trip's trip into scottish cuisine

[Triple Zero]

ETA: this post probably makes slightly more sense when i mention that I'm in Edinburgh now, for the Day of Discord meeting on saturday

scottish and/or british food is actually surprisingly good! i say surprisingly because i heard mostly bad things about it.

okido, so we have:

meat pies - really really good. you can buy them ready made and/or frozen. basically it's just some kind of meat (steak, minced meat, probably others as well) with onions and gravy, wrapped in dough, in a pie shape. we have similar things in the netherlands called "saucijzenbroodjes" (sausage-buns), but they are filled with such disgusting low-quality cardboard meat that i wonder if the general shape was actually intended to be like a sausage or just happens to be like that. anyway, scottish meat pies are really good.

irn bru - it's orange. that's pretty much it's main feature. it's a hyper-sweet radio-active orange fizzy soft drink beverage that has a genuinely artificial flavour, that is a littlebit in between bubblegum and some very cheap artificially-flavoured orange 'just add water' lemonade syrup i remember from children's parties in my youth. i thought it would be heavily caffeinated, but this is not the case (it is a littlebit, but not as much as coke, for instance). also, Payne has invented a mix called "Iron Dick" which is Irn Bru + Port, and tastes pretty damn good!
oh wow and i just checked the ingredients, it has quinine in it! that's the stuff that makes the tonic in gin-n-tonic glow bright blue when you're in a club that has blacklight, so yeah, i can't wait to see what Irn Bru looks like in blacklight!

haggis - haven't tried yet. but i intend to, if i get the chance.

black pudding - there's a few slices in the fridge, but, while i pride myself on eating pretty much anything (i'm pretty much okay with the idea of haggis, for instance), i just don't like blood. it makes me uncomfortable.

toast with jam - it's good. but .. it's wrong. you eat as much as you want, but you are hungry an hour or two later. i'd say it has no nutritional value, but it has sugar and fat, but it just doesnt seem to register or something.

ale - i don't like it. i now know why Guinness (also an ale) disappoints me nearly every time i drink it. it tastes like flat beer. which is, probably, because it is flat beer. and not in a metaphorical sense, i'm pretty sure it's actual flat beer. they should just cool it and inject it with carbon dioxyde like normal beer. fortunately, pubs serve normal beer for pretty much this exact reason.

toast with egg and bacon - good! the bacon here is slightly different than the dutch bacon, it has a less smoky flavour, and my hostess didnt thoroughly cook it (i'd have cooked it till crispy, but we're out of bacon now), also thicker slices. it looks beautiful.

Stella Artois - tastes a lot better than whatever they are trying to pass off as Grolsch over here. cheaper, too.

ah right and this morning i did some triple zero scottish fusion cooking. i have a whole grain baguette (like a french stick bread, but smaller) baked in the oven with some slices of (edam) cheese. sausages cut into bits, between the baguette buns, sliced tomatos and onion rings and oh yeah

brown sauce - it's like worcestersauce, except thicker. we have the Branston brand here, which has the annoying tendency to be impossible to dose properly, it comes out in large squirts only, so i had to use a spoon to spread a littlebit on my baguette.

it was pretty damn good, better breakfast than the toast-n-jam shit i've had the past couple of days

[Jenne]

...interesting, Trip!  I stayed 2 1/2 days in Edinburgh 14 years ago--I stayed in the town's youth hostel (there was only one that we saw, there might be more now) and ate at the cutest little bistro with fusion food.  I'm sure there's much different fare there now, but it was a lot of fun.

[BADGE OF HONOR]

There used to be a Scottish restaurant just up the street from me, but...yeah.  Didn't really take off.  I heard that everything there was liable to give you a heart attack.

[Triple Zero]

ale - i don't like it. i now know why Guinness (also an ale) disappoints me nearly every time i drink it. it tastes like flat beer. which is, probably, because it is flat beer. and not in a metaphorical sense, i'm pretty sure it's actual flat beer. they should just cool it and inject it with carbon dioxyde like normal beer. fortunately, pubs serve normal beer for pretty much this exact reason.

amendment, old speckled hen - i just had a taste of this "Strong Fine Ale", and it's actually really good. it's slightly more fizzy than the ale i had in the pub Payne took us--which, i now remember, they (even the bar personel) told me wasnt very good--deep brownish red and a very bitter after taste. this one wasreally good!

