Me Myself and I

I thought I would fill you in on a little more about myself and why I like what I do!

As a wee girl I spent a lot of time cooking with my gran’s when they looked after me when I got home from school. I remember licking bowls out, attempting to flip pancakes with the special pancake knife and helping mash the tatties for tea. Over the years my passion for cooking has grown which led me to working in the kitchen at my mum and aunts restaurant. Picking up hints and tips from my uncle who was the head chef. This influenced what I decided to study at university. I have competed in cookery competitions for my local young farmers club. When I applied for my summer job, at the Blair Athol Watermill and Tearoom, I was hopeing that I could learn more about traditional methods used when making flour and further my knowledge of making bread. Although I now live I Dundee I still get a lot of inspiration from my home in Lanarkshire.

Who would'nt be inspired by this view.

One particular summer holiday has stuck in my mind and that was to Islay. This is where I was introduced to whisky. Before I went I didn’t realise how big an industry it was, or how diverse a range of whiskey there is. It was here getting to taste all the different  whiskey’s and the differences between single malts to blends and the distinctive flavours which come from whisky aged in Spanish Sherry casks or Port Casks. Ever since then I have never turned up the chance to try a new whisky and I must admit I tried an Indian whisky at the Highland Show a few years ago and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. My heart will always lie with a good Scotch, single malt of course.

In Ardbeg distilery.

Not only do I love drinking whisky but I love cooking with it which is why I chose to start this blog so that I could write down all the ups and downs I have when trying to combine my passion for cooking with my love for whisky. Even though I consider myself a competent cook I do still have the odd disaster in the kitchen. But hopefully the people who read this blog will be able to learn from my mistakes and try some of my dishes at home. In my recipes some parts will be highlighted in purple these are hits and tips from me or suggestions of how you can alter the recipes if you can’t get the ingredients.

As you already know my blogs are not full of hard core whisky facts because that would even bore me. I want to tell you about my stories why, I choose recipes and maybe some of the amusing bits of information I have found out over the years. I hope you enjoy reading my blogs as much as I have enjoyed writing them.

Picture Perfect

I have been given an amazingly exciting opportunity through university; I am getting to have a photography session with a professional food photographer. For this I wanted to use a dish that would look amazing, and that I could also have an amazing set to go with it. At the same time I want it to be personal to me and to reflect some of the things I have done in my life.

One dish sprang to mind: Medalions of Venison with Whisky and Bramble reduction served with Sautéed Savoy Cabbage with Ayrshire Bacon. I cooked this dish for a young farmers cooking competition, I came first at the Lanarkshire round and second at the national competition. So not only is it a very tasty dish but one that I have tried, tested and love.

My special Ardbeg

As you know I wouldn’t be writing about this dish if it didn’t have whisky in it. The whisky I’m using  is especially important to me as i got it I on a family holiday on Islay when I was younger. It is by Ardbeg, is a limited edition it was made in 1990 and is called Airigh Nam Beist. It was produced in the year I was born and I received it for my 21^st birthday this year. Luckily I bought a miniature of it at the time as well so haven’t had to open my big bottle. People who have read my previous blogs may have seen the bottle or the box in some of my other photos.

Venison was my meat of choice as not only is it one of my favourites but it is really good for you and it is something that I have been familiar with all my life. Going back over 10 years my first close up encounter with a deer happened on our family  farm . I remember walking past the window of a shed through the murky darkness seeing something unusual so I opened the door and peaked around it and there hanging by its hind legs was a deer. Not just any deer but the first one ever to be shot on the farm. Intrigued I asked my gran what it was and she replied “your dinner, in about 2 weeks”.  I didn’t think any more of it and quite happily ate and enjoyed it and have done ever since.

