Check the Scottish fare at this year's Festival and Highland Games
By Genelle Pugmire
Deseret Morning News
Published: Tuesday, June 8, 2004 1:36 p.m. MDT
LEHI — William Wallace may have been brave of heart, but he and other Scots historically are also known to be strong of stomach.
This weekend's 30th annual Scottish Festival, sponsored by the Utah Scottish Association, will celebrate the heart, strength and food of Scotland.
The Ferguson Clan is in charge of the food and will have several distinctly Scottish recipes to share with the public, including haggis. (For the uninitiated, authentic haggis is a sheep's stomach lining filled with minced organs, seasonings and oatmeal and simmered for hours. The dish gained acclaim from Scottish hero Robert Burns' poem, "To a Haggis.")
"I've been making it (haggis) for years," said Aileen Ferguson, who is known in local Scottish circles as "The Haggis Lady." "Some of the haggis you get are edible, and some are just tolerable. But I found a recipe that's basic and kept experimenting and rearranging the spices, and everyone calls it a very edible haggis. Now people will call and say, 'Are you "The Haggis Lady"? Can you make me a pan for our family reunion?'"
Scottish pastries are delicious, and no one makes a sausage roll or meat pie as good as a Scot. But some clans will likely shy away from sharing many of the more historical recipes from their genealogy. For an example of these ancient Scottish dishes, you can turn to the "Clans Cook Book: Favourite Family Recipes of Scotland's Clan Chiefs," compiled by Wendy Jones with a "foreword" by the Earl of Elgin and Kincardine.
Speaking of traditional cooking, the earl writes: "We in Scotland have become omnivorous, and we accept much that would have been rejected — as Robert Burns remarked — as trash. Yet in all that we think we have learned from other places and other lands, we still love our 'hamely fare.' "
As Ferguson points out, Scotland was a poor country, and its citizens had to be frugal. Nothing went to waste.
Hence dishes like Seal Hoosh from Clan Agnew: "Take one seal, skin and strip the blubber. Make a blubber stove and slowly smoke the seal meat in a tin. Add sea water to liquefy, wait three weeks until you are very, very hungry and reheat for eating."
Or a special brew — Cold Snail Water — served to the children of Clan Hay. The mixture includes new milk of a red cow, about 100 great shell snails and a pint of great earthworms slit and "clean washed." You "boyl" them together for half an hour and add "harts toung, alehooppe, cowslips of jerusalem and coltsfoot (about a handful of each erb)." Let the water from the mixture drop on white "shugar" candy, mix it all together and "give ye child a bout eight or nine spoonfulls."
Speaking of hearty brews for cast-iron stomachs, the Urquhart Clan has a concoction of spirits and tea called "Artillery Punch." One sip, and it's guaranteed your head will hear cannons for hours. The cooks recommend calling a taxi.
While diners may be put off by the old Scottish recipes, they may find other dishes — Stovies, Clapshot and Cock-A-Leekie, served with a scone and marmalade or Scottish eggs on the side — more appealing.
Scottish eggs (also known as Scotch eggs), which will be served at the festival, are hard-boiled and peeled, then wrapped in seasoned sausage and fried.
"They were made the night before and then put in a cloth and taken to the fields, or wherever they (the Scots) were working, as a lunch meal," said Ferguson. "Meat pies and sausage rolls were also eaten cold for lunch, although we'll be serving them hot at the festival."
At the festival, you can buy a dinner of haggis, with neeps and tatties (turnips and potatoes cooked together and mashed) with minted peas and a baking powder biscuit, for $5. You can also get a shepherd's pie dinner with minted peas and a biscuit, for $5.
Other dishes that will be served include shortbread, rum balls and "cream crowdie," layers of whipped cream, raspberries and toasted oats. All the cooking is done ahead of time in Valley Services' commercial kitchen in Midvale.
"Scots aren't known for flavorful spices, but we have a good following of people who come back year after year for our food," said Ferguson.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you go
What: 30th annual Utah Scottish Festival and Highland Games
Where: Thanksgiving Point, Electric Park, Lehi
When: Friday 5-7:30 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m.-6 p.m.