[LMNO]

Yeah, the ESBs (Extra Special Bitters) and stout/porter ales are usually more "flat" as you say.  You'll probably want more pilsners, pale ales, and lagers.

[Triple Zero]

Yeah, the ESBs (Extra Special Bitters) and stout/porter ales are usually more "flat" as you say.  You'll probably want more pilsners, pale ales, and lagers.

well yeah i know about pils and lager, i was talking about ale specifically. and apparently, it can be good :-P

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

ale - i don't like it. i now know why Guinness (also an ale) disappoints me nearly every time i drink it. it tastes like flat beer. which is, probably, because it is flat beer. and not in a metaphorical sense, i'm pretty sure it's actual flat beer. they should just cool it and inject it with carbon dioxyde like normal beer. fortunately, pubs serve normal beer for pretty much this exact reason.

amendment, old speckled hen - i just had a taste of this "Strong Fine Ale", and it's actually really good. it's slightly more fizzy than the ale i had in the pub Payne took us--which, i now remember, they (even the bar personel) told me wasnt very good--deep brownish red and a very bitter after taste. this one wasreally good!

It sounds as if the pubs you dined in serve their ales flat... probably a regional thing? In my area ales are far more popular than beer, but they're really good and quite carbonated. It's usually stronger, sweeter, and more bitter than beer, but I had an ale the other night that was brewed with heather instead of hops, and it was really mild. We grow a ton of hops here, and most local ales are actually too hoppy for my taste.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I just looked up the difference between ale and beer (partly because I hadn't realized that a Stout is technically an ale) and apparently the categorical difference is that ales are brewed at a higher temperature and use a different kind of yeast which propagates throughout the liquid during brewing, whereas beer is brewed at a lower temperature and uses a kind of yeast that propagates at the bottom of the vat.

The more you know!

[Jenne]

And supposedly are supposed to be served room temp, whereas beer ice cold...in England and environs, so a Brit national keeps telling me.

Be that as it may, I like a nice pulled ale if it's done right.  My thing about ales like Guinness is that they are too filling.  I feel like a wimp having half a pint, though, so I just end up having snakebites instead.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Ugh, while a stout is good warmer (around 55 degrees), most of the ales we drink here are best chilled, definitely.

[Triple Zero]

so far i've found i just don't like doughar (sp?) ale, and the others have been quite good (actually a lot better than guinness even, but it's black which is funny)

also it's a taste you have to get used to. i semi enjoyed a doughars today.

and yeah, ales are served at room temp and (mostly) without carbonisation in GB.

[Payne]

so far i've found i just don't like doughar (sp?) ale, and the others have been quite good (actually a lot better than guinness even, but it's black which is funny)

also it's a taste you have to get used to. i semi enjoyed a doughars today.

and yeah, ales are served at room temp and (mostly) without carbonisation in GB.

Deuchars

[Payne]

ETA: this post probably makes slightly more sense when i mention that I'm in Edinburgh now, for the Day of Discord meeting on saturday

scottish and/or british food is actually surprisingly good! i say surprisingly because i heard mostly bad things about it.

okido, so we have:

meat pies - really really good. you can buy them ready made and/or frozen. basically it's just some kind of meat (steak, minced meat, probably others as well) with onions and gravy, wrapped in dough, in a pie shape. we have similar things in the netherlands called "saucijzenbroodjes" (sausage-buns), but they are filled with such disgusting low-quality cardboard meat that i wonder if the general shape was actually intended to be like a sausage or just happens to be like that. anyway, scottish meat pies are really good.

Yes. I used to work in a pie factory, and it always escapes me how something that goes through that disgusting process can ever taste good. But it does.

