Scottish Recipes in honor of National Tartan Day

[Claire]

I'm still computer stupid, but I had to find a recipe for an appetizer. My friend was throwing a Scottish party, and wanted an appetizer. She said, "Claire, bring an appetizer, but there aren't any Scottish appetizer recipes, so do what you will." I went on line for ages it seemed and found a recipe for scotch-soaked prawn. Wow. It was the hit of the party. I just looked it up to do it again. It is something you can find by typing in something like Scottish recipes prawn. I used pieces of ginger and dry vermouth instead of the green ginger wine and it was a huge, and I do mean HUGE hit. Several people brought in other shrimp cocktails, but I swear this was one of my top appetizers I've ever made, and trust me, I've made a lot.

I don't know how to link, but with that info you can find the recipe. For us US citizens I used more ginger and dry vermouth for the ginger wine.

 

[Bullrem]

Claire, can you not copy and paste the recipe to this site. Or at least copy and past the web link to this site? That would be great. This recipe sounds great.

Helen

 

[Claire]

I'm getting paranoid about posting recipes since getting a lesson in copyright laws, but I had to change the recipe considerably for the availability of ingredients here (small town northeastern Illinois) so here goes

1/2 c Scotch whiskey
1/2 c dry vermouth
1-2 T demarra sugar (the kind of sugar that is in granuals but isn't completely refined so it is light brown in color ... I'm sure any kind of sugar would be OK, it just happens to be what I had on hand).
about a 1 inch piece of ginger root, sliced.

The reason I'm very inexact on the sugar is because Scotch can vary A LOT in flavor, some are much sweeter than others.

The original recipe uses something called green ginger wine, something I've never heard of, much less am able to find in the Midwest. So I used vermouth and real ginger root.

This will do for about a pound of jumbo shrimp. I buy it cooked, peeled and deveined (but tails on for eating convenience) which I thaw before hand.

Put the booze, ginger and sugar in a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until the sugar dissolves. Taste and adjust the sweetness to your liking (this was hard for me because, much as I love most booze, don't like Scotch). Pour over the thawed shrimp and let sit for 1-3 hours in the fridge, tossing occaisionally to get all of the shrimp covered. I served it in a bowl with the marinade and ginger slices intact.

Now I don't like Scotch myself, and several at the party didn't, either. So all were astonished and it was a huge hit (I'm actually making it tomorrow for some Scotch loving friends!). I'm sure if you actually can get green ginger wine (and a DC-friend told me it was her father's favorite! Never heard of it, seen it, tasted it) you'd get an entire other character of flavor.

 

[Claire]

I had a terrible time trying to find an appetizer recipe that was Scottish. I finally found a web site that had "authentic" Scottish recipes, and this was close to the last recipe on the site (they were in alphabetical order and this was W for whiskey). Mostly it was deserts and fried stuff. Even then I had to laugh. It called for serving it in avocado halves. Huh? Authentic Scottish? Now someone out there can tell me, do avocado trees grow in Scotland? I'm sure it would be delicious served that way, but this was a big party, and I just served it in a chilled bowl with toothpicks to spear the shrimp (prawn) for those who didn't want to just plow in and grab one by the tail. In an avocado bowl it would make a great first course for a dinner party, but this was a potluck and the guests almost licked the bowl it was such a hit.

Scotch eggs are way to heavy to my mind for anything but the main course at a breakfast/brunch. Even then I had to cut some in half for some of my guests. I use Jimmy Dean Hot sausage, but toss with a few bread crumbs and a raw egg in the mixture to make it easier to cover the hard boiled egg. Pan rather than deep fry, simply for convenience. (different party, by the way!). I first had them as a picnic food in Hawaii, on the beach!

 

[Bullrem]

Claire, I have never seen a Scottish reference for Whisky spelled with the 'e' ... That is curious, also the avacado. No they cannot be grown in Scotland anymore than here in Arkansas unless in a hot house. Thanks for the recipes. I truly appreciate your doing this. Helen

 

[freefallin1309]

Claire, I have never seen a Scottish reference for Whisky spelled with the 'e' ... That is curious, also the avacado. No they cannot be grown in Scotland anymore than here in Arkansas unless in a hot house. Thanks for the recipes. I truly appreciate your doing this. Helen

Some people don't know there's a difference, it was probably an honest mistake.

 

[Bullrem]

Oh, aye! t'as Was not meant as a
criticism but an observation from the cooking site, noting but thanks to wee Claire.

<G> Helen

 

[Claire]

In fact, I couldn't remember if it was the Scottish or the Irish who don't put an "e" in whiskey-whisky and was too lazy to walk to the kitchen to do the research and just went with the American! Wee Claire? You obviously haven't met me! But it made my day anyway!