scotland's food

this post is a bit delayed, but if i don't have time to blog about farming, i don't have time to blog about food. my most recent trip to edinburgh, scotland was in november. i've been many times before and truly love the city. quite a while ago, i believe i posted about the farmers market there that is really wonderful. now, i am going to talk about the food and restaurants.

words cannot do justice to the flavors, textures and experiences i had on this last trip. when i lived in edinburgh in the winter of 2004-5, there were two michelin starred restaurants in the city. now there are at least five. to have a michelin star, not only does a restaurant have to have extremely tentative service (almost too much so, in my opinion), but the food and the presentation of the food have to be mind blowing. the food is fresh, made from scratch, unique and every attention to detail has been made. we went to several non-michelin starred restaurants, as well. all were truly amazing. so throw out your assumption that scottish food is greasy, bland pub grub, and allow me to change your mind. here are a few of the culinary experiences i had.

the image above is of my starter at the plumed horse. it was, as described on their website, a leek custard tart with fresh autumn truffles, mixed leaves and shaved parmesan. absolutely wonderful. the custard was soft and creamy and paired with the crispy, salty crust it was....yum! the micro greens were, well, micro and the truffles and parmesan were thinly sliced. i would have been quite content if my meal ended there.

the best dessert i had was at the kitchin. i was so full after eating the rest of the meal, but one bite of this and i couldn't say no to the rest. it sounded simple enough - chocolate chip souffle with chocolate ice cream. the server brought the very hot souffle to the table with a small bowl of ice cream next to it. he then took my spoon and cut out a small hole in the souffle, put the ice cream in the hole and put the cut out piece of souffle on top. what do you get when you have a very hot souffle with ice cream inside? melted chocolate goodness! it was so smooth and so tasty. i talked about it for days (and months, apparently!).

one of the delicious main courses i had was at the grain store. i found this restaurant sort of by accident. it is not michelin starred because the owner doesn't like to conform to the standard of that, but wow, was his food great. he came over to the table and talked about his food and how he loves and appreciates working with local, high quality ingredients. i told him i was a farmer and appreciated hearing that from my customers. my main course was wood pigeon with cepe risotto and adrahan sauce. the meat was like butter and flavors were amazing.

with all the dishes, the combination of flavors was wonderful. they were not meant to be eaten separately, but each ingredient was meant to add something to the others and those flavors filled my mouth. most, if not all, of the restaurants sourced their food locally. since scotland is such a small country, local very often means grown, raised or made in scotland. but nonetheless, the chefs knew their suppliers. providing good food is not only their job, but their passion. and they turn it into an art form, whether it be with the combination of flavors or with the presentation on the plate.

if you ever have the pleasure of visiting scotland, and edinburgh specifically, you can try bangers and mash or deep fried mars bars, but save some money for the well worth it restaurants. your taste buds will thank you.

here is a list of some of the places i visited on the trip -

the kitchin

the plumed horse

rhubarb

the mussel and steak bar

the grain store

56 north

as a side note - i, by no means, typically eat at such high end restaurants. but i appreciate good food and i like to recognize those who deserve it. when i pick a restaurant, it is usually based on where they are sourcing their food (ie - local). but this was a very special trip for my boyfriend's PhD defense. and a treat for all! thank you, lee and congratulations, matt!!