Traditional+Scottish+Fare

=__Recipes Inspired by Outlander__= The Highlanders of the eighteenth century lived, for the most part, simply and poorly. As such, they did not enjoy a well-varied diet. According to Fitzroy MacLean's //Highlanders: A History of the Highland Clans//,

//The Highlander's diet was sparse. To eat, oatmeal in one form or another, bread when there was any, fish when they were caught, rabbits when they were snared, braxy mutton from sheep found dead on the hill, a little meat, salted usually, from the jealously guarded flocks and herds, which provided the principal, if not only, source of income. To drink, peaty water from the nearest burn and since the sixteenth century, when it first appears,// usquebaugh //or whisky, the Water of Life, home distilled from their own malted barley// (182-183).

As Jamie was a close kinsman to the Laird of the MacKenzie and resided in the Castle, the food he consumed and we readers are able to hear about is markedly better and more varied than the common crofter.

[|Undiscovered Scotland] [|Traditional Scottish Recipes]
 * Porridge, or //parritch//**, as Jamie refers to it, was considered "the backbone of many a sturdy Scotsman" and was the most common way to consume oats in this time period. Undiscovered Scotland remarks that it was eaten for breakfast and the remainder was left to harden into slabs for consumption during the rest of the day. Here are two recipes for porridge, to give you a little variety:

//*Tips:// My local Meijer has an international foods aisle and I was able to find Irish Oatmeal there (these are ground oats, as opposed to the rolled oats that Americans will find in a box of Quaker oatmeal). I attempted to follow the recipe Undiscovered Scotland provided and it didn't work so well, as I wasn't sure if they had converted the tablespoons of oatmeal to the American equivalent, or if it was British (they aren't the same, but see [|this page] for conversions). Needless to say, I will be following the directions on the tin of oatmeal the next time and hope for better results.


 * Bannocks, or Oatcakes**, were also another common way the Scots served oats. [|Traditional Scottish Recipes]offers a recipe for this dish.

//*Tip:// If you'd like to find another recipe to try, make sure to include "Scottish" in your search, as there are some recipes which don't call for oats in them. Obviously, they won't be oatcakes without that key ingredient.

I'm cheating a bit with this one, since it's not mentioned until the fifth or sixth book in the Outlander series, but I really wanted to include a recipe for **Cranachan** (pronounced Cran-AH-can), otherwise known as **Crowdie**, since the pictures of it look absolutely amazing. This is a dessert that includes toasted oatmeal (the ground variety), double cream, Whisky, and raspberries. There are some variations on the ingredients from recipe to recipe, but these seem to be the staples. [|Undiscovered Scotland] has come through for us once again, as well as Traditional Scottish Recipes, which has [|two] [|recipes] from which to choose.

//*Tips:// Oh, the frustrations of trying a British recipe in America. The sad fact of the matter is that there is no true equivalent to double cream here in the United States. You can try substituting either heavy cream or heavy whipping cream (I made the Undiscovered Scotland recipe with both to see how they would turn out), but neither has the necessary milk fat content that the double cream has in order to give the dish the right consistency. Here is an [|Americanized version] of this recipe, in case you do want to try substituting. Don't, however, believe what this website tells you about the history of this dish, as it is a dessert and has most definitely never been eaten as a breakfast food. The term 'crowdie' does come from the Gaelic word for curd, but it refers to a type of cheese made in the Highlands, not a porridge.

Your best option, though, is to find an international market that sells double cream. [|Jungle Jim's], located in Farfield, Ohio, is a great example and quite the fun place to shop. If you are heading through Cincinnati area, be sure to check this place out.

If you don't have any whisky at hand (or just prefer a non-alcoholic version), you may substitute vanilla essence/extract.

Diana Gabaldon's Outlander Important Locations in Outlander Culture of the Scottish Highlands Additional Resources