Category: Meat & Game

Yellow Pea Soup Day!

Yellow pea soup has been a tradition since medieval times in Sweden, originally served as a nutritious Thursday supper prior to non-meat Fridays in line with their religious beliefs. The custom of Thursday pea soup is still popular in many households, at school lunches and in the army mess… always with pancakes, whipped cream and jam for afters that day!

Traditionally the soup is served with Skånsk mustard that is fairly strong and semi-smooth however we also enjoy it with Galloway Wholegrain Mustard when in Scotland. As pulses have a habit of making their presence known a few hours later, a wee dram of sweet liqueur is recommended to aid digestion and inhibit gas! This is presumably not served at school lunches and I couldn’t possibly comment on the army!

As it is based on cured pork and yellow peas it makes sense to cook a large batch when I have just boiled a Ramsay ham as I then have 2L of ham stock, a perfect base for the soup, with some ham trimmings added. If not, you can improvise by frying a few chopped rashers of bacon with the onions at the start also works, then add only water, never commercial stock, and season more generously. Some like it thick and solid whilst others prefer their soup a thinner consistency…the choice is yours to thin down with a little extra water if wished.

Brochettes of Highland Beef with Caramelized Onions & Benromach

Pasture-fed ruminants, whether grazing grass or hefted on moors, bring many benefits and the marbling present is a healthy nourishing fat giving marvellous flavours to the meat. Such animals could not be more different from grain fed beasts on densely populated feedlots. Industrialised farming methods are linked with lower welfare standards, felling of rain forests for grain production and GM soy feed. Scottish pasture-fed cattle could not be more different.

Haggis & Rumbledethumps with Whisky Sauce

by Celia Pickup, Craigadam.
We always have a little bit of fun with guests when they ask what is a Haggis and where do they live? The story of the Haggis running around the hill anti-clockwise because one leg is shorter than the other sounds plausible as it is greeted with exclamations of wonder! Can they go and see and can they take a photograph? We have to explain they are very shy timid little creatures. The myth of the “Haggis” lives on…

Rosti with Ramsay Bacon

Rosti is a supper favourite chez nous, with homegrown potatoes from Andrew Skea topped with Ramsays rashers!