Porridge
Porridge was in the 16th century an alternative to pottage. This was low cost food, which everyone could afford. You made it only with oats and hot water or milk. It was mostly eaten for breakfast. The traditional way of making it is to put the oak in water the day before, and then heat it up as you stir it together.
The right cooking takes a while and is heated at low heat. If you want to have a less sticky porridge, you can add salt, this hardens the grain and prevents its from swelling which gives you a less creamy porridge. |
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Fish N´Chips
The History of Haggis
The history of Haggis is, as many would probably think, not Scottish by origin. Food writer Alan Davidson claims that it was the Romans who initially made Haggis. But there are many different ideas of how haggis found its way to Scotland. Some thinks that it came from Scandinavia, Iceland or even France. The first mention of haggis as we know it, was in the 15th century, but haggis-like dishes had actually appeared as early as the 9th century.
Families of poor means made haggis when they were hunting. It was an easy way for them to get fed, and not waste any of the meat in the process. Therefore, it contains many unorthodox ingredients. It's a mix of sheep’s innards, oatmeal and spices, all wrapped up in a sheep stomach. It was a dish that was made while hunting, when hunters had killed an animal. When they had cut all the meat of the animal, they used the leftovers to make the haggis and boiled it while preparing the rest of the meat. This made it easier for them to bring it back home and is the reason why it was made in a sheep’s stomach.
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Haggis todayToday, most do not use a sheep's stomach; instead, it is cooked in a sausage plastic casing. Today, many still have harbor the notion that haggis is a bit disgusting, but a lot has changed from its inception. Today, they do not, at least not very often, use the sheep’s stomach. In supermarkets, Haggis is both sold in cans and in the traditional casing. The only problem, if you want a real haggis, is that “supermarkets haggis” often is made of pig innards rather than that of sheep.
If you are a vegetarian there is also a vegetarian version, which is made of grains and beans instead of lungs and heart. Scotland was, and is, one of the very sheep populated countries, and with the mix of the poor people back in the days, and the fact they use sheep innards, you wouldn’t find this type of dish a lot of other places. Since then, it has stuck and has become the most traditional Scottish dish. |
Deep Fried Mars BarThis dish was invented in 1995, in the Haven Chip Bar, which this day is called the Carron. In 2012, the Carron in Stonehaven estimated sales of 100–150 deep-fried Mars bars per week, with tourists accounting for around 70% of this figure.
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It is available all around the country, and it is estimated that about 30% of all fish and chips shops in Scotland sells them. The primary focus is the younger generations and tourist. A fried Mars bar is about 60 pence. A Fried Mars bar is estimated to contain about 1200 calories, which is half a day’s normal intake of calories for a man.
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History of Crofts
Back in the 18th century farmers would rent a small piece of land (called crafts) where they would build their houses. Each area was small, because the landowners wanted to force the farmers to do work on the communal grazing of live (outfield land) as well the crofts of a few acres.
But the lack of rights in farming spurred a revolution in farming which began and in late 1881 when a band of crofters from township of Braes of Skye demonstrated forcefully against increased rents and loss of pasture rights. In 1883 a Commission was set up under Lord Napier and received evidence of extreme poverty across the Highlands and the Island because of their system with crofts only benefited the landowner.
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As an evolution of the Napier Commission, came for the first time the Crofter's Holding Act of 1886 which established the Crofters' Commission to guarantee fair rents, security if tenure, security of tenure and some compensation for land improvements.
Although it wasn't before the Crofting Reform Act of 1976 that crofters could buy their own crofts and manage them more manage more effectively as they do now, without a withhold of rights from landowners. |
- In the mountain area the most common kind of farming is sheep and cattle farming
- In the more fertile areas especially in the south and east, farmers also grow potatoes or corn such as wheat, barley and oats.