A neat range of pocket-sized recipe books, Birlinn’s collection of Food Bibles has covered Scottish ingredients ranging from haggis to berries to oats.
The latest to join the fun is marmalade.
The Three Chimneys Marmalade Bible is written by Shirley Spear, Scottish Food Commission chair, writer, chef, former Food and Drink Ambassador for the Highlands and, along with husband Eddie, co-owner of Skye’s Three Chimneys restaurant.
Champion of Scotland’s larder
Since the restaurant opened in 1984, the Spears have championed Scotland’s larder and played a important role in rehabilitating Scotland’s culinary reputation.
Unlikely as it may seem initially, marmalade has played a large part in the success of The Three Chimneys over the last three decades.
When the restaurant launched, there was a fashion among high end restaurants to have a nursery pudding on the menu. Posh versions of spotted dick, steamed suet puddings and jam roly poly were all the rage.
Shirley decided that she would put a hot marmalade pudding on her menu. It was chalked up on the blackboard on opening night and was so wildly popular that it has remained on the menu ever since.
She relates the story in her Marmalade Bible along with a potted history of the preserve.
Aphrodisiac
Apparently, what we call marmalade has its roots in Portuguese marmelada, a sort of quince jelly which was considered to be an aphrodisiac in the fifteenth century.
As well as examining Scotland’s role in popularising marmalade, the book has step-by-step instructions how to make it and numerous recipes for how to cook with it.
Using it in puddings, cakes and tarts is familiar enough but Shirley also has many suggestions for incorporating it in meat, fish and vegetable dishes.
Priced at £4.99, it is an eminently affordable stocking-filler. At 96 pages, it isn’t an unwieldy tome but it is packed with recipes and serving ideas for Paddington’s favourite foodstuff.