Gastronomic Meander

Scots have the world's worst records for heart attacks and angina fueled by the ingestion of junk food washed down with copious amounts of cigarettes and alcohol. For the more discerning palette Scotland has provided the culinary world with fine venison, salmon, beef, pheasant and whisky. It has also gained a reputation for the variances of food that it has invented over the years including the deep fried mars bar and haggis. It is the dishes of lesser renown and peculiar too only a certain generation of Scots that we seek out in our meander to Angus.

Angus sits between Aberdeenshire and the Perth/Kinross region and abounds with fine produce including succulent summer berries, the freshest seafood, the finest Angus beef, palate-warming whisky and savoury pastry. The county has 40% of Scotland's class 1 agricultural land and produces 28% of the country's potatoes.

Our first culinary stop is Kirriemuir which is notable for the gingerbread which can be found in most supermarket bakery shelves. Over 80 years ago, in a rural highland town at the foot of the Grampian Mountains, a baker named Walter Burnett created a gingerbread unsurpassed to this day. He christened it with the name of the town, which had previously been made famous by the author and play-write Sir James M. Barrie. Many will know the works of this famous writer, which include “Peter Pan” and “The Admirable Crichton” among others.

The wrapping design of Kirriemuir Gingerbread has remained unchanged for decades and centres around a picture of a house, with the caption “A window in Thrums” - the house (left) was at the centre of one of Sir Barrie’s earliest books of the same name, and Thrums was the name he used for the town of Kirriemuir.

Sadly, none of the towns’ bakeries could provide us with an example of the famous bread which has made the towns name synonymous with the product so we move on to the neighbouring town of Forfar which has gathered renown for its peculiar pasty, the Bridie. A Forfar Bridie is a horseshoe shaped meat product. It has a short-crust cover and the filling consists of beef, onions and seasoning. They originated in Forfar in the early part if the 19th Century. One story of their origin is that they were made for wedding meals (the Bride's meal) hence the horseshoe shape (for luck). Another story is that they were made by Margaret Bridie of Glamis, who sold them at the Buttermarket in Forfar. The pride and competition within the small town to claim superiority and originality over each other has resulted in shop warfare between the bakers and split loyalties amongst its residents who bicker over Sadlers and Maclarens bakers who traditionally use shortcrust pastry and A.Camerons the Fishmonger who uses flaky or puff pastry. We settle for the shortcrust Bridie as the alternative looks remarkably similar to the Cornish pasty.

Perhaps the most famous dish to originate from Angus is the traditional Arbroath Smokie and it is too here that we make our next venture in to the peculiarities of this small counties cuisine. These wood smoked Haddock are a delicacy that should not be missed. A culinary delight exclusive to the area, The Smokie is protected under European Law as a 'Protected Geographical Location' with the same regard as that maintained for Parma Ham and Champagne. A real Smokie is only from Arbroath. Only haddock can be used to produce an authentic 'Arbroath Smokie'. Once landed and gutted the smokie pit is prepared. A hole is dug in the ground, and a half whisky barrel is set into it. The base of the barrel is lined with slates to protect it, and a hardwood fire of beech and oak is lit inside. The sticks of fish are then placed over the pit and a hessian cover allows the fire to breathe and maintain the required heat. The cooking time is usually a minimum of 30 - 40 minutes but only an experienced smokie maker knows exactly when they are ready. The resultant golden brown fish, eaten straight from the barrel is a truly mouth-watering experience that has to be tasted to be believed!

We take our Haddock the short distance along Arbroath promenade and devour with a gusto matched only by the waiting gulls who feed off the remnants of fish and bone thrown away by the many tourists who flock to this small fishing town annually to taste these smoked delicacies.

With our taste buds reinvigorated and our faith in Scottish gastronomic cuisine restored we return to Glasgow, the spiritual home of the deep fried pizza, kebab and pakora ;-)