General Chat

My Mum used to make coconut ice, coconut pyramids, toffee and fudge as well as the chocolate cornflake cakes - she had such a sweet tooth and brought me up the same way. I still have her recipe book somewhere.

Purple Poinsettia, you've jsut reminded me of coconut ice, must make some, don't suppose you have a recipe for marzipan tatties,my mum used to make them, they were great but never got her recipe and not in her wee book Norah

Hey Jim You have started something now. You had better change the title of this thread to the Scottish Recipe Book. This could run and run.............. Aileen

how about puff candy anyone remember that bit like a crunchie bar but without the chocolate, good to c so many of you still like the old fav,s such as link sausages or square lorne ones, tattie scones, well fired rolls to put them on, all the sweeties too, maybe even a tipple or 2 of dandelion + burdock

RECIPE FOR TRADIONAL POTATO SCONES Ingredients: Half pound (225g) boiled and mashed potatoes 2.5oz (65g) flour 3 tablespoons melted butter Half teaspoon salt Method: Mash the potatoes while they are still warm and add the butter and salt. Add in enough flour to make it a pliable dough but without making it too dry. The type of potato will affect this. Turn out onto a floured surface and roll until about quarter of an inch thick. Cut into six inch circles and then into quarters. Prick all over with a fork and cook in a heavy pan which has been lightly greased. Cook each side for about three minutes or until golden brown. If you want to really add the calories, put cheese between two scones and cook until the cheese has melted.

Norah I don' t recall anything with marzipan except for the Christmas cakes. I am trying to remember what else she made - I know she used to do toffee apples for all the kids where I lived and home made chips which she would put in a twist of paper, again for all the kids I was playing out with at the time. My mum was great at making cakes, date shortcakes with crumbly pastry, bakewell tarts,(made with something from a packet - NInham's cheesecake mix was it?) Come to think about it I seem to remember a piece in the paper about the old Ninhams factory here in Norwich, and that someone was starting up the making of those packet mixes again. I will have to find the recipe book if I can and see what else there is in there.

EDINBURGH ROCK AS CHRISTINE WILL KNOW IT INGREDIENTS: One pound (450g or 2 cups) sugar lumps (loaf sugar) Quarter pint (150ml or two-thirds cup) water Quarter teaspoon (1.5ml) cream of tartar Green and yellow food colouring and peppermint and lemonflavouring Some oil for greasing Method: Using a heavy-base saucepan, heat the water and sugar gently until all the sugar has dissolved. Bring this almost to the boil and then stir in the cream of tartar. Boil until the mixture has reached 120C or 250F (use a sugar thermometer or boil until a teaspoon of the mixture can form a hard ball when it is dropped into a cup of cold water). Using two separate heatproof bowls, pour half the mixture into each bowl. Stir in the green food colouring into one and the yellow colouring into the other to create a delicate shade of each colour. Add a few drops of peppermint flavouring to the green one and lemon flavouring to the yellow one, mixing well. Oil two shallow baking tins (pan) and pour each of the mixtures into the separate tins. Using an oiled knife, turn the edges towards the centre as they begin to cool. When the mixture is cool enough to handle, pull and fold the mixture. Finally, pull into a long log shape, about ½ inch (1 cm) in diameter. Cut into shorter sticks with scissors. Spread on a sheet of non-stick baking parchment and leave for over 24 hours. Store in an airtight container.

The Butchers Of Glasgow The butchers of Glasgow have all got their pride But they'll tell you that Willie's the prince For Willie the butcher he slaughtered his wife And he sold her for mutton and mince It's a terrible story to have to be telt And a terrible thing to be done For what kind of man is it slaughters his wife And sells her a shilling a pun For lifting his knife and ending her life And hanging her high like a sheep You widnae object but you widnae expect He wid sell the poor woman so cheap But the Gallowgate folk were delighted It didnae cause them any tears They swore that Willie's wife Mary Was the best meat he'd sold them for years. Matt McGinn 1976

HI AILEEN as to plain bread ,y grandad used to call it bog standard bread, because with its hard dark crust it and thick texture it was plain enough for anyone

Question Is it my imagination or were Scotch pies originally made with mutton? The only ones I can buy down here are beef based although they are made in Scotland. Aileen

Is puff candy the same as honeycomb toffee? My Dad used to make it with me when i was little. Ann glos

Jim, im not saying that isnt a great receipe for tablet but try it with unsalted butter and condensed milk, even yummier!! and with a wee touch of vanilla essence its even more yummier!! from kate

Love the poem Jim, but worried as I have bought meat from that wee butchers at the start o' the Gallowgate! LOL (think it was called The Ham and Egg shop) That's right Aileen, proper scotch pies were mutton but nearly always seems to be minced beef now. You're hard pushed to find a good 'greasy' scotch pie! (sounds yucky but tastes yummy) Christine

Jim I agree with Kate but try also adding chopped walnuts, lovely Norah ps great thread this, thanks, though no thanks to the waist line once I get started.

your quite right ann and norah u can try a limitless flavour and ways of making tablet, all of them get eaten the same was by kids though (VERY FAST) hahah as to scotch pies yea they used to be mutton, still are in some shops but when they started selling to the english they changed to what their palate liked hence beef, what i found is that the ones in m&s are by bells with fancy box so always beef as if too hooitty toooitty for mutton. and last but not least yea puff candy pretty much the same as honeycomb toffee but do any of you still remember finian haddy or cullen skink, or clootie dumpling.

Jim, my mum made a fantastic clootie dumpling and for some strange reason we all gave it a good skelp before she put it into the big pot!!

Jim, whenever any children in our street had a birthday, my Nana would make a great big Clootie dumpling in her big boiler in the kitchen. It always had the odd wee penny put in too! Quite like a bit of that fried with the breakfast too. Reading back on this thread.....it's no wonder I'm the size I am! LOL Christine (in Edinburgh but originally from Glasgow)

yea ur right snowflake my old ma used to do the same tell us to skelp it b4 she put it in the put never remember y though, maybe a skelp ensured it never left the pot.hahahah ur right christine its fattening but so is all these days less its cardbord u start eating, think its y mams used to keep it special

I'll have a recipe for the clootie dumpling please. Olive Oil is fatter than me!

A few years ago tThe Sunday Post ran a comp for the best clootie dumpling and my friend copied it and recently gave my husband one for his birthday - lovely, and yes we always gave it a skelp when mum made it she also put small silver 3d pieces in it Norah