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The Scots Kitchen
New edition of delightful 1929 account of eating and drinking in Scotland through the ages, with definitive recipes for all the old national dishes.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1929
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About the author
F. Marian McNeill
21 books9 followersFlorence Marian McNeill, MBE was a Scottish folklorist, best known for writing The Silver Bough, a four-volume study of Scottish folklore.
McNeill was born at Holm in Orkney and educated at Kirkwall Burgh School and then at Glasgow University from which she graduated in 1912. For the next year, she taught English in France and Germany. She returned to Britain in 1913 and worked initially as an organiser for the Scottish Federation of Women's Suffrage Societies in Scotland and later as secretary for the Association for Moral and Social Hygiene in London where she remained until 1917. At the end of the First World War, she moved back to Edinburgh and started work as a researcher for the Scottish National Dictionary and by 1929 she had become principal assistant on the project.
During the years between the First and Second World Wars she became involved in the revival of Scottish literature and culture known as the Scottish Renaissance. She is best known as the author of The Scots Kitchen, published in 1929.
McNeill was born at Holm in Orkney and educated at Kirkwall Burgh School and then at Glasgow University from which she graduated in 1912. For the next year, she taught English in France and Germany. She returned to Britain in 1913 and worked initially as an organiser for the Scottish Federation of Women's Suffrage Societies in Scotland and later as secretary for the Association for Moral and Social Hygiene in London where she remained until 1917. At the end of the First World War, she moved back to Edinburgh and started work as a researcher for the Scottish National Dictionary and by 1929 she had become principal assistant on the project.
During the years between the First and Second World Wars she became involved in the revival of Scottish literature and culture known as the Scottish Renaissance. She is best known as the author of The Scots Kitchen, published in 1929.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 22, 2012
This is a good read as well as an interesting recipe book. The edition I have was printed in 1963 and has no ISBN number.
The recipes read like A Clockwork Orange if you know nothing of Celtic or Scottish language. I don't know how my Grandmother benefitted from this book considering she was Finnish and not Scottish and she really could not cook. Maybe she got it in the hopes that she could make my Scottish Grandfather happy by burning his eggs in a Scottish dish. I don't know.
I love this book. My other Grandmother who was not only Scottish but came from Alexandria gave my other Grandma a Scottish Scone recipe that is still in this book. The cooking instructions in this book are not arranged in the typical recipe organization that you see nowadays. They read as a paragraph with no separate list of ingredients with measurements, numbered steps of combining and cooking instructions and heat/time indications along with servings. So beware.
I would consider this more of a recording of history than anything else but if you like to read cookbooks like encyclopedias you may get much from this book. The ideas, preparations, ingredients and combinations can be interesting and help you to figure out new ways of composing your own dishes by combining these recipes with contemporary recipes.
Even if you just don't get it (and some of the words as well as instructions have got me puzzled,) there are anecdotes and stories and history that are informative as well as entertaining.
Personally I am intrigued at how seaweed was used. They have a listing of seaweeds from the Scottish Isles and luckily my Mother will know the types of seaweeds that correspond here in the USA but someone without the resources would have a hard time finding how to get through a problem like this I fear. There are Appendices for terms, measurements and meat cuts that are helpful. There is enough anecdotal writing and 78 pages of history and back story to dedicate an index just to those subjects covered within. It is VERY worth reading these things to help you understand the Scots and their cooking as well as how their cooking came to be. I find it interesting enough to read it more than once.
The recipes read like A Clockwork Orange if you know nothing of Celtic or Scottish language. I don't know how my Grandmother benefitted from this book considering she was Finnish and not Scottish and she really could not cook. Maybe she got it in the hopes that she could make my Scottish Grandfather happy by burning his eggs in a Scottish dish. I don't know.
I love this book. My other Grandmother who was not only Scottish but came from Alexandria gave my other Grandma a Scottish Scone recipe that is still in this book. The cooking instructions in this book are not arranged in the typical recipe organization that you see nowadays. They read as a paragraph with no separate list of ingredients with measurements, numbered steps of combining and cooking instructions and heat/time indications along with servings. So beware.
I would consider this more of a recording of history than anything else but if you like to read cookbooks like encyclopedias you may get much from this book. The ideas, preparations, ingredients and combinations can be interesting and help you to figure out new ways of composing your own dishes by combining these recipes with contemporary recipes.
Even if you just don't get it (and some of the words as well as instructions have got me puzzled,) there are anecdotes and stories and history that are informative as well as entertaining.
Personally I am intrigued at how seaweed was used. They have a listing of seaweeds from the Scottish Isles and luckily my Mother will know the types of seaweeds that correspond here in the USA but someone without the resources would have a hard time finding how to get through a problem like this I fear. There are Appendices for terms, measurements and meat cuts that are helpful. There is enough anecdotal writing and 78 pages of history and back story to dedicate an index just to those subjects covered within. It is VERY worth reading these things to help you understand the Scots and their cooking as well as how their cooking came to be. I find it interesting enough to read it more than once.
March 15, 2016
I struggled with reviewing this cookbook. On the one hand, I love, love, LOVE the history and charm of the book and its recipes. On the other hand, it's not the easiest book to cook out of. There are many recipes that use measurements such as "a breakfastcupful", "a crumb of a pennyloaf", "a teacupful" and more. If you are a fly by the seat of your pants kind of cook or love to throw a little of this and a little of that in a pot, you'll love this cookbook. If you need clearly defined amounts and instructions, you'll struggle here.
That said, this book is delightful!! There is so much history, tradition and lore, bits of poetry and prose and more scattered throughout. This is the kind of book to curl up in your comfy chair and just lose yourself in the pages. When you come to yourself, head to the kitchen and give it a shot! There is so much to choose from. You'll find everything from a traditional Scotch Broth to Tweed Kettle (Salmon Hash which is much better than it sounds!), Haggis, Colcannon, Floating Island, more scones, bannock and oatcakes than you can shake a stick at and so much more.
Take a trip to the Highlands from the comfort of your own home. This book is sure to delight many!
I received a copy of this book through Independent Publishers Group for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
That said, this book is delightful!! There is so much history, tradition and lore, bits of poetry and prose and more scattered throughout. This is the kind of book to curl up in your comfy chair and just lose yourself in the pages. When you come to yourself, head to the kitchen and give it a shot! There is so much to choose from. You'll find everything from a traditional Scotch Broth to Tweed Kettle (Salmon Hash which is much better than it sounds!), Haggis, Colcannon, Floating Island, more scones, bannock and oatcakes than you can shake a stick at and so much more.
Take a trip to the Highlands from the comfort of your own home. This book is sure to delight many!
I received a copy of this book through Independent Publishers Group for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
April 30, 2020
Hardcover edition, signed by author in 1957
February 12, 2020
I found this book fascinating and delighted it has been republished. I don’t think I would use it as recipe book, many of the measurement references are lost in time. It is however a fascinating insight to Scottish cooking history and traditions. Ingredients I thought we relatively new to the country have been used in recipes for centuries. Many of these recipes would be lost if not recorded here.
September 23, 2011
Lovely Scottish recipes. 'Southern visitors, however, often failed to relish our national dishes' - not this one!
February 13, 2015
need an old Scottish dictionary to go along with reading this.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews