Not Quite Gordon Ramsay | Delicious Scotch Broth

Scotch Broth just like my mum use to make. It sure was delicious…In fact it doesn’t get much tastier or healthier than a bowl of Scotch Broth. So  yesterday afternoon my plan was to attempt to make one of Scotland’s national dishes.

Oh where to begin? I could have emailed Gordon Ramsay again, but I’m still waiting for him to get back to me about the Scottish Tablet and I have already made and eaten all of. Your still off my Christmas card list Ramsay…

A quick phone call to who else..But my mum of course. I got the ingredients and a quick lesson in what to do with it all. It sounded easy enough. In fact this was going to be a breeze…Nothing could go wrong, nothing would go wrong. Even I couldn’t burn soup…!

All I needed to make Scotch Broth was 1kg neck of lamb, 125g lentils, 125g split peas, 125g pearl barley, one leek, 2 big carrots, small neep and some tatties. The thing with Scotch Broth, is that there isn’t really a right and wrong way to make it. Do you really think way back hundreds of years ago in the Highlands of Scotland they really gave a shit about recipes…I think not…Traditionally Scotch Broth is just a bit of everything chucked into the pot.

My cupboard was bare so I had to nip along to Sainsbury’s to get all the  ingredients. If that twat Jamie Oliver says everything in Sainsbury’s is the business that is good enough for me. But then again I would say the same thing if they were paying me millions… Unfortunately there was only one supermarket in Kilburn where I was going to get all the ingredients from, without wandering around for half the day. And as much as I dislike Sainsbury’s and the prick of a security guard that keeps looking at me funny… Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and get on with it.

I was all set to make one of Scotland’s finest dishes and quite probably one of the most delicious tasting soups there is. I had all the ingredient required to make Scotch Broth and then it dawned on me that I didn’t have any scales. Then I reminded myself what those wild Highlanders would have done centuries ago. Yes you guessed it… I just chucked some of the pearl barely, split peas and lentils into a bowl, where I soaked them overnight.

Right lets get down to the fun bit…I put the lamb neck in the pot with around 2kg of water and brought it to the boil. I then skimmed off the stuff that was floating on the top of the water. The next step was to add the pearl barely, split peas and lentils into the pot. I brought the pot back to the boil and then I again skimmed off any of  the stuff that had risen to the top. This would make sure my Scotch Broth turned out nice and clear.

After simmering for around an hour, I added sliced leek, cubes of tatties, shredded carrot and shredded neep. Again I brought it back to the boil and then let it simmer for around 1.5hours. At around the 1 hour point I took out the meat and salvaged as much  of the good bits as I could and then sliced it up and put it back into  the pot. I also added some mixed dried Caribbean herbs into the pot at this stage. Why because I wanted too…I bet those old time Scots would have done the same thing if they had access to such goodness…

Things were looking good and the soup was smelling delicious, eat your heart out Gordon Ramsay, this soup was the business…I bought myself some nice organic brown rolls to have along with my version of Scotch Broth. You of course season it to your own delicate taste buds with some salt and pepper when it is sitting in a bowl in front of you…

The prove as to whether my Scotch Broth was any good or not, wouldn’t be if I thought it tasted any good. My African Princess would be the judge. If she devoured the big hearty bowl of Broth I had given her, that would be the sign that I had cracked it. And she must have liked it, because she took some with her to work today for her lunch later on…Yes and even if I do so say so myself it tasted DELICIOUS…

No related posts.