Lindsey

Just slinging this in here, for a big slicing roll of sausage heaven I have always gone down the suet crust route much easier to control temperatures in my experience and the outside crunch is a real treat!

Aw thank you so much, loved it all.

I have to add that half of the bacon sold in UK is smoked or comes under that name

Thanks! Re the suet. Do you buy it ready-to-use, or do you render it yourself? Have used it neat from the butcher but that was back in the days at school, now it comes from a packet!

Isn't that a joy? I am so beguiled by the local differences but can totally understand why. Even today with all its trappings we can reach a wee hamlet, maybe only 2 hours drive away, that is so cut off, so self reliant, just fills me with excitement. However, I am sure it never did fill its inhabitants with the same glee for foraging! Life must have been so hard.

Bacon and Onion Pudding Recipe for Jaymes. 300g/10 oz Self-Raising Flour ½ a teaspoon Salt 150g/5 oz fresh Suet, chopped to coarse crumbs or packet suet Filling: 250g- 300g (8-10 oz) Back Bacon, chopped 2 big Onions, peeled and finely-chopped 4 Leeks, trimmed, cut into matchstick ‘julienne’ strips 1 teaspoon Dried Sage Salt and freshly-ground Black Pepper Method1. Mix the flour, salt and suet with your hands, and bind it into a soft but not tacky dough – with a little iced-water. 2. Chill the dough for 30 minutes to an hour, and roll it out into a big rectangle 1cm/½ in thick. 3. Dot it evenly with the filling items, leaving a small rim of dough free, season with a little salt (depending on the bacon used) and plenty of pepper.. 4. Roll it up from a short or long side – depending on your steaming facilities. 5. Brush the rolled ends with water and press the dough together to keep the filling in place. 6. Wrap the roll very loosely in foil, leaving plenty of room for the dough to swell. 7. Steam the package for 2 hours, then remove to a dish. 8. Open the foil, and carefully pour off any juices – you can use these or not, personal choice. I have re-jigged the instructions for ease but the puddings I remember were cooked always in a linen cloth, but no foil was available in those days. I tend to add some chopped parsley both to the dough and to the mix and, again personal choice, I like to use a few rashers of smoked bacon for extra flavour, I fry these off before adding to the mix. You can put the pudding into a hot oven for 20 mins to crisp up if this is your preference, lovely but not a 'pudding' in my eyes LOL!!!! This was always served with plain boiled potatoes and carrots I seem to remember. Made with a light hand this is a thing of ultimate comfort on a very cold and dreich night. My Nanna would always have a bottle of local ale with this, the ale had to be poured into a glass in front of a light or window, it would still be fermenting in the bottle, I think it was called a Worthington White Shield.

You know I have never seen these hereabouts, there does seem to be quite specific local baked delicacies up here and they don't travel well! Our area is more butteries and some very weird looking things made mostly with marshmallow and icing - not for the squeemish! I will ask my Baker chum about the buns. Right - Gran did mention the extreme local nature of baked goods once. I have, therefore, no explanation as to how she knew about Ecclefechan tarts (the butteriest of the butteries) without ever having visited the area! I'll be making Hogamany bun this year, currants or note - I'll post back with pictures. You know Walkers now make Ecclefechan tarts and Oh Boy are they sweet, I wouldn't say they were anything like a Buttery though, the ones I had were very short pastry tart cases filled with a very rich mince meat (our mince meat i.e. dried fruit, suet or butter and lots of sugar) and, I think, some kind of condensed milk glaze, tooth falling out stuff!!!

You know I have never seen these hereabouts, there does seem to be quite specific local baked delicacies up here and they don't travel well! Our area is more butteries and some very weird looking things made mostly with marshmallow and icing - not for the squeemish! I will ask my Baker chum about the buns. Oh, perhaps you'll know - my late husband's family was from Aberdeen and they used to get these bread/pastry roll things that were supposedly a local thing to Aberdeen. (Certainly I never saw them in shops in England near London, where we lived.) I cannot for the life of me remember what they called them, though. I do remember thinking they were a bit similar to a croissant - similar layered flake-y interior, though perhaps denser than your typical croissant. (I even made the things once and I still can't remember what they were called, and it was long enough ago that I don't remember enough of the process to hunt for a recipe that way. I just remember there seemed to be a lot of folding and rolling out involved - as you do with other baked goods that have that many-layers texture.) This http://eatscotland.visitscotland.com/food-drink/traditional/aberdeen-rowie/ perhaps? That is it or as it is called here a Buttery, Rowie is quite specific to Aberdeen (the name). It is indeed like a squashed croissant but made with lard and salt so a much more savoury flavour - sounds horrid but is quite yummy. I serve them warm with salted butter and blackcurrant jam and tourists just love them.

You know I have never seen these hereabouts, there does seem to be quite specific local baked delicacies up here and they don't travel well! Our area is more butteries and some very weird looking things made mostly with marshmallow and icing - not for the squeemish! I will ask my Baker chum about the buns.

Jaymes I do indeed have the recipe and will look it out for you tonight and post tomorrow. Smithy Clootie Dumpling is a large dumpling mix made with suet about 4 pounds in weight so as to keep the family fed for a good few days, full of dried fruit and, of course, some booze either rum or whisky that is dumped into the middle of a floured linen cloth (this is the clootie and families treasure their cloths and pass them on to children) the whole is then steamed for hours and served with custard when hot, sliced like cake when cold and often fried with bacon etc for breakfast. It tastes similar to a lighter version of a Christmas Pud, but not so unctuous somehow.

Purple sprouting broccoli is just showing its pretty face in the shops here along with 'dirty' carrots and new season swede so Haggis is on the menu soon, I like to serve mine with a whisky based Cumberland type sauce, clootie dumplings are another firm favourite with friends and customers alike - personally I can take or leave it! My most favourite memory of early winter food from London was my Nanna's ambrosial Bacon and Onion pudding made in a cloth, I can taste it now.

Yes, so sorry I am still here, alive and kicking - had the chance to pop over to Isle of Skye so grabbed it with both hands. Thank you all for your input, I can see that our idea of apple sauce (almost exclusively used with pork here) does either include, or exclusively use sharp cooking apples, so soothing it is not. Apple butter sounds just the thing to make with the large majority of my treasure. Have made some pectin already which was amazingly easy and pleasing to use. I like the idea of apple breads, new to me and such a good idea. Oddly the Scots do not seem to use their apple crop or even bother to give it away, surprising considering the dearth of fruit up here. In England it is a common sight to see 'help yourself' boxes at the side of the road. Thank you all for your good ideas, as always.

I have been given the bounty of a large amount of apples, a huge mixture of glory. I don't think the UK has such great ideas with apple sauce as others do so could you tell me what you use it for?

Vegetable envy ;(

Huiray, thank you for the welcome. My list is pretty typical of what I can get at say Lidl or our local supermarket right now. Sadly this far North we are unable to grow courgettes, runner beans, tomatoes etc without a very decent greenhouse and then we have trouble with light levels, this makes farm shops a pretty dismal affair! Mostly, had we to live on local produce, it would be Swedes, potatoes, cauliflowers, massive cabbages, and carrots. That would be it really. Easy to see why the older Scottish diet was mostly protein and oatmeal based. Up until 10 years ago local supermarkets only stocked Olives at Christmas - they were not to be enjoyed willynilly!!!!! Many things like this made me laugh hugely when I first moved here

Sorry - yes it is a very vague term I agree LOL In the case of the toms it was 300 gm which, actually, is a very generous punnet indeed. I would say 200gm would be the norm unless you are talking 'pick your own' but that is totally another kettle of fish

I am game for this! With winter rapidly approaching the Highlands of Scotland and, now being semi-retired, my purse strings are quite tight. Trying DH out with the idea of a lot less meat but locally sourced, so veg is high on my shopping list. Greengrocery shops are so few and far between here now, nearest one would be about 20 miles away, so supermarkets, sadly, are my go to. I kg vine tomatoes 1 punnet cherry tomatoes 2 sweet potatoes 1/2 kg baby spinach 1 kg white onions 2 cloves garlic 8 fresh chillies 5 courgettes 2 aubergines 1 head celery 3 baby gem lettuce 6 cooked beets large bag mixed peppers 1 swede 4 kg local Maris Piper potatoes 1 kg 'dirty' carrots 1 cauliflower - huge 1 broccoli - equally huge! 4 lemons 3 limes bunch coriander bag of black beans bag of green lentils 200 gm parmesan 400 gm well aged Cheddar 250 gm smoked Ayrshire bacon 1 ltr Local Rapeseed Oil no fruit as have been given a potato sack full of apples - lucky me! Will make my bread and have some fun discovering the delights of vegetables lol

I used to think like that David, I even thought at one stage if I were to win the lottery I would still do the same job. But, age has cured me of that LOL I just find it too hard now physically and many years standing have taken a toll on my knees. I was working in the days before cushioned soles!! Gawd that makes me sound soooo old

Well I was plunged into catering head first so to speak! I married a Publican, we took on a very run down pub and the only way up was food. I had to learn everything on the run, the one thing that got me through many mistakes was a great gift from my Mother, knowing what good food should taste like. Luckily, for me, this was the early 70's so competition was not huge so was able to build up a great customer base fairly quickly. We went on to do this in a good few Public Houses and the sense of achievement is addictive, as is returning and seeing my menus still in tact and pulling in crowds. I am very happy to do just 2 days a week now, no nights or holidays, in a small beach cafe in Scotland - but, oh I miss the buzz and wish all the young chefs joy in their work!

Oh how I love your trip, thank you from a drooling fool in Scotland!

Please can someone explain the problem with Guy Fieri? We have only just got the Food Channel and, to be honest with you, we both love Triple D, maybe not for the reasons he would like, but we enjoy his energy. I live and cook in the lovely NE of Scotland and sometimes his sheer joy inspires me to get back to the griddle and have some fun! Now I am talking from 40 years in catering and the fun went out of it long ago, sadly. I am a fan of Ottolenghi et al and try selling that to wee Scots on a cold day.

This is not a restaurant I know but it will make your heart soar - I hope! There is a tiny fish and chip shop in the village of Findhorn on the NE coast of Scotland where the required food is cooked in local highland beef dripping, the haddock is fresh as a daisy and the chips are always good. You take it outside and sit and gaze out over the Moray Firth, watch the dolphins if you are lucky, admire the snowy mountains, drink beer from the Black Isle and just savour our beautiful Island with all its diversity. A real treat that shows off our spectacular land as well as any expensive eatery.

Hopefully this is the right place to ask for help. Our very small beach cafe in the NE of Scotland has invested in a double griddle, maybe 3ft by 18 ins, we have never had one before using a small grill to cook needed breakfast ingredients. I would be really grateful for ideas to utilise this to its fullest. At the moment it will be used for bacon, eggs, burgers and that is about all. All hints and help needed. Thanks

You can actually buy a Haggis Sauce now here made at Moniack Castle and it is a sweet sauce with whisky, a little like a Cumberland sauce. I always serve my Haggis with a Cumberland sauce made with Whisky instead of Port and it seems to go down well. In the past we have served a Haggis and black pudding stack on bitter leaves topped with a grain mustard, Redcurrant cream sauce - was one of the best sellers.

We have Gingerbread here in Scotland that is a cake not a biscuit. Try searching Kirriemuir Gingerbread