<><> <><>

Deer on Islay

Since those early days I have been fascinated by deer I love the heir of majesty they have with their great antlers, I remember driving through Glen Coe with my granddad it was late at night but the anticipation of seeing the deer kept me up. Mile after mile went by and nothing then as we rounded a corner there stood a magnificent stag standing on a wee hillock proud antlers showing as he watched over his harem of hinds. I chose to put an antler in my photo as it is probably the most iconic part of the deer. My thanks have to go to the kind staff at Highland Game who supplied me with it and the beautiful venison for the recipie below.

Medallions of venison with Whisky and Bramble reduction

I serve this dish with sautéed savoy cabbage and Ayrshire bacon but you can really put almost anything with it.

You will need: A steamer.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

Venison:                                              Cabbage:

6 medallions of venison                        ½ savoy cabbage

10g butter                                           4 slices of Ayrshire bacon

20mls Bramble jelly                              10g butter
100mls whisky                                    
200mls Chicken stock
Handful of fresh brambles

Method:

Venison:

Melt the butter in a frying pan, once hot put in your medallions of venison and fry for 2 minutes on each side.

Once they have been cooked on both sides remove from the pan and put on a plate to rest.
*This meat will be rare, but if you prefer it more well done cook for longer on either side.
To the same pan add the whisky, bramble jelly and some fresh brambles.

*The pan may go in fire when you add the whisky, don’t panic, turn the heat down and the flames will go out after all the alcohol has burned off.

Add the chicken stock and let the sauce reduce on a low heat, once it has reduced by half put the venison back in the pan as well as any of the juices which may have come out of it while it was resting.

*Putting the venison juices in to the sauce improves the flavour.

Let the sauce reduce a little more and serve.

Cabbage:

Slice the bacon finely, heat the butter in a pan and fry the bacon until crispy.

*If you cannot get Ayrshire bacon any good quality smoked back bacon will work too.

Roughly slice the cabbage, and steam for about a minute.

*If you don’t have a steamer you can also use a pot, put a little water in the bottom of it put a lid on it and bring to the boil, put the cabbage in and return lid for a minute then drain.

Once it has steamed put it in the pan with the bacon and fry everything together for a few minutes.

To plate up; put venison on a plate with some of the cabbage and drizzle over the whisky and bramble jus.

The finished Photo

The Water of Life

I don’t know about you but I learnt to cook by watching and helping my mother and grandmother. Memories of the days spent in the kitchen cooking and baking are ones I am going to treasure for many years to come. They have taught me everything I know from basic recipes like scones to the ones that require special techniques handed down generations each family having their own unique recipes and techniques of baking or cooking special dishes.

<><>

Gran teaching us how to Truss the Christmas turkey.

One of these dishes for me is Clootie dumpling. My gran or mum will bake one for almost any happy occasion in our family, Christmas, days out together even weddings but the most special dumplings are made at birthdays.

When I was a little girl cutting the dumpling was the best part of any birthday party. My cousins and I would gather round it as my gran started to cut in to it every so often stopping as her knife hit something hard. Each time you could hear a squeal of delight from us all. Eventually we would all get our slice then scuttle off to eat it gradually coming back to see who had all got one of the magical presents from our special dumpling.

The Magical Penny dumpling.

<><>

A Birthday Dumpling.

It would only ever be 5 or 10 pence but even this was enough to build up a frenzy of excitement within us all. You may be wondering what this has got to do with whiskey but for me the recipe we use for our dumpling is super special. It has been handed down through the generations it represents our life full of fun and excitement not only for the children in the family but for the parents and grandparents.

 If you look at the Gaelic for whisky uisge beatha it translates as the water of life and like our dumpling recipe whisky can be drunk at almost any occasion from celebrating the birth of a new baby at a head wetting to a toast to a great friend or family member who has passed away.

Both whisky and my Dumpling recipe symbolise life new and old and I could think of no more a fitting tribute to them than to combine them in a dish fit for any occasion.

The Clootie Dumpling is sweet not like dumplings many people are familiar with that you would find in a stew. A Cloutie Dumpling is full of spices and fruit and most importantly of all it is boiled in a Cloot or as you may be more familiar with a piece of cloth.

