their native animals with French breeding stock, particularly Charolais. This policy produced a beef type which is not in the Scottish tradition but produces lean meat with no fat marbling. Some have suggested that this move was as damaging to the beef industry as mixing French brandy with Scotch whisky would have been to the whisky industry.
In 1994 Jim Jack, President of the Aberdeen-Angus Society, in his message to breeders admitted that: ‘This meat [Continental crossed] does not have the succulence and flavour that the consumer requires. Thus, the aim now is to have meat that has a marbling of fat through it, to give a healthy product, that is succulent and tasty.’
The move back to producing beef with the native characteristics of good fat-marbling for flavour appears to be gathering momentum. Our friendly, High Street butchers, have always kept their eye on the native breed’s ability to produce a quality flavour and they continue to be the best place to find this quality — rather than quantity-bred meat.
Now more farmers, like Michael Gibson of Forres, who is Chairman of the Agricultural Committee of the Scottish Landowners Association, are pioneering the quality of native breeds. ‘In the 1980s,’ says Gibson, who also owns MacBeth’s butchers in Forres, ‘we wanted to do a presentation on the quality image of pedigree Highland beef at a farming exhibition in Hyde Park and were warned-off because we were seen as old-fashioned.
‘All we wanted to do was get across the point that, small native Scottish breeds, foraging naturally on Scottish mountains, produce top quality beef. But that was out of step with the official Meat and Livestock Commission (MLC) line.’
Besides the importance of breed, there is also the question of its treatment before and after slaughter. The MLC have conducted scientific research throughout the world, to establish a blueprint for treatment, before and after, slaughter which will produce the best eating quality. What the blueprint does not provide, however, is any sort of guide for farmers on the question of breeding.
‘Quality differences between beef breeds,’ says Basil Lowman, Senior Beef Specialist at the Scottish Agricultural College, ‘cannot be supported by scientific evidence, so it’s really up to the farmer to decide what to go for. The problem is that they have been confused by the messages which have been coming from consumers.
‘Of course there are as many arguments as there are farmers, but it seems, that there has been some damage to the perceived quality image of Aberdeen Angus beef by the trend towards fresh, pink, lean beef. I think farmers need to take much more interest in the finished product and its eating quality.’
On the shelves of the leading multiples I can pick from a number of tags which suggest that this pack of sirloin steak might be worth treble the price of common mince. But which to choose? — Aberdeen Angus, Selected Aberdeenshire, Angus, or just Specially Selected Scotch Beef.
One is too pink with hardly any fat marbling, so that could be dodgy. Another looks too wet — why pay a premium price for water? There is only one which is well-marbled with fat and looks dark enough to have hung for longer than the minimum seven days which the MLC recommends will produce good eating quality in a steak.
Hanging for quality costs money. At a slaughterhouse in prime Scottish beef-rearing country, carcasses which have been sold to one of the supermarkets are hung for less than the minimum seven days before they are cut then packed into sealed plastic packs. Meanwhile, the meat which has been bought by several local butchers and one or two hotels continues to hang, with subsequent moisture loss, for at least two weeks. Seen side by side, the difference is startling: the well-hung carcass much smaller, the meat a firm looking deep-red while the other is a watery looking pinkish-red.
Choosing a rib roast cut:
Choose a cut at the top end of the sirloin but before the beginning of the neck. Too high up, near the neck end will have a thick layer of tougher meat, which is the start of the shoulder muscle and shoulderblade. This should be avoided since, apart from the inconvenience of removing the cartilage, the top layer of meat will take longer to cook than the tender rib muscle.
Buying a boned and rolled joint means that both the bone’s flavour, and its useful protection of the meat during roasting, is lost.
Minimum size: 2-2.5kg (4-5lbs) to serve 8-10 with some left over.
Preparing:
Rub the whole joint with some dripping or butter and coat with salt and freshly ground black pepper, or sprinkle over a special seasoning mixture: one level tablespoon of dry mustard, mixed with two tablespoons of lightly browned flour and a generous grinding of black pepper. Leave for several hours, preferably overnight when the surface absorbs the flavours.
Roasting:
Heat the oven and roasting tin for at least fifteen minutes to gas mark 9/240C/475F.
Put the beef, fat side up, in the tin. The roast root vegetables (see below) can be put in the tin with the beef or roasted separately. Put into the oven.
After five minutes, reduce the heat to gas mark 6/200C/400F and from this point, time the roasting.
Allow: 15 minutes per 500g (llb) for medium rare. This produces a finished joint which will provide enough medium well-cooked meat at either end for about two or three who prefer it this way, but which is mainly rare.
