Page 61 - Spring2009

together with the wide sea-track that skirts our throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth cen- A diet high
shores from Stornoway to Eyemouth—the im- turies, with Scottish oysters shipped by the thou-
memorial route of the annual migration of our sands of barrels all through the British Isles. in fish and
herring shoals—provide us with a wealth of fish In The Good Scots Diet: What Happened sea foods,
of high quality. The most important of our white to It? author Maisie Steven emphasizes the fact including sea
fish are haddock, cod, plaice and hake; others that fresh fish would have made a significant
are whiting, halibut, turbot, lemon-sole and ling; contribution to the diet of inland dwellers to weeds, was
and in our herring (as in our oats) we possess a such a degree that they actually became tired of observed to
foodstuff of the highest nutritional value and it—a startling thought to us nowadays when such bestow
of a quality unexcelled in any other part of the bounty would be relished as the highest luxury.
world.” In The Scottish Gael (1831), James Logan particular
A diet high in fish and sea foods, including writes, “In Aberdeenshire the servants, during vigor and
sea weeds, was observed to bestow particular the summer, had so much salmon that they re- lustiness to
vigor and lustiness to seaside inhabitants. Martin fused to eat of it oftener than twice a week.” “But
Martin in A Description of the Western Isles tell on the West Coast,” comments Maisie Steven, seaside
us “It is a general Observation on all such as live “the fish which added most to the frugal diet inhabitants.

on the Sea Coast, that they are much more prolific of the common people was unquestionably the
than any other people whatsoever.” herring. . . . Because of the herrings’ well-known
And McNeill remarks in a footnote that habit of arriving periodically in great shoals, it
“Aphrodite was born of the sea, and was com- is easy to understand how some technology for
monly held to exercise her influence through preserving surpluses came to be devised, and
certain products of the sea, notably (in the Scot- how this led eventually not only to each cot-
tish tradition) trout, skate, shell-fish and salt. tage having its own barrel of salt herrings as a
Skate-bree (the liquor in which skate has been bulwark against want, but also to the emergence
boiled) is a famous old Scottish love-potion.” of that succulent item so beloved of gourmets
Shellfish was also very important as a staple everywhere, the Scots kipper. It is of interest,
of the diet—of these, oysters reigned supreme however, that in earlier times the term ‘kipper’

NETTLE KAIL [BROTH]
“If they would eat nettles in March
And drink mugwort in May,
So many fine maidens
Would not go to the clay.”
Funeral song for a Scottish mermaid.

“This simple but delicious soup is associated especially with the month of March, when nettles are young and fresh
and the black March cockerel [young rooster] is exactly a year old, with young and tender flesh . . . . In the old days, March
time was tonic time, and it was believed that nettle kail—taken three times during the month, sometimes on three con-
secutive days—purified the blood, cleared the complexion, and in general, ensured good health for the ensuing year.

A year-old cockerel, young nettles, oat or barley meal, butter, salt, pepper, wild garlic or onion, water.
Gather a sufficient quantity of young nettles—it is advisable to wear gloves. Strip off the young, tender leaves at the
top, discarding the coarser ones, and wash in several changes of salted water. Dry in a clean cloth and chop finely, unless
the leaves are very small. Put the dressed and stuffed bird (see below) into the kail-pot with two quarts of cold water.
Bring slowly to the boil, and add the nettles—about three-quarters of a pint—and a handful of oat or barley meal, stirring
well. Add salt to taste, a good pat of butter, and a little wild garlic or onion. Simmer until the bird is tender, then season
the kail to taste.
For the stuffing, rub a piece of butter into twice its weight in oatmeal or barley meal, or substitute finely chopped suet
for the butter. Season with salt, pepper and a little wild garlic. Mix the ingredients well and stuff the bird. Insert a skewer
in the opening.
Nettles make an excellent substitute for spinach in early spring.”

SPRING 2009 Wise Traditions 59