How much: $5 Friday, $10 Saturday; food items individually priced
Phone: 801-400-1277
Web: www.utahscots.org
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BAGLESS HAGGIS
Authentic haggis is a sheep's stomach lining filled with minced organs, seasonings and oatmeal and simmered for hours. It's not permissible to use a sheep's stomach lining in the U.S., said Ferguson, so she makes hers more like a meatloaf. Ferguson said there's a Scottish saying: "It takes a man to eat haggis, but it takes a REAL man to keep it down."
1 beef heart
1 pound beef liver
2 pounds lamb shoulder
1 cup suet
2 cups quick oatmeal
2 medium onions, chopped
2 cups stock (from boiling the above meats)
1 teaspoon each salt and pepper
Nutmeg and thyme
Boil meats 2 hours. Save stock. Grind or mince meats. Add suet and onions, oatmeal and seasonings. Add enough stock to make a mixture look and feel like a meatloaf. Pour into a pan that has been well-greased. Cover with foil. Poke 2 holes in foil. Place pan in another pan filled halfway with water. Steam-bake for 2 hours at 325 degrees. — Aileen Ferguson
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CREAM CROWDIE
2 tablespoons quick oats, toasted
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons honey
1 cup raspberries or strawberries
2 tablespoons quick oats, toasted
To toast oatmeal, place in a small pan. Stir over low heat 5 minutes or more until lightly toasted. Cool.
Using an electric beater, beat cream in small bowl until soft peaks form. Add honey, beat until combined. Fold the first two tablespoons of toasted oatmeal into the creamed mixture, using a metal spoon. Layer fruit evenly between 6 dessert glasses, and top with the cream. Refrigerate 2 hours. Garnish with fresh berries and the last 2 tablespoons of toasted oats. — Aileen Ferguson
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SHORTBREAD
1 3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup rice flour
1/2 cup real butter (no substitutes)
1/4 cup sugar
Mix flour and sugar together. Add butter, cut into pieces, and using fingertips, mix it together until evenly distributed. Knead mixture together to form soft but not sticky dough. Divide dough in half and shape into two rounds, about 3/4-inch thick. Notch around the edge to signify the sun's rays. Bake at 325 degrees for 25-30 minutes, or until bottoms turn light brown. — Aileen Ferguson
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-MAIL: pugmire@desnews.com
© 2009 Deseret News Publishing Company | All rights reserved
By Genelle Pugmire
Deseret Morning News
Published: Tuesday, June 8, 2004 1:36 p.m. MDT
LEHI — William Wallace may have been brave of heart, but he and other Scots historically are also known to be strong of stomach.
This weekend's 30th annual Scottish Festival, sponsored by the Utah Scottish Association, will celebrate the heart, strength and food of Scotland.
The Ferguson Clan is in charge of the food and will have several distinctly Scottish recipes to share with the public, including haggis. (For the uninitiated, authentic haggis is a sheep's stomach lining filled with minced organs, seasonings and oatmeal and simmered for hours. The dish gained acclaim from Scottish hero Robert Burns' poem, "To a Haggis.")
"I've been making it (haggis) for years," said Aileen Ferguson, who is known in local Scottish circles as "The Haggis Lady." "Some of the haggis you get are edible, and some are just tolerable. But I found a recipe that's basic and kept experimenting and rearranging the spices, and everyone calls it a very edible haggis. Now people will call and say, 'Are you "The Haggis Lady"? Can you make me a pan for our family reunion?'"
Scottish pastries are delicious, and no one makes a sausage roll or meat pie as good as a Scot. But some clans will likely shy away from sharing many of the more historical recipes from their genealogy. For an example of these ancient Scottish dishes, you can turn to the "Clans Cook Book: Favourite Family Recipes of Scotland's Clan Chiefs," compiled by Wendy Jones with a "foreword" by the Earl of Elgin and Kincardine.
Speaking of traditional cooking, the earl writes: "We in Scotland have become omnivorous, and we accept much that would have been rejected — as Robert Burns remarked — as trash. Yet in all that we think we have learned from other places and other lands, we still love our 'hamely fare.' "
As Ferguson points out, Scotland was a poor country, and its citizens had to be frugal. Nothing went to waste.
Hence dishes like Seal Hoosh from Clan Agnew: "Take one seal, skin and strip the blubber. Make a blubber stove and slowly smoke the seal meat in a tin. Add sea water to liquefy, wait three weeks until you are very, very hungry and reheat for eating."
