24 November 2009

Corner View - Menu al Dia!

This week's Corner View theme is Menu al Dia - what would be on the menu in your local restaurants.....well here in Scotland, traditional food would be fish and chips, steak pie or mince and tatties......

Whilst in Dundee, traditional food would be (Dundee vernacular coming up): "Twa pehs, twa plehn bridies an'an'inyin'in'an'a." 

Now, you may well ask what on earth would you be eating......2 pies (Scotch pies - hard water pastry with mutton filling), 2 plain bridies (think pastry filled with beef mince/onion) and an onion one as well......would be the answer to that question!

Or slightly further afield (13 or so miles) is Arbroath, home to the Arbroath smokie - locally caught, smoked haddock - in 2004 the Arbroath Smokie received Protected Geographic Indications status, much like Champagne or Parma ham, which means that the name "Arbroath Smokie" can only be used to describe the genuine article - it can only be used to describe haddock smoked in the traditional manner within an 8km radius of Arbroath. The traditional method of smoking is to tie the tails of 2 fish together and to hang them over a stick, smoking them for between 45 to 90 minutes, under a hessian cloth which allows the fish to "breathe in" the smoke until they turn a beautiful golden colour!


Of course, nowadays you're just as likely to be eating a Thai green curry or a Chow Mein or a Pizza as some onion bridies!

If you enjoy reading about food, go and check out all the other "Menus al Dia" on Jane's blog - or check back in later in the week, I've just been to Paris and as usual managed to spend much of my time taking photos of food!!




9 comments:

Elizabeth said...

I would love to try some Arbroath smokie! And looking forward to your Paris pictures too Di!

montague said...

good golly! that's a mouth full (haha. me so funny!)

jane said...

i love the names. can´t wait to see your paris pics! besos!

Unknown said...

Would love to taste...uhmmmmm

Thimbleanna said...

How interesting! Thanks for the bridie wikipedia link -- it was so fun to read about them!

Maia said...

Wow, I love that photo of the haddock smoking!

caramelcaramelo said...

hello! yes i agree with the other comments would love to taste some of these dishes! thank you for your visit. your blog is really nice, just discovered it. thanks for sharing. kenza. PD: i also in fact prefer green tea to the black variety.

A Cuban In London said...

Love that photo and the post. I must admit that I tried haggis once and didn't like it. Might have been the way I cooked it. Strange, though, because I am very keen on offal. Goes to show, doesn't it?

I loved that bit of Scottish vernacular, it's a lovely accent, one of my favourite ones over here in the UK, even if most of the time I don't know what they're saying. I've got a funny anecdote from the only time I was in Scotland. I stayed in a beautiful village in Oban. Just a handful of houses around. The first morning I went to the local newsagents to see if they had a copy of The Guardian and it took me a good five minutes to understand that yes, they had one and I was one of the few locals who read the paper, in fact had I not bought at the time I did I would have gone through the day without reading because they only got four or five copies. All delivered in a strong, beautiful Scottish accent. :-)

Greetings from London.

Dorte said...

Me too, I would love to taste some of it!