First published in 1929, this new edition has been edited by Catherine Brown who also writes a biographical introduction on McNeill & has also helpfully edited the recipes to make them easier for modern cooks to follow. McNeill was an authority on Scotland's history & customs (she also wrote The Silver Bough, a book on Scottish folklore which I have on the tbr shelves). The book is not solely recipes. There's an extensive history of food in Scotland which I found fascinating. The footnotes were even more interesting & McNeill's partiality for Scotland is always in evidence. In the chapter on 17th century cooking, she laments the Union with England,
From a purely cultural point of view, Scotland lost more than she gained by the Union of the Crowns. She lost the old close contact with the most highly civilized nation in the world (France), and established a new close contact with a nation for whom efficiency, not culture; comfort, not elegance; manufacture, not art, were paramount things. She lost her reigning family - and the Stuarts, whatever their shortcomings as rulers, were genuinely aristocratic in temperament (in contradistinction to the Houses of Tudor and Hanover) and devoted to the arts...
There is no doubt as to where McNeill stands on the relative merits of Scotland & England! McNeill traces the history of Scotland through its food & is especially good on the influence of French culture & cuisine which began in the 16th century with the Auld Alliance between the two countries. However, she's just as interested in the regional dishes of the Highlands & islands & discusses the different ways of curing fish & the importance of oats as a staple part of the diet. She quotes from a wide range of texts from Dr Johnson to the novels of Sir Walter Scott & the early cookbooks published in the 19th century.
The recipes are arranged by ingredients from soups to cakes & shortbread. I was amazed at the many recipes for sheep's heads, seaweed & offal (calf's foot jelly with whipped cream, anyone?) but I admit that I'm really only tempted to try some of the cakes & puddings. I plan to try Broonie (Orkney Oatmeal Gingerbread), which was the first recipe McNeill ever collected,
One of my small companions at the island school I first attended gave me a slice of the 'broonie' whichj she sometimes brought as her midday 'piece'. I begged to know what was 'intill't' and the little lass replied, 'A peerie (little) grain o'flour, a peerie grain o'mayle (oatmeal), a peerie grain o'butter, a peerie grain o'shuggar, a peerie grain o'trekkle, and so forth. Years later, I managed to work out the proportions.
And here's the recipe,
Mix in a basin six ounces of oatmeal and six of flour. Rub in two ounces of butter. Add four ounces of sugar, a teaspoonful of ground ginger and barely three-quarters of a teaspoonful of baking soda, free from lumps. Melt two tablespoonfuls of treacle, and add, with a beaten egg and enough buttermilk to make the mixture sufficiently soft to drop from the spoon. Mix thoroughly. turn into a buttered tin and bake for from one to one and a half hours in a moderate oven till well risen and firm in the centre.