Page 63 - Spring2009

soups, such as oyster, are thickened with egg McNeill recounts another bounteous break- In Argyllshire
yolks and cream, and again with the addition of fast spread enjoyed by a French visitor: “In 1784,
simple, but fresh and complementary herbs. at the house of Maclean of Torloisk, on the island you have the
of Mull, Faujas de St. Fond found the breakfast Lochfyne
BREAKFAST IN SCOTLAND table ‘elegantly covered with the following herring, fat,
McNeill readily admits that it is not dinner, articles: Plates of smoked beef, cheese of the
but breakfast, that is the meal upon which the country and English cheese, fresh eggs, salted luscious, and
Scots particularly pride themselves. In Scotland, herrings, butter, milk and cream; a sort of bouil- delicious, just
she gently but wryly comments, dinners are gen- lie of oatmeal and water [clearly porridge was a out of the
erally “more distinctive than distinguished.” novelty to the Frenchman!], in eating which, each
“In the breakfast,” asserts Dr. Johnson, “the spoonful is plunged into a basin of cream; milk water, falling
Scots, whether of the Lowlands or the mountains, worked up with the yolks of eggs, sugar, and rum; to pieces of
must be confessed to excel us. . . . If an epicure currant jelly, conserve of myrtle, a wild fruit that its own
could remove by a wish in quest of sensual grati- grows among the heath; tea, coffee, three kinds
fication, wherever he supped, he would breakfast of bread (sea biscuits, oatmeal cakes, and very richness.
in Scotland.” thin and fine barley cakes); and Jamaica rum.’”
Neither tea nor coffee—fashionable amend- “The breakfast!” exclaims Dr. Redgill in
ments to wealthy tables which made their way Susan Ferrier’s Marriage, after vigorously abus-
to Scotland via France and England in the early ing the Scottish dinner, “that’s what redeems the
eighteenth century—appears on the Highland land—and every county has its peculiar excel-
breakfast-table described by Tobias Smollett in lence. In Argyllshire you have the Lochfyne
Humphrey Clinker: herring, fat, luscious, and delicious, just out of
“One kit of boiled eggs; a second, full of the water, falling to pieces of its own richness
butter; a third, full of cream; an entire cheese . . . . In Aberdeenshire you have the Finnan
made of goat’s milk; a large earthen pot, full haddo’ with a flavour all its own, vastly relish-
of honey; the best part of a ham; a cold venison ing. . . . In Perthshire there is the Tay salmon,
pasty; a bushel of oatmeal, made into thin cakes kippered, crisp and juicy—a very magnificent
and bannocks; with a small wheaten loaf in the morsel. . .”
middle, for the strangers; a stone bottle full of In My Schools and School-masters, Hugh
whiskey; another of brandy, and a kilderkin [half Miller, describing the “genuine Highland
a barrel] of ale.” breakfasts” he enjoyed on his visits to an aunt in
No less than dinner, the first meal of the day Sutherland, writes: “On more than one occasion
was a social occasion in which guests, extended I shared in a not unpalatable sort of blood-pud-
family and travelers alike were regaled with the ding, enriched with butter, and well seasoned
best the gentry household had to offer. with pepper and salt, the main ingredient of

HIGH FISH

Mrs. Dods/Mrs. Johnson preferred her fish to be “ripened” for two days or more, as fresh fish was considered
“harsh”—this last a Scots predilection of the time for slightly “high” fish dishes. Two descriptions follow.

KIOSSED HEIDS
“These are fish heads rolled in a cloth and put into the crevice of a stone wall, where they are left until they acquire
a gamey flavour. They are then cooked—usually roasted—and are eaten with butter and potatoes.”

EARTH-DRIED SKATE
This description is attributed to the early twentieth-century English naturalist and author Harry Mortimer Batten:
“Skate are placed on damp grass and covered with sods for a day or two. They are too tough if eaten fresh, but seasoned
for just the right time they are the most excellent breakfast dish I know. And they make very good soup. . . . Skate must
be fried or baked and served with the skin on, never boiled. . . . Skate are said not to take salt. They are frequently hung
up unsalted and eaten ‘high’—an acquired taste—as in the Island of Lewis.”

SPRING 2009 Wise Traditions 61