Page 67 - Spring2009

TRADITIONAL MEAT DISHES FROM THE SCOTS KITCHEN

POTTED HEAD
(Old Family Recipe)

Ox head, ox foot, salt, pepper, cayenne, mustard, bay leaf, mace, cloves or allspice or nutmeg, water
Soak half an ox head and a foot for a few hours. Break them up into several pieces. Remove from the foot as much
of the fat and marrow as possible. Scald head and foot with boiling water and, when cool enough, scrape and clean them
thoroughly. Put them into a large saucepan, plentifully covered with cold water, and add two tablespoons of salt. Bring
this very slowly to the boil, skim carefully, and let it simmer for three hours. Take out the head and foot and remove all
the best meat from them. Return the bones to the pan, adding more water if there is not enough to cover them. Add a
bay leaf, a blade of mace, and a very few cloves, if liked. Let this simmer for two or three hours longer. Strain into a basin
and put aside till it gets cold. There should be at least eight breakfast-cupfuls of liquid. Next day (or sooner) remove all
the fat from the top of the stock, which should now be a jelly. Trim and chop the meat and put it into a clean saucepan
with the stock. Let this simmer for fifteen or twenty minutes. Add half a teaspoon of mustard, the same of allspice or
nutmeg if cloves have not been used, and season rather highly with pepper and cayenne. Pour into wetted moulds and
put in a cool place to set. Turn out and serve with salad.

TO DRESS A SHEEP’S HEAD
O Lord, when hunger pinches sore,
Do Thou stand us in stead
And send us, from Thy bounteous store,
A tup or wether head.
—Robert Burns: A Grace

The head, after singeing, should be boiled long and gently, as for Powsowdie (see below) along with the trotters. It
is then split and laid flat on a large ashet [serving tray] with the trotters around it, the tongue sliced, and, if liked, balls
of yolk of egg. The dish is garnished with sliced vegetables—carrots, turnips and onions—that have been cooked in the
broth. Parsley or brain sauce may be served with it.

POWSOWDIE OR SHEEP’S HEAD BROTH
(Pow = head; sowdie = sodden, or boiled)

Sheep’s head and trotters, mutton, barley, peas, carrots, turnips, onions, parsley, salt, pepper, water
Choose a large, fat, young head. When carefully singed by the blacksmith, soak it and the singed trotters for a night, if
you please, in lukewarm water. Take out the glassy part of the eyes, scrape the head and trotters, and brush till perfectly
clean and white; then split the head with a cleaver, and lay aside the brains, clean the nostrils and gristly parts, split also
the trotters, and cut out the tendons. Wash the head and feet once more, and let them blanch till wanted for the pot.
Take a large cupful of barley, and about twice that quantity of soaked white (dried) or fresh green peas, with a gallon
or rather more of water. Put to this the head, and from two to three pounds of scrag [bony parts of the neck] or trim-
mings of mutton, perfectly sweet, and some salt. Take off the scum very carefully as it rises and the broth will be limpid
and white as any broth made of beef or mutton. When the head has boiled rather more than an hour, add sliced carrot
and turnip, and afterwards some onions and parsley shred. A head or two of celery sliced is admired by some modern
gourmands, though we would rather approve of the native flavour of this really excellent soup. The more slowly the head
is boiled, the better both the meat and the broth be. From two to three hours’ boiling, according to the size of the head
and the age of the animal, and an hour’s simmering by the side of the fire, will finish the soup. Many prefer the head
of a ram [tup] to that of a wether [castrated sheep], but it requires longer boiling. In either case the trotters require less
boiling than the head. Serve with the trotters and sliced carrots round the head.

McNeill supplies the following helpful home-preparation notes: “To singe the head at home, hold it over the fire, and as
the wool singes scrub the burnt wool off with a knife; then hold the head over the fire and repeat until all the wool has
been singed and rubbed off. Finally, go over the whole head carefully with a hot iron or poker until no trace of wool is
left.” It is said that the reason why the head was so tender in the old days was that the blacksmith’s boys played football
with it! “The decay of the smiddy [blacksmith’s shop] has sadly reduced the popularity of this excellent soup.”

SPRING 2009 Wise Traditions 65