Tonight it is leftover rib-roast disguised as Stovies, that favourite Scottish recipe for use when everyone is tires of leftovers from Sunday dinner.
Ingredients:
½ lb cubed cooked meat (roast beef, roast lamb, roast pork)
Enough fat and juices from the roasting tin to brown the onions and potatoes (add extra lard if needed)
2 large onions, sliced
2lb of peeled potatoes, thinly sliced
Small knob of gravy salt, dissolved in a cupful of boiling water
Method:
Brown one of the onions on a medium heat on the hob in the fat from the roasting tin, until soft and golden. Add some sliced potatoes and raw onion and stir, continue to add the potatoes and onions stirring in between times. When all the onions and potatoes are in the pot add the meat and seasonings (a little salt, thyme, white pepper etc.) to taste. Stir and add the cupful of dissolved gravy salt and stir. Reduce to a very low heat, put the lid on and simmer very gently, stirring frequently to avoid it sticking. (About every 10 minutes or so.) Cook for about 30 minutes but make sure the mixture doesn’t go too sloppy.
With a nice glass of red obviously!
What is "gravy salt"? Oh, I see: it's a mixture of salt, caramel and sometimes cornflour (corn starch). Ick.
"Enough fat and juices from the roasting tin to brown the onions and potatoes" You mean you didn't use it up making a gravy or jus for the roast? How did you serve the roast then?
Does it matter if you use boiling or baking potatoes?
The jus was used up with the roast, a reduction of red wine shallots and a few other bits and pieces. I use very little of the juices from the roast in the jus.
Potatoes are general purpose whites, probably something like King Edwards, the gravy salt is something like a bisto cube, I have no idea what is in it!!!
Iain
The only time I had stovies was in Aberdeen. I'm sure they're everywhere in Glasgow and Edinburgh but I've never seen them - and the trick was always just tiny peices of left-over beef with tatties and juices from pan. Somewhat a la trax.
They were indeed delicious - I've never seen stovies with lamb or pork but, then again, why not? Especially, why not lamb?
No reason why not in my opinion. Some branches of Greggs in Edinburgh used to do them for lunchtimes, dunno if thats still the case. I always use beef purely because that is what I was subjected to as a kid. I guess its just a traditional thing that folk think of doing Stovies with leftover beef, but will make lamb in to something else, like a sandwich or the like? Maybe lamb is just not so popular a roast as Beef? I am now going to sleep them off!!!
trusted partner