I have adapted our recipe and the size of the cloot to make it more manageable for people wanting to give this recipe a go: Mini Clooties with whisky custard.

Very yummy if I do say so myself

I have picked out a whiskey which I think would go brilliantly in this dumpling: Glenfarclas 10 year old Speyside single malt this Is quite a light whiskey unlike the very smoky peaty whiskys from Islay it has a more delicate flavour with hints of vanilla, cinnamon and dried fruit which will match the delicate flavours in the dumpling without over powering them.

Mini Clooties with Whisky Custard

A modern twist on an age old recipe will bring a smile to anyone’s face during the miserable winter months.

You will need: 3 cloots, these can be made from an old cotton pillow case, not brushed cotton as you will get fluffy dumplings. They should be approximately 15cm by 15cm you will also need 3 short lengths of string to tie the cloot’s up with.


Serves: 2/3

Ingredients:

For Dumplings:                                                      For Custard:

120g plain flour                                                     175mls milk

25g unsalted butter                                               4 egg yolks           

15g caster sugar                                                   1 vanilla pod

5mls golden syrup                                                 15mls whisky

Pinch of salt

2.5mls ground ginger

3.75mls ground cinnamon

2.5mls mixed spice

1.25mls bicarbonate of soda

40g currants

40g sultanas

Milk to mix

Method:

 Dumpling:

Put on a large pot of water to boil, it must be boiling furiously before you add the dumplings.

Sieve flour into a bowl and rub in butter until it is all incorporated.

Add the sugar and the syrup and mix.

Add salt, ginger, cinnamon, bicarbonate of soda, currants and sultanas and mix.

Gradually add milk and stir only add a little at a time until the mixture is on a dropping consistency.

Divide mixture between the clouts and tie them up.

*To prepare the cloots dampen them with cold water, lay them flat and sprinkle with some flour shake the excess flour off lay them out again, divide the mixture between the 3 clouts putting the mixture in the middle of the cloot

*Gather up the cloot until you are holding all the excess cloth in your hand and the dumpling is circular in shape.

*Tie it with string approximately a centimetre above the mixture to allow the dumpling to expand when it is boiling. Make sure it is tied tightly otherwise the mixture will leak out the end of cloot

Add the dumpling in to the pot of boiling water put the lid on, after a few minutes check to see in the dumplings are floating, if the are you can turn the heat down a little.

Leave to boil for 45 minutes.

You will need to check them occasionally to make sure there is enough water in the pot.

Once they have boiled for 45 minutes remove them from the pot cut the string and gently remove the cloot from the dumpling put them all on a plate and put in a warm oven (no hotter than 100°c) for a few minutes or until the skin has dried out.

Custard:

Put the milk in to a pan, split the vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds and put in with the milk and bring to the boil.

Meanwhile beat the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl.

Once the milk is boiling sieve it in to a jug then add it to the egg yolks and sugar mixture whisking all the time.

After all the milk is combined add in the whisky.

Place the bowl with the custard in it on to a pot with boiling water in it and heat it, stirring all the time until it thickens.

To serve put the dumpling on a plate, you can half it if you like and pour over a good helping of custard.

The Exciseman the distiller’s devil.

To start my blog off I wanted to look in to the history of my favourite night cap, the poem below was written by Robert Burns, it is about the Exciseman, scary I know, but there is an interesting story behind him.

The Deil's Awa'

The deil cam fiddlin’ thro’ the town,
And danc’d awa wi’ the Exciseman,
And ilka wife cries ‘Auld Mahoun,
I wish you luck o’ the prize, man.’

The deil’s awa, the deil’s awa,
The deil’s awa wi’ the Exciseman,
He’s danc’d awa, he’s danc’d awa,
He’s danc’d awa wi’ th’ Exciseman.

We’ll mak our maut and we’ll brew our drink,
We’ll laugh, sing and rejoice, man
And mony braw thanks to the meikle black deil
That danc’d awa wi’ th’ Exciseman.

