Scottish Soul Food

[Bugbear]

Lachlan09, I was going to razz you about the origin of potatoes and sunflower oil, but the mood has long since passed. I noticed something else that seemed a little interesting. You say there was sometimes "red pudding ."

What exactly is "red pudding"?

I know I could look it up, but I want to hear you're description. My question about the pickled onions still stands.

And now for the ten minute wait while it posts.

[Lachlan09]

It’s great to see us all drooling a bit for food that’s hard to get for those of us away from the supply source ! Glad to share !

Definitely no dig at American fast food or soul food ! I honour everyone’s favourite comfort foods !

The pickled onions in chip shops are usually larger than the ones from the supermarket. They can be obtained pickled in white vinegar, though more commonly I found them in brown malt vinegar. They usually sit in a big gallon jar on the chippie counter and may be added direct to the order, or else put in a little greaseproof bag alongside your order. Working from memory, I would say it’s not uncommon to find big jars of pickled onions about 2 inches diameter. I liked 2 of them with my fish/haggis/black pudding supper.

As for red pudding, my main recollection is seeing a dead one which had been thrown (part-eaten) over a garden wall in Edinburgh, while I was surveying the house to which the garden belonged ! I never tried one, but as far as I am aware, it is a meat sausage made of beef, with bacon, pork or bacon rind, suet, dried breadcrumbs, stock (beef I think), salt , pepper and spices.

Apparently, the thin brown chip sauce I mentioned is particular to Edinburgh and SE Scotland. It was a standard condiment in my home town Musselburgh (Mussaburry had many chip- shops and mobile vans), plus the surrounding area where I’ve had suppers or chips, such as Dalkeith, Prestonpans, Seton Sands, North Berwick, Dunbar etc. I could have sworn it was used in West Lothian too, such as Broxburn. I also thought I had it with chippies in Fife (such as Cowdenbeath, Kelty, Kirkcaldy, Glenrothes, the Dunf and Aberdour) and parts of the Borders (such as Galashiels, Selkirk, Melrose, Hawick etc) but I could be wrong. When I was a lad in the 1960’s and our family used to drive through to Kintyre in our Bedford Dormabile (with 2 canoes on top and towing our boat containing creels and net !) for 2 weeks during the school holidays, we always stopped off there and back at the chippie in Harthill on the old A8. I’m sure they had brown sauce there.

I’ve had chippies in Cambeltown, Oban (I bet the same one on the Esplanade as you went to Woot !), Ullapool, Portree and beyond, but I can’t remember if they chip sauce or not. I was highly surprised to learn recently that other places in Scotland don’t use ‘The Sauce” ! For someone brought up with chip-shop chip-sauce, if it’s not there in my supper, there’s something missing. It’s difficult to explain chip–shop brown sauce, if you try to make it yourself, somehow it’s never the same as what they splash over your chips in SE Scotland chippes. Chip-shops sometimes offer bottles of their own secret concoction for sale.

I have heard that it’s made from the cheapest brown sauce you can find – Gold Star Brown Sauce is apparently often used, mixed with some water (2 parts sauce to 1 part water) to thin it down. It is said they don’t use A1, HP, Daddy’s, Branston or other spicy brown sauce as they’re too spicy and too expensive.

[Lachlan09]

It’s great to see us all drooling a bit for food that’s hard to get for those of us away from the supply source ! Glad to share !

Definitely no dig at American fast food or soul food ! I honour everyone’s favourite comfort foods !

The pickled onions in chip shops are usually larger than the ones from the supermarket. They can be obtained pickled in white vinegar, though more commonly I found them in brown malt vinegar. They usually sit in a big gallon jar on the chippie counter and may be added direct to the order, or else put in a little greaseproof bag alongside your order. Working from memory, I would say it’s not uncommon to find big jars of pickled onions about 2 inches diameter. I liked 2 of them with my fish/haggis/black pudding supper.

As for red pudding, my main recollection is seeing a dead one which had been thrown (part-eaten) over a garden wall in Edinburgh, while I was surveying the house to which the garden belonged ! I never tried one, but as far as I am aware, it is a meat sausage made of beef, with bacon, pork or bacon rind, suet, dried breadcrumbs, stock (beef I think), salt , pepper and spices.

Apparently, the thin brown chip sauce I mentioned is particular to Edinburgh and SE Scotland. It was a standard condiment in my home town Musselburgh (Mussaburry had many chip- shops and mobile vans), plus the surrounding area where I’ve had suppers or chips, such as Dalkeith, Prestonpans, Seton Sands, North Berwick, Dunbar etc. I could have sworn it was used in West Lothian too, such as Broxburn. I also thought I had it with chippies in Fife (such as Cowdenbeath, Kelty, Kirkcaldy, Glenrothes, the Dunf and Aberdour) and parts of the Borders (such as Galashiels, Selkirk, Melrose, Hawick etc) but I could be wrong.

When I was a lad in the 1960’s and our family used to drive through to Kintyre in our Bedford Dormabile (with 2 canoes on top and towing our boat containing creels and net !) for 2 weeks during the school holidays, we always stopped off there and back at the chippie in Harthill on the old A8. I’m sure they had brown sauce there. I’ve had chippies in Cambeltown, Oban (I bet the same one on the Esplanade as you went to Woot !), Ullapool, Portree and beyond, but I can’t remember if they chip sauce or not. I was highly surprised to learn recently that other places in Scotland don’t use ‘The Sauce” ! For someone brought up with chip-shop chip-sauce, if it’s not there in my supper, there’s something missing. It’s difficult to explain chip–shop brown sauce, if you try to make it yourself, somehow it’s never the same as what they splash over your chips in SE Scotland chippes. Chip-shops sometimes offer bottles of their own secret concoction for sale.

I have heard that it’s made from the cheapest brown sauce you can find – Gold Star Brown Sauce is apparently often used, mixed with some water (2 parts sauce to 1 part water) to thin it down. It is said they don’t use A1, HP, Daddy’s, Branston or other spicy brown sauce as they’re too spicy and too expensive.

[Mike_Oettle]

Lachlan, those fish suppers are just like the fish and chips I get at my local chippie (owned by an Indian).
Haddock and cod are not on the menu, but hake is the standard fish. It’s convenient to eat, as it’s boneless, but it doesn’t have the flavour of my favourite, which is snoek.
I had to check on Google what snoek’s other names are. Its scientific name is Thyrsites atun, and in Australian and New Zealand waters, where the same species occurs, it is called barracouta. It is also caught in South American waters.
Quite often my wife decides that lunch on Friday will be fish and chips. She leaves me money to buy my own, and (because the shop owner is Muslim) I have to time my visit to avoid the Friday noon prayers.
Often I eat the stuff hot in the car. Dee-licious.
I eat it without salt and vinegar – my daughter once fetched an order for me and had it salted and vinegared, and it was not as nice.
The batter is beautifully crisp – but of course if the fish is left too long, the crispiness goes, and it is limp, even when re-heated.
Regards,
Mike