Exploring Scottish Cookery

Making Scottish Tablet - For the First Time

 

The recipes found for Scottish Tablet were basically the same: sugar, sweetened condensed milk, whole milk, and butter. Some added a little salt, and one added corn syrup. Surprisingly, they didn't all use vanilla.

The recipe used called for 4 1/2 cups sugar, 8 tbsp. butter, 1 cup of milk and a 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk. To that a 1/2 tsp. salt and 1 tbsp. of corn syrup was added.

The butter was melted in a heavy cooking pot, then the other ingredients were added and thoroughly mixed together. It was stirred and stirred and stirred over medium heat until the temperature reached 245 degrees on a Fahrenheit thermometer. Some recipes required the mixture be removed from the heat when the temperature reached 240 degrees. Others suggested removing it at 250 degrees. I compromised at 245 degrees.

After removing it from the heat, it was mixed with a hand mixer, but it set up much more quickly than planned. By the time it was poured (scraped) into the parchment lined pan, the tablet had to be patted out by hand.

Another tablet maker had advised scoring the tablet while still warm, or it would break into untidy pieces when cut. That was good advice. After cooling for a few (very few) minutes, the tablet was cut (it cut very smoothly along the scores) and arranged between layers of wax paper in glass storage containers.

Of course, it had to be tasted and, oh, my goodness!

Tablet lovers describe it as addictive, melting in your mouth and having a grainy texture. The texture of this tablet attempt was a bit grainy. Though it didn't exactly melt in your mouth, like an M&M, it slid around the tongue quite nicely and did, eventually, melt and slide over the taste buds and down the throat.

While it has the look of peanut butter fudge, after cooking for so long, don't be fooled. It isn't like vanilla (white) fudge, either. The flavor is a heavenly buttery, milky highly heated dairy that, thankfully, didn't burn on the bottom. It's kind of like a Sugar Daddy, but, maybe, more like the Sugar Baby. This is a weak comparison and not exactly right. You just have to taste it for yourself.

I remember an older brother, too many years ago, sitting close to the burner of the gas stove, in our kitchen, stirring the candy he was making, using the recipe on the back of the Hershey Cocoa box. Sometimes, it turned out perfectly, so soft, smooth and wonderful. Other times, after cooking too long, it turned out a little too hard, making it difficult to cut, and the texture was more grainy than smooth. Tablet is similar to that kind of graininess, almost.

If tablet is made again, two things will be done differently. It will be cooked to a lower temperature: 240 degrees. And, it will be poured into the pan much sooner. Possibly, the recipe will be halved to reduce the temptation of eating too much.

A good recipe for Scottish Tablet:

https://scottishscran.com/traditional-scottish-tablet-recipe/

 

EXPLORING SCOTTISH COOKERY

Haricot Beans

Traditional Scottish Cookery

The little bitty cookbook “Traditional Scottish Cookery”, is one of the cookbooks on my Scottish cookbook shelf. In this itsy-bitsy, teensy-weensy cookbook, there is a recipe for “Haricot Bean Soup”. Reading through the recipe, printed just large enough to be discerned with 2.50 magnification power reading glasses, it looked like it would make a “yum” meatless meal. Haricot beans were new to my vocabulary, so I had to find out what they were.

It turns out that another name for haricot beans is navy beans. Navy bean is a bean I know. The United States Navy has served the bean to its sailors since the mid-1800s. That is how the bean got its name.

During World War II there were many American troops stationed in Australia. (I have a friend whose mother was an Australian war bride.) The United States military encouraged the planting of the Navy bean in Australia as a means to help feed all those men. In Australia, the bean became known as the "Yankee Bean".

Naval Food History

The Navy bean is also the main ingredient in Senate Bean Soup, and the recipe has an interesting story.

Senate Bean Soup has been served in the United States Senate for over a hundred years, with one exception. During World War II, because of food rations, for one day only, the soup did not appear on the Senate menu.

There are two stories for how bean soup came to be served, daily, in the Senate cafeteria. These stories might be more legend than fact, but some will argue about which story is true.

One story goes that at the turn of the 20th century the soup was served at the request of Senator Fred Dubois of the state of Idaho. Idaho being the home of potato farmers, Dubois expected potatoes to be part of the bean soup recipe. The story says that Senator Dubois had a resolution passed that the bean soup be on the menu every day.

Senate Navy Bean Soup

Another story is told that the request for bean soup came from Senator Knute Nelson of Minnesota, back in 1903. He had a fondness for bean soup.

In whatever way the soup came to be an everyday meal on the menu in the Senate cafeteria, it is an economical choice for lower paid workers who serve the Senate.

Senate Bean Soup and Haricot Bean Soup are very similar. Haricot Bean Soup includes turnips, potatoes, flour and milk which Senate Bean Soup does not have. At one time Senate Bean Soup included potatoes (see Senator Dubois, above), but the soup served in the Senate cafeteria, today, no longer does.

Haricot Bean Soup

The Haricot Bean Soup recipe from Traditional Scottish Cookery

No Author Named

Haricot Bean Soup Serves 6-8

Ingredients

• 12 oz. haricot beans
• 3 pt. beef or bacon stock (made from 2 lb. marrow bones or 2 lb. bacon bones)
• 2 small onions, diced
• 1 turnip
• 1 lb. diced potatoes
• 1 tbsp. flour
• ½ pt. milk
• Parsley

Instructions

1. Wash beans and soak overnight.
2. Put into a saucepan, with stock, diced vegetables, salt, and pepper.
3. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for about 2 to 2 ½ hours, or until beans are tender.
4. Force through a sieve and return soup to pan.
5. Blend the flour with a little of the milk and stir into soup.
6. Add remaining milk and reheat.
7. Before serving, sprinkle with finely chopped parsley.

The official Senate Bean Soup Recipe from a former U.S. Senate Staffer 

Senate Bean Soup (The Official Recipe) Servings: 4 people 

Ingredients

• 1-pound dry navy beans
• 3/4-pound smoked ham hock
• 2 quarts cold water
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon butter
• kosher salt, to taste (I do about 2 teaspoons)
• fresh black pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Rinse the navy beans and pick over.

2. Place beans into large pot with two quarts of cold water and the ham hock.

3. Bring just to a boil, then lower to a simmer and cook for approximately three hours in a partially-covered pot, stirring occasionally, until the beans have fully softened.

4. Remove ham hocks and set aside to cool.

5. Meanwhile, lightly brown the onion in butter and add to the soup.

6. Pull meat from the ham hocks and return to soup.

7. Stir.

8. Before serving, bring to a boil and season with salt and pepper.

Credits

https://www.delightedcooking.com/what-are-haricot-beans.htm

https://www.cop.senate.gov/reference/reference_item/bean_soup.htm

https://copykat.com/senate-navy-bean-soup/

https://unpeeledjournal.com/u-s-senate-bean-soup-recipe/

https://hurstbeans.com/recipes/navy-bean-soup-aka-senate-bean-soup

https://www.navyhistory.org/2016/04/chow-navy-bean-soup/