[Sca-cooks] Scottish cuisine (and now, blood dishes)

[Suey]

Stefan wrote:
>   
> Suey said:
>
> <<< Someone asked about historical Scottish cuisine recently.
> While someone else seemed discouraging to me on the subject I had no
> time to look the matter up.
> Sitting down and thinking there is a vast area out there such as:
> Scottish oats, oat porridges, soups, barley and leeks, kale, nettles.
> oatcakes, shortbread and pancakes.
> spit roasts.
> fish - haddock, smoked haddock, salmon, kippers
> game - birds, venison
> beef, mutton
> soft fruit raspberries and strawberries
> cheeses
> whiskey and wine >>>
>   
Stefan:
> I guess it depends upon how much supposition you are comfortable  
> with.  Most of what you give above are ingredients, not dishes.  If  
> that is all you have to work with, then work with it but it is going  
> to be more difficult to say your dishes are what medieval Scottish  
> food tasted like.  If you do a search on "haddoock" or "salmon" in  
> the Florilegium you will find numerous recipes.  How do you know  
> which of these would be close to how it was done in Scotland?
>   
I know nothing about period Scottish cooking but looking at the 
ingredients available, I would think that there is a vast area for 
research.
> What are your recipes for black pudding and morcilla?
>   
I have no Scottish recipes for black puddling or blood sausage. 
Obviously, you have more Scottish recipes than I:
> I do have this file in the FOOD-MEATS section of the Florilegium. I  
> think a few of the recipes may go back before 1600, although I seem  
> to remember most of these being "white" puddings, not the ones  
> usually thought of as traditional haggis with all the internal organs  
> and such.
> haggis-msg       (106K)  1/29/08    Scottish haggis recipes. comments  
> on haggis.
>
> What did other cultures do with the stomach? I'd be surprised if the  
> Scots were the only ones with such a dish, as with bagpipes.
Of course, one cannot go to Leon, Spain without eating botillo, a 
haggis, an animal stomach stuffed with scraps of meat and bones, snouts, 
hooves and cured. It is called the "king of all dishes" when prepared in 
the Bierzo Region of Leon and areas of Asturias and Galicia. It is first 
documented in monasteries in the areas during the 9^th and 10^th C. 
According to Herodotus, prior to that (8-4 C BC) Scythians were eating 
it. Each region has its special way of making it.

In short, all I am saying is that it sounds like there is a wide field 
for virgin research while medieval English food has been hashed over and 
time again between Hieatt and others.
Suey