Or allow: 20-25 minutes per 500g (llb) which will produce a result which is mostly well-cooked with very little rare meat.
Turn the roast root vegetables once during the roasting. If they are ready before the meat, remove and keep warm.
Remove the meat from the oven, put it on a serving ashet, and keep in a warm place to rest while making and serving the puddings.
Yorkshire puddings:
Use pouring batter (see p.). Put a knob of dripping or lard into Yorkshire pudding moulds, place in the oven and heat till almost smoking. Remove, pour in batter and cook for ten minutes gas mark 9/240C/475F. Remove and serve with gravy as a first course.
Gravy:
Decant excess fat. Put a large glass of robust red wine into the roasting pan and reduce over a high heat for a few minutes, scraping up bits of debris from the base of the tin. Season, strain and serve in a sauceboat.
Horseradish:
Use freshly grated horseradish which has been mixed with whipped cream.
Mustard:
Serve with English mustard.
Roasting in olive oil adds a special flavour to root vegetables in this dish which can be served before the beef course with the Yorkshire puddings and gravy.
They can either be roasted in the same tin with the roast beef or, for vegetarians, made as a main course with the puddings and served with a hot orange vinaigrette (see p.62)
For 4 servings:
1 small turnip (swede)
4 medium parsnips
4 small carrots
4 medium potatoes
4 small onions
1 bulb fennel
100ml (3½fl oz) extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
1 bulb garlic
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
Preheat the oven to gas mark 8/230C/450F. Put the olive oil into a large roasting tin and place in the oven. Leave for 5-10 minutes until it becomes very hot. Meanwhile, peel the vegetables. Cut into large chunks about the same size. Remove the hot oil from the oven and add the vegetables. Turn well in the oil so that they are all coated. Add rosemary sprigs. Cut the top off the garlic bulb and add.
Roast until all the vegetables are tender, turning once or twice. They should take 40-45 minutes. Remove from the oven. Leave to rest for five minutes. Press the softened insides out of the garlic cloves and mix through the vegetables. Sprinkle over the sesame seeds and serve with Yorkshire puddings and hot orange vinaigrette.
Until the mid-20th century, most people ate the strong-flavoured, mature sheep which had grazed on the rough heather hills for many years. A little would be eaten fresh, but most was saved for winter use in a salt pickle. Until a process of re-education by the meat industry took place, in the second half of the 20th century, tender, milder-tasting, and more quickly cooked lamb was a rarity. Mutton was the norm.
Embodying the meaty equivalent of wisdom which comes with age, the flavour of over-the-year-old mutton is more complex. More suitable for use in slow-cooked broths and stews. This may not be the most popular late 20th century style and mutton may be a rarity for most, but the old taste is not entirely forgotten.
In some northern areas of the Highlands, on the Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland, salting over-the-year-old sheep remains popular. In Shetland, the cure is known as reestit mutton and it continues to hang in butchers’ shops in Lerwick while many Shetlanders still make their own at home. First salted and then hung on a wood or rope drying or smoking frame (reest), it was a plate of reestit mutton broth, served at the St Magnus Bay Hotel in Shetland, which first alerted me to its charms.
Besides its use in broths, the meat may also be removed and eaten separately with potatoes, or chopped finely and returned to the broth. It’s also eaten sliced cold on a Shetland bannock or chopped finely and mixed into milgrew, a colloquial term for milk gruel, or porridge made with milk. It also takes its place on the festive table at Up-Helly-Aa in January (see p.29) when platters of the best cuts (saved for the occasion) are served with the traditional bannock, oatcakes and butter at festive tables throughout the town.
I bought my first reestit mutton from Jim Grunberg, a rugged Shetlander who (at that time) managed Smiths the butchers in Lerwick and canoed, winter and summer, back and forward across the narrow strip of water to his home on a nearby island. His cured mutton hung from hooks all about the shop and in the window he had the following notice: ‘Reestit Mutton, What is it?’ —
‘Traditionally, it was salted lamb or mutton dried above a peat fire. It will keep for years if you keep it dry. Reestit mutton soup is an acquired taste that you acquire at the first taste. A small piece is enough to flavour a pot of soup which should include cabbage, carrots, neeps and tatties.’
To make reestit mutton the meat is cut up into fairly small pieces, always left on the bone. Sometimes whole legs or whole shoulders are used. The meat is put into the curer’s ‘secret’ brine pickle: approximately 80 per cent salt to two per cent sugar. The meat is left for between ten days to three weeks, then removed and hung up on hooks to dry.