There’s threesome reels, there’s four­some reels,
There’s hornpipes and strathspeys, man,
But the ae best dance e’er cam to the Land,
Was The deil’s awa wi’ th’ Exciseman!
Robert Burns

Let me take you back to the beginning of the 17^th century to when the first taxes were introduced to whisky and to the act of union in 1707 when the English began to increase taxes in a bid to tame the unruly Scottish clansmen.  But increasing taxes and the introduction of the excisemen didn’t stop the scots the distiller’s. Even the men of the kirk were in on it allowing the elicit dealers to stash there liquid gold under the pulpits and allowing them to smuggle there whisky out the churches in coffins. The Clandestine stills where hidden up among the bonnie heather in the hills of Scotland. Where the smugglers could use their own systems to warn each other of incoming excisemen.

But thank god for the Duke of Gordon, the man was a genius. Maybe it was because his land produced some of the finest illicit whisky in Scotland, he suggested to the House of Lords that the government could make some money off of the whisky. Finally in 1823 the Excise Act was passed.  Which seen that in return for a £10 license fee the distillers would receive a set payment for each gallon of whiskey produced. It was the passing of this act the formed the foundations of the Scottish whisky industry as we know it today.

As someone who is interested in looking back at the history of my clans I find it rather amusing to think of my ancestors running around the hills smuggling something which I enjoy drinking today.

One line of this poem leads me on to some of the traditions surrounding probably one of Scotland’s best known desserts which has whiskey in it. Crowdie Cream or what is more commonly known as Cranachan.

“We’ll laugh, sing and rejoice, man”

This line I feel links in with the occasion at which Cranachan was traditionally served at. Scottish summer weddings it was the dessert of the bride and groom as it was thought to bring luck to the newlyweds. The line reflects the joy and the celebration that the Scottish people would have felt when the excisemen had gone and whiskey had become legal and profitable. I feel like it reflects the general mood of weddings to or at least the way I act after I have had a couple of my favourite drams.

 Although this dessert is fabulous in its own right and I have used it on many occasions such as turning it in to a sweet haggis for burns day I felt like I wanted to do another twist on it and make Cranachan semi-freddo. I made it using Islay Mist which was beautiful although I wouldn’t advise it if you don’t like peaty whiskey

<><>

My Cranachan semi-freddo

Cranachan Semifreddo with Raspberry Coulis.

A delicious fruity desert with a bit of a kick. The whiskey isn’t overpowering so it’s good for those who don’t consider themselves whiskey lovers. 

You will need: 2 Individual dessert moulds


Serves:2

Ingredients:

Semifreddo:                                         Coulis:

50g fresh raspberries                            50g fresh raspberries

22g golden caster sugar                        2g golden caster sugar

70mls double cream                              2.5mls honey

15mls whisky                                      2.5mls whisky

25mls crème fraiche

25mls Crowdie

15mls honey

10g medium oatmeal, toasted

Method:

Semifreddo:

In a bowl mash the raspberries,  sugar and the honey and put to the side.

In a separate bowl whisk the cream, sugar and whisky until it forms soft peaks.

*Soft peaks are when the whipped cream just stands up to form peaks.

In another bowl beat the crowdie and crème fraiche together, then add to the whipped cream and fold together.

*If you can’t get crowdie the recipe works with extra crème fraiche instead of the crowdie.

Finally fold the raspberry mix and the oatmeal through the cream mixture until swirled through but not fully combined.

Separate and divide into the desert moulds. Cover and place in the freezer, preferably overnight but will be solid enough to turn out after 4 hours.

*To make the semifreddo come out the moulds easier you can line them with cling film.

Raspberry Coulis:

Mash remaining raspberries sugar whisky and honey in a small bowl then pass through a sieve to get a smooth coulis.

*The coulis can be made at the same time as the semifreddo or can be made just before serving if you are making it the night before make sure you cover it and store it in the fridge.

To serve turn out the semifreddo onto serving plate and drizzle with a little of the coulis, garnish with some fresh raspberries.