There’s more to Scotland than whiskey, Nessie, and bagpipes. With its wild, windswept Highlands, ancient castles, once-warring clans, lochs and kilts, there’s a certain romance around the bewitching land which occupies about one third of the island of Great Britain. The name Scotland is derived from the Latin Scotia, land of the Scots, a Celtic people from Ireland who settled on the west coast of Britain in the 5th century AD.
Battered by extremities of weather, its people learnt to stand up to it and build a life for themselves in this incomparably beautiful land of lochs or lakes and mountains.
The early and original inhabitants of Scotland, the Picts, were expert huntsmen who were constantly on the trail of deer, birds, boars, wild rabbits, and otters. The land witnessed a dramatic change with the arrival of the Vikings from Scandinavia in the 8th century. The Vikings were food lords who loved to wine and dine to the accompaniment of lusty cheers. They taught the Scots how to dine on smoked meat. They were also masters in the art of pickling food, especially meat.
The brooding weather demanded that the Scots learned the fine art of preserving food when days of wind and sleet forced them to fall back on what was left of the meat hunted. It’s also believed that it was the Vikings who brought the Aberdeen Angus breed of cattle to Scotland.
With the Roman invasion, the Scots learned the finer techniques of angling and large-scale fishing.
Though attempts were made at farming wheat, it came to naught because of the perpetually wet weather and the unfriendly texture of the soil. But barley, cabbage, beans, turnip, carrot, peas, onion and kale took to the land and they were farmed extensively. Kale also happens to be the oldest known Scottish vegetable and formed a base for several dishes. For centuries, the staple diet of the Scots happened to be oats, a fact satirized by none other than the irrepressible English writer Dr Samuel Johnson who said oats was a grain which in England was generally given to horses, but in Scotland supported the people!
Much before the Industrial Revolution, the Scots’ main source of sustenance was from a porridge made with barley, oats and peas and till the 17th century, the sweet in their food came from honey and not sugar.
A collection of medieval English recipes titled The Forme of Cury, published in the 1390s, has recorded that people on the British Isles made dishes with the meat of goose, swan, rabbit, and pork.
Onrush of flavours
Pepper and other spices were introduced in Scotland by those who got back after the crusades. A pretty amusing fact was that in those days of yore, salt was a precious commodity, used only by the exclusive elite. It was towards the end of the 16th century that potato rolled its way into Scotland. The potato found an ally in the harsh Scottish weather and it was soon farmed extensively on the land. Traditional Scottish dishes like Haggis, neeps and tatties, steak pie and mash, mince, potato scone and cullen skink are all accompanied by a general helping of potatoes.
It was the doomed Mary, Queen of Scots, who brought in French chefs to Scotland who in turn introduced sauce to Scottish dishes and brought in a whole lot of changes to its cuisine. The perceptible French influence was quite visible in the names given to some dishes. Then came ice cream and desserts from Italy. With European migration, the foreign touch to Scottish food became almost complete and it went beyond the confines of its boundaries.
Spices, flavouring agents, garlic, rosemary, cinnamon, pepper corn, mint root, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg crept into Scottish kitchens. With more migrants coming in from Italy, Spain, Eastern Europe, central Asia and other Asian countries, Scottish cuisine became a mix of several flavours.
Scottish dishes
Haggis happens to be the main dish of Scotland, with a decidedly wonderful flavour for those who are brave and sturdy enough to stomach it! It certainly is not a dish for the faint-hearted, for such is the stuff it’s made of.
Haggis is made from a sheep’s internal organs. This is minced and mixed with beef fat and toasted oatmeal. It is then stuffed into the lining of the sheep’s stomach and stitched up. It’s then boiled and cooked for hours and served with neeps and tatties (turnips and potatoes).
The traditional porridge is oats cooked with milk, salt or sugar. Crappit Heid is a traditional Scotch fish recipe. It’s actually boiled fish head stuffed with oats, suet and liver. It’s the cod’s head that figures in the dish. Stovies is another dish with potato, onions, vegetables, sausage, beef roast and finely chopped meat.
Scotch broth is a soup which combines mutton, beef, marrow bones, a range of vegetables and barley. It is served piping hot.
The Colcannon is a traditional Scotch dish made from boiled cabbage, carrots, turnip and potatoes. It has both the features of a stew and a soup.
The Scottish Macaroon is a sweet dish that combines mashed potato, ice sugar, chocolate and coconut. The Arbaroath Smokie is a smoked fish dish. The clap shot, tattie scone and rumbled thumb are vegetable dishes. The traditional Scotch biscuit, short bread, is a generous mix of butter and sugar, once a favourite of Queen Mary.
The Irn Bru is a carbonated Scottish drink, also a national favourite.
And last but not the least is the Scotch Whiskey, the world would die for. Close on the whiskey’s heels are the country’s gin and beer. On an average, 40 bottles of whiskey per second are exported from Scotland and almost 50% of Britain’s gin is produced here.
So it’s off to Scotland for a sip of its brew and a bite of the Haggis, and if you’re there on New Year’s Eve, gently groove to the strains of Auld Lang Syne!