Or a special brew — Cold Snail Water — served to the children of Clan Hay. The mixture includes new milk of a red cow, about 100 great shell snails and a pint of great earthworms slit and "clean washed." You "boyl" them together for half an hour and add "harts toung, alehooppe, cowslips of jerusalem and coltsfoot (about a handful of each erb)." Let the water from the mixture drop on white "shugar" candy, mix it all together and "give ye child a bout eight or nine spoonfulls."
Speaking of hearty brews for cast-iron stomachs, the Urquhart Clan has a concoction of spirits and tea called "Artillery Punch." One sip, and it's guaranteed your head will hear cannons for hours. The cooks recommend calling a taxi.
While diners may be put off by the old Scottish recipes, they may find other dishes — Stovies, Clapshot and Cock-A-Leekie, served with a scone and marmalade or Scottish eggs on the side — more appealing.
Scottish eggs (also known as Scotch eggs), which will be served at the festival, are hard-boiled and peeled, then wrapped in seasoned sausage and fried.
"They were made the night before and then put in a cloth and taken to the fields, or wherever they (the Scots) were working, as a lunch meal," said Ferguson. "Meat pies and sausage rolls were also eaten cold for lunch, although we'll be serving them hot at the festival."
At the festival, you can buy a dinner of haggis, with neeps and tatties (turnips and potatoes cooked together and mashed) with minted peas and a baking powder biscuit, for $5. You can also get a shepherd's pie dinner with minted peas and a biscuit, for $5.
Other dishes that will be served include shortbread, rum balls and "cream crowdie," layers of whipped cream, raspberries and toasted oats. All the cooking is done ahead of time in Valley Services' commercial kitchen in Midvale.
"Scots aren't known for flavorful spices, but we have a good following of people who come back year after year for our food," said Ferguson.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you go
What: 30th annual Utah Scottish Festival and Highland Games
Where: Thanksgiving Point, Electric Park, Lehi
When: Friday 5-7:30 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m.-6 p.m.
How much: $5 Friday, $10 Saturday; food items individually priced
Phone: 801-400-1277
Web: www.utahscots.org
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BAGLESS HAGGIS
Authentic haggis is a sheep's stomach lining filled with minced organs, seasonings and oatmeal and simmered for hours. It's not permissible to use a sheep's stomach lining in the U.S., said Ferguson, so she makes hers more like a meatloaf. Ferguson said there's a Scottish saying: "It takes a man to eat haggis, but it takes a REAL man to keep it down."
1 beef heart
1 pound beef liver
2 pounds lamb shoulder
1 cup suet
2 cups quick oatmeal
2 medium onions, chopped
2 cups stock (from boiling the above meats)
1 teaspoon each salt and pepper
Nutmeg and thyme
Boil meats 2 hours. Save stock. Grind or mince meats. Add suet and onions, oatmeal and seasonings. Add enough stock to make a mixture look and feel like a meatloaf. Pour into a pan that has been well-greased. Cover with foil. Poke 2 holes in foil. Place pan in another pan filled halfway with water. Steam-bake for 2 hours at 325 degrees. — Aileen Ferguson
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CREAM CROWDIE
2 tablespoons quick oats, toasted
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons honey
1 cup raspberries or strawberries
2 tablespoons quick oats, toasted
To toast oatmeal, place in a small pan. Stir over low heat 5 minutes or more until lightly toasted. Cool.
Using an electric beater, beat cream in small bowl until soft peaks form. Add honey, beat until combined. Fold the first two tablespoons of toasted oatmeal into the creamed mixture, using a metal spoon. Layer fruit evenly between 6 dessert glasses, and top with the cream. Refrigerate 2 hours. Garnish with fresh berries and the last 2 tablespoons of toasted oats. — Aileen Ferguson
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SHORTBREAD
1 3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup rice flour
1/2 cup real butter (no substitutes)
1/4 cup sugar
Mix flour and sugar together. Add butter, cut into pieces, and using fingertips, mix it together until evenly distributed. Knead mixture together to form soft but not sticky dough. Divide dough in half and shape into two rounds, about 3/4-inch thick. Notch around the edge to signify the sun's rays. Bake at 325 degrees for 25-30 minutes, or until bottoms turn light brown. — Aileen Ferguson
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-MAIL: pugmire@desnews.com
© 2009 Deseret News Publishing Company | All rights reserved
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