Clootie Dumpling [PDF, 500KB]

Now this is something ye must be guid at. There's a lot o' ingredients here but this is the daddy o' dumplings. Be prepared for a lot o' work and a mess on the scullery flair.

4 oz suet, chopped
8 oz self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 oz breid crumbs
3 oz broon sugar
1 grated apple
8 oz currants and sultanas
1 teaspoon each of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg
1 tablespoon golden syrup
2 eggs
a little milk

Half fill a large pot and bring tae the boil. Scald a large piece of linen or cheesecloth with boiling water then dust it wi' flour. Beat the eggs, mix in the syrup and a little milk, and gradually mix into the dry ingredients and fruit. Place the mixture in the middle of the cloth. Tie it ticht but allow for swelling. Place an inverted plate on the bottom of the pan and put the pudding on it. Boil for 3 tae 4 hours. Never let the water drap ablow half the depth o' the pudding. Dip in cold water, remove the cloth and dry the pudding aff in a medium-tae-hot oven. Sprinkle the top wi' sugar and serve with cream or custard.

Hogmanay Steak Pie [PDF, 1MB]

2 lb stewing steak
1 tablespoon seasoned plain flour
2 oz dripping
1 large onion, chopped
3 large carrots
1 pint beef stock
Worcestershire sauce
9 oz puff pastry

Toss the steak in the seasoned flour. Melt the dripping in a large saucepan and brown the meat, and then remove and put aside. Fry the onions and the carrots until softened slightly and then return the meat tae the pan. Add a couple of dashes o' Worcestershire sauce, black pepper and salt tae the beef stock, and pour into the pan. Cover and bring tae the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, still covered, for twa hours, checking noo and again. (If ye're busy ye can put it aside tae cool, have a wee new year dram, and mak' the pie the next day!) Pour the stew into a 3-pint ashet. Roll out the pastry and press down firmly around the sides of the ashet and on top of the stew. Brush the top wi' beaten egg or some milk and score into criss-crosses. Mak' a hole in the centre tae let the steam oot. Cook for 30 minutes in the centre o' a hot oven.

Rumbledethumps [PDF, 2MB]

1 lb potatoes
4 tablespoons single cream
1 lb cabbage, shredded
Salt and pepper
2 oz butter
1 tablespoon spring onions, chopped
1 tablespoon chives, chopped
1 small onion, chopped and fried

Bile the tatties for around 15 minutes. Shred the cabbage finely and boil until it is just cooked. This should take no more than 5 minutes. Fry the onion until brown and golden but no' too crispy. Mash the tatties till creamy and add the butter and cream. Mix well with the cabbage, chopped chives and fried onions. Season well with salt and pepper and taste it. Tip the ingredients into an ovenproof dish. At this point ye can put the dish aside tae be reheated later or ye can bake straight awa'. Ye could cover it wi' grated cheese an a'. Bake for 30 minutes.

Scotch Broth [PDF, 2MB]

This is my laddie's favourite. The broth can be made wi' beef instead o' mutton. Wi' beef, the vegetables should be: kail instead o' white cabbage, twa sticks o' celery instead o' the parsley, and a bit mair leek. The meat should be removed when ready, and returned tae the pot later tae heat through.

1 ½ lb neck of mutton
2 oz barley
2 oz dried peas
1 oz lentils
1 onion, chopped
1 leek, sliced
½ heart of cabbage
1 cup diced neep
2 medium carrots, diced
1 carrot, grated
Salt and pepper
4 pints water

Wash the peas and lentils and soak overnight. Sauté the onion in some butter. Wash and trim the meat, and place in a pot. Add water, peas, lentils, barley, and salt. Bring tae the boil and skim. Add the leek, neep and diced carrot. Simmer slowly for three tae fower hours. Add the cabbage, shredded, and grated carrot, and simmer another hour. Just afore serving, add some chopped parsley and pepper and salt if needed.

Shortbread [PDF, 2MB]

500 g/1 lb butter, softened
175 g/7 oz caster sugar
600 g/1 ¼ lb plain fl our, sieved
(crunchier biscuits can be made by substituting 50 g/2 oz semolina for 50 g/2 oz plain flour)

Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F/gas mark 3. Beat together the butter and the sugar. Beat in the flour and semolina, 100 g/4 oz at a time, until smooth. If the dough becomes too stiff to stir, knead in the rest of the flour with your hands. Grease and flour a large baking tray. Roll out the dough and press into the baking sheet. Mark the dough into fingers or pie-shaped wedges and prick the pieces all over with the prongs of a fork. Bake in the centre of the oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until firm tae the touch. Makes about two dozen biscuits.

Stovies [PDF, 2.5MB]

Mutton is the Broons' favourite for including in stovies, but it could be made with any meat. Ye'll find different versions of stovies in different books and fae different folk – nobody cooks it quite the same way. That Mrs Gow puts sausages in hers but I dinna like that.

2 tablespoons dripping
1 ½ lb tatties, sliced
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
half a small neep
2 tablespoons stock or meat jelly
4 oz lamb, cooked
Salt and pepper
Lamb stock

Melt the dripping in a large pan and cook the chopped onion in it until softened and almost brown. Add the chopped tatties and mix thoroughly with the onions and dripping. Add the chopped carrots and neep and mix through. Heat the stock or meat jelly and pour over the vegetables. Add the chopped, cooked lamb and mix with the vegetables. Season with salt and pepper. Cover the pot and cook over a low heat for around 30 minutes or until the tatties are soft and floury.

Tablet [PDF, 1.5MB]

125 g/4 oz salted butter (butter with strong flavour is best)
1 kg/2 ¼ lb granulated sugar
1 cup full-cream milk
400 g/14 oz tin of condensed milk

Over a low heat, melt the butter in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add the sugar and milk. Keep stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Add the condensed milk, turn the heat up a wee bitty and bring to the boil awfy slowly. Turn the heat down and let it simmer for 20 minutes. Test the mixture for hardness after 18 minutes by dropping a wee drap mixture from the spoon into a bowl of cold water. If it turns into a soft ball that you can pick up between your fingers then it is time to remove the mixture from the heat. Take off the heat and beat for 3 to 5 mins. Pour into a baking tray and score into fingers.