Scottish cuisine

Scottish cuisine

Scottish cuisine is the specific set of cooking traditions and practices associated with Scotland. It has distinctive attributes and recipes of its own, but shares much with wider European cuisine as a result of foreign and local influences both ancient and modern. Traditional Scottish dishes exist alongside international foodstuffs brought about by migration. Scotland's natural larder of game, dairy, fish, fruit, and vegetables is the integral factor in traditional Scots cooking, with a high reliance on simplicity and a lack of spices from abroad, which were often very expensive. Scottish cuisine is enjoying a renaissance. In most towns, Chinese and Indian take-away restaurants exist along with traditional fish and chip shops. Larger towns and cities offer cuisine ranging from Thai and Japanese to Mexican, Pakistani and Indian, Polish and Turkish. Scotland, with its temperate climate and abundance of indigenous game species, has provided a cornucopia of food for its inhabitants for millennia. The wealth of seafood available on and off the coasts provided the earliest settlers with their sustenance. Agriculture was introduced, with primitive oats quickly becoming the staple.Before Sir Walter Raleigh's introduction of the potato to the British Isles, the Scots' main source of carbohydrate was bread made from oats or barley. Wheat was generally difficult to grow because of the damp climate. Food thrift was evident from the earliest times, with excavated middens displaying little evidence of anything but the toughest bones. All parts of an animal were used. During the
Late Middle Ages and early modern era, French cuisine played a role in Scottish cookery due to cultural exchanges brought about by the "Auld Alliance", especially during the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary, on her return to Scotland, brought an entourage of French staff who are considered responsible for
revolutionising Scots cooking and for some of Scotland's unique food terminology. During the 19th and 20th centuries there was large scale immigration to Scotland from Italy, and later from the Middle East, Pakistan
and India. These cultures have influenced Scots cooking dramatically. The Italians reintroduced the standard of fresh produce, and the later comers introduced spice. With the enlargement of the European Union in the early years of the 21st century, there has been an increase in the population of Eastern European descent, from Poland in particular. A number of speciality restaurants and delicatessens catering for the various new immigrants have opened in the larger towns and cities.

Scottish Soup
But since Scotland - land of sea, good is not only salmon, but any other fish. Especially famous smoked haddock - with her​​, including cook the famous soup with potatoes Cullen skink - and herring, which is not as much salt as fry.
In Scotland the popular variety of soups - with beef and mutton, chicken and crab.

Scottish salmon
Also the national dish of this country is a Scottish salmon.

Delicious food

In Scotland, you will not find a huge selection of delicious snacks and salads, but the locals - big fans of sweets. Here was invented by the famous marmalade with orange crusts. In Scotland generally respected jams - not only citrus but with ginger. Known another popular dessert - Scottish cheeses, which are very highly valued in the world: soft, hard, goat, sheep, sweet, with various additives and of course, collapses in oatmeal.

Also you can watch this video to get more information about Scottish cuisine