Three and a half pounds of Salt.
Four quarts of Water.
Six ounces of Sugar.
Two to three ounces of Saltpetre
About sixteen pounds of Mutton.
M Stout, A Shetland Cookbook (1968)
This is a salt-and-sugar-flavoured pickle which adds a subtle character to meats and poultry. In three to four days new flavours will have developed. Only if the meat is left for too long will it become strongly salty. As with the smokers’ modification of smoking cures, there is no need today to use a pickle for more than added flavour.
The meat can be used for flavouring broths and soups but joints which are to be pot-roasted, rather than boiled, can also be improved by a short 12-hour soak in the pickle.
Pork (leg, shoulder or loin), a duck or chicken will develop a good flavour in 36-48 hours and can be poached or pot roasted.
The thickness of the meat will always determine how quickly the pickling flavour is absorbed. Do not mix types of meat. Mutton is often available from Halal butchers in cosmopolitan areas of large cities.
Flavouring pickle for a 2kg (4lb) leg of lamb with bone:
2 litres (3½ pints) water
625g (1¼lb) coarse sea salt
250g (8oz) brown muscovado sugar
1 sprig bay leaves
1 sprig of thyme
5 crushed juniper berries
5 crushed peppercorns
Put everything into a pan and bring to the boil. Stir to dissolve the salt and sugar and boil hard for about five minutes. Leave to cool.
Pickling the meat:
Put the cold pickle into a well-washed earthenware crock or bucket with a lid. Immerse the meat and keep it below the surface by laying a heavy plate, or other weight, on top. Cover and keep in a dry cool place. Pickling time will always depend on the thickness of the meat, but for thick joints follow the rule: 3-4 days — mildly flavoured; 7-8 days: — medium flavoured; 10-14 days — very strongly flavoured.
To cook the meat after flavouring:
Pickle a 2kg (4lb) leg on the bone for three-four days, rinse. Put into a pan with 2 onions stuck with 3 cloves, 2 medium carrots, sliced. A bay leaf and 8 peppercorns. Cover with water and bring slowly to the boil. Skim. Simmer till the meat is just tender. Leave the meat to cool in the liquid. The next day skim off the fat. Taste for flavour. If too salty add water to dilute.
Slice the best meat and serve reheated in some of the stock with the carrots, chopped parsley and floury boiled potatoes, or serve cold with salad.
Use the remaining stock and meat scraps to make broth adding sliced potatoes, a finely sliced bulb of fennel or half a head of celery, or half a small cabbage. The broth should be thick with vegetables. Simmer gently until the vegetables are tender. Add the meat scraps, finely chopped, taste for seasoning and add freshly ground white pepper and 3-4 tablespoons of chopped parsley.
Remove from the pickle after about 48-60 hours for a 2-3kg (4-6lb) chicken. Rinse and leave to dry out thoroughly (3-4 hours or overnight). Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a pan, add 250g (8oz) halved medium-sized mushrooms and half a head of celery, chopped roughly. Toss in the oil, cover and sweat for a few minutes. Add the chicken and brown lightly. Place on top of the vegetables. Add enough water to come half-way up the vegetables. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and cook very slowly for about 1-1½hours, or until the chicken is tender. Remove the liquid, strain, season and serve in a sauceboat. Serve chicken on the bed of vegetables with floury mashed potatoes.
FAllow, Trench, and level ground. Prepare pits and bordures for Trees. Gather plan seed, Almond, Peach, and white Plum Stones. Gather ripe Fruits. Plant furth Cabbage. Remove bulbs and plant them. Refresh, Trame, and House your tender Greens. Refresh and trim pots and cases with July-flowers and other fine Flowers and plants, Carrying them to pits, shelter, and covert, giving them Air, &c.
Towards the end gather Safron.
Make Cyder, Perry, and other Wines, &c.
Straiten the entrance to Bee-hives, destroy Wasps, &c.
Also you may now remove Bees.
Garden Dishes and drinks in season.
Varieties of Pot-herbes and Salldes, Cabbage, Cole-flower, Peas, Beans, and Kidnees, Artichocks, Beet-card, Beet-rave, Scorzonera, Carrots, Turneeps, Radish, Cucumbers, Aples, Pears, Apricocks, Peaches, Nectarines, Quince, Grapes, Barberries, Filbeards.
Cyder, Liquorish Ail, Metheglin, and Wine of Cherries, Rasps, Goolberries, Currans, &c.
John Reid, The Scots Gard’ner, (1683)