Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 30 on 01/12/2006.

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Souper Suppers

Nothing fills you up more than a hearty bowl of soup. Sue Lawrence provides some traditional Scots recipes

It might have been a day of sledging down the street, all muffled up in woolly hats and gloves to keep out the winter chill. Or a day of clambering over haystacks in the fields behind the garden, when even t-shirts and shorts were too hot in the summer sun. Whatever the weather however, our kitchen – and most in Scotland – would have had a soup pot on the go. Come rain, hail or shine, there it would stand, ready to be heated up and the contents ladled out every day.

For although a bowl of piping hot soup makes sense when there is a biting winter chill outside, it is also served in summer, even in those occasional Scottish heat waves, for that is what Scots tradition dictates.

During my year living in northern Finland, I remember being struck at how seldom soup was served in this bitterly cold climate – only once a week, on Thursdays when thick pea soup is traditionally served in schools, army barracks or office canteens though the entire country. In Scotland, however, once a day is mandatory.

My octogenarian father only ever deviates from the daily soup routine if eating out. But even then, you can see he is struggling, feeling obliged to order the bruschetta with rocket and buffalo mozzarella, rather than a good bowl of broth as starter. And whether it is Scotch broth bulging with barley and vegetables, cock-a-leekie with its characteristic prunes or bawd bree, a gutsy game soup made from hare, soup has always been there, the prelude to any meal.

My mother recalls broth .....

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By Sue Lawrence

Section : Scottish Food

Page number : 49