SCOTLAND'S POET

                                     Plus Scottish Food

The Robert Burns site is at the end of a lovely picturesque village. Burns, Scotland’s poet, died at age 37 in 1759. I read from the signs that the home is thatched with rhy because it is more durable than either oat or barley. Burns was an unsuccessful farmer. With only a couple years of tutoring. And formal limited schooling  he read everything he could get his hands on and by the age of thirteen spoke English, French and Latin. He liked the ladies as well as a drink and was known to have had seven illegitimate children. The grounds to the site contained lovely gardens. A stack yard was demonstrated at the end of the house yard.

Leaving the site we stopped at Brigadoon for a photo op. Remember brig means bridge, so this was a picturesque medieval stone bridge over the River Doon.

Watery overcooked vegetables and boiled meats are thankfully past history. In the last 3-4 decades there has been a significant improvement in Scottish cookery. The country’s culinary strength comes from its fresh raw ingredients ranging from seafood, beef, game, vegetables and native fruits. Game and fish play an important role in the Scottish diet.  Well known are the Aberdeen Angus beef, Highland venison, Loch Fyne seafood, and Ayrshire cheese.

          Both salmon and lamb were frequently on the menu. A typical Scottish breakfast includes large fresh buns called baps instead of toast. Porridge (oatmeal) is always included and is never lumpy, served piping hot and never with sugar, but a bit of milk is permissible. Scotland is well known for its good oats. Eggs, usually poached, sausage, but never haggis, bannocks, (oat griddle pancakes), broiled tomato, and baked beans are also part of the breakfast meal. Most often the hotels offered a variety of cheese, cold cuts, and pastries for those desiring continental breakfast fare.

Scots eat their main meal at noon and supper in the evening.  Cowdie is cottage cheese and double cream, cock-a-leekie is a soup made with chicken and leeks. Black pudding contains pigs’ blood and pork fat, and I just couldn’t quite get up the courage to try it. Neeps are mashed turnips, while tatties are potatoes, and they are often mashed together and served as a single dish. Partan bree is a rich crab soup. Scottish shortbread is world famous. Although coffee was always offered to us, tea is favored over coffee and is served after a meal. It is nearly impossible to get coffee served with a meal.

        

        Scots will tell you the only way to brew tea is to pour boiling water into a warm teapot where teabags or loose tea is waiting. After it steeps it is poured into cups. If one adds milk to the tea, the milk is added to the cup before the tea is poured. We noted there was always warm milk in a pitcher on the table.