Did you try scotch pies? The most hideous looking things ever, but if you get a good one, it's excellent for a quick bite to eat mid-boozing.

irn bru - it's orange. that's pretty much it's main feature. it's a hyper-sweet radio-active orange fizzy soft drink beverage that has a genuinely artificial flavour, that is a littlebit in between bubblegum and some very cheap artificially-flavoured orange 'just add water' lemonade syrup i remember from children's parties in my youth. i thought it would be heavily caffeinated, but this is not the case (it is a littlebit, but not as much as coke, for instance). also, Payne has invented a mix called "Iron Dick" which is Irn Bru + Port, and tastes pretty damn good!
oh wow and i just checked the ingredients, it has quinine in it! that's the stuff that makes the tonic in gin-n-tonic glow bright blue when you're in a club that has blacklight, so yeah, i can't wait to see what Irn Bru looks like in blacklight!

Iron Cock, my friend, which is quite possibly the most surprising concoction ever created.

And don't try to describe the taste, many have tried and failed.

haggis - haven't tried yet. but i intend to, if i get the chance.

You did, and found it surprisingly edible.

LOVE THOSE ENTRAILS!

black pudding - there's a few slices in the fridge, but, while i pride myself on eating pretty much anything (i'm pretty much okay with the idea of haggis, for instance), i just don't like blood. it makes me uncomfortable.

You did it wrong. You need to be seriously hungover to appreciate the true wonder of black pudding.

toast with jam - it's good. but .. it's wrong. you eat as much as you want, but you are hungry an hour or two later. i'd say it has no nutritional value, but it has sugar and fat, but it just doesnt seem to register or something.

And it is a very popular breakfast for school kids. No wonder Scotland is so fucked up.

ale - i don't like it. i now know why Guinness (also an ale) disappoints me nearly every time i drink it. it tastes like flat beer. which is, probably, because it is flat beer. and not in a metaphorical sense, i'm pretty sure it's actual flat beer. they should just cool it and inject it with carbon dioxyde like normal beer. fortunately, pubs serve normal beer for pretty much this exact reason.

You did it wrong! Of course, the pubs we went to didn't have great ale selections, but Deuchars is one of my faves. So sorry you didn't appreciate it. Thats real edinburgh ale that is!

toast with egg and bacon - good! the bacon here is slightly different than the dutch bacon, it has a less smoky flavour, and my hostess didnt thoroughly cook it (i'd have cooked it till crispy, but we're out of bacon now), also thicker slices. it looks beautiful.

Yes. though sometimes you fell like you have a brick in your digestive tract, it's worth it.

Stella Artois - tastes a lot better than whatever they are trying to pass off as Grolsch over here. cheaper, too.

That may not be saying much. Also Stella Artois is overpriced for what you actually get from it.

ah right and this morning i did some triple zero scottish fusion cooking. i have a whole grain baguette (like a french stick bread, but smaller) baked in the oven with some slices of (edam) cheese. sausages cut into bits, between the baguette buns, sliced tomatos and onion rings and oh yeah

brown sauce - it's like worcestersauce, except thicker. we have the Branston brand here, which has the annoying tendency to be impossible to dose properly, it comes out in large squirts only, so i had to use a spoon to spread a littlebit on my baguette.

it was pretty damn good, better breakfast than the toast-n-jam shit i've had the past couple of days

LOVE THAT BROWN SAUCE. Like melted cheese, it makes almost anything edible.

[Bruno]

I just looked up the difference between ale and beer (partly because I hadn't realized that a Stout is technically an ale) and apparently the categorical difference is that ales are brewed at a higher temperature and use a different kind of yeast which propagates throughout the liquid during brewing, whereas beer is brewed at a lower temperature and uses a kind of yeast that propagates at the bottom of the vat.

The more you know!

I believe what you are calling beer is lager, and both ale and lager are beer.

Almost all American beer is Pilsner, which is a kind of lager.

[Jenne]

I just looked up the difference between ale and beer (partly because I hadn't realized that a Stout is technically an ale) and apparently the categorical difference is that ales are brewed at a higher temperature and use a different kind of yeast which propagates throughout the liquid during brewing, whereas beer is brewed at a lower temperature and uses a kind of yeast that propagates at the bottom of the vat.

The more you know!

I believe what you are calling beer is lager, and both ale and lager are beer.

Almost all American beer is Pilsner, which is a kind of lager.

I had a dream last night about YOU and about this thread...but your name was different...was like Oscar_Wiener or something...weird.

Anyway...carry on.