][1]By this time next week, many of us will be lying in a post-turkey torpor. A surfeit of port, pudding and pies will all have taken their toll. And then it’s Hogmanay and time to do it all over again only with whisky, steak pies and black bun doing the damage.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Stovies Reloaded is a new cookbook which features twenty recipes for traditional Scottish dishes – all of which have been given a modern, healthier twist.
Written by experts from the University’s Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health, Stovies Reloaded hopes to help Scots enjoy healthier versions of some of the country’s most famous dishes.
Eat pies
Scotch pies, Cullen skink and Dundee cake are just some of recipes from across Scotland which have been adapted to contain less salt, sugar and fat.
Professor Garry Duthie from the Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health says its aim is to encourage people to rediscover traditional cooking skills and to eat a healthier diet.
‘Stovies Reloaded is our light-hearted take on traditional Scottish recipes and how they can be modified in the light of increased nutritional knowledge,’ says Prof Duthie. ‘There is, however, a more serious underlying message. Scotland still has a poor record in terms of diet and health. We hope that these reloaded recipes may play a small part in encouraging people to revisit traditional cooking skills, take an interest in traditional Scottish fare and make healthy meal choices.
‘We selected recipes from across the country and used specialist equipment to analyse the levels of salt, sugar and fat they contained. We then reformulated them to reduce these levels as low as possible without compromising on taste.’
Cullen skink revival
He hopes Stovies Reloaded will help inspire a revival in both traditional cooking methods and fare.
‘Reviving traditional Scottish recipes known to our grandmothers and great grandmothers is not straightforward. The recipes have been largely forgotten by the younger generations and the fast pace of modern life and loss of traditional cooking skills now makes it difficult to prepare and cook many traditional foods from scratch at home. We hope that bringing back an appreciation of traditional Scottish food will bring benefits from a culinary and health perspective in the Scotland of today.’
You can download a PDF of Stovies Reloaded from here.