OLD SCOTTISH RECIPES           

In Scottish society, the family-traditions surrounding the hosting of guests are the ingredients of legends, and family recipes for meals served were always a guarded family secret.  The Seton's were no exception to this and history records the many noted events of their balls and masques, and where the food and wine served were of the highest caliber known in the country. 

Many recipes came from chef's in France who were brought to serve at the family's residences, but equally so were those that had been developed locally.  During the 18th century, with the expanding colonies and goods brought in, such as spices and sugars, many new tastes were developed and then exported abroad later.  While families emigrating to the colonies around the world took these examples of Scottish culture along with them, many were also kept secret and as such were either lost in time from the secrecy or otherwise changed with the centuries of interpretation and experimentation.

However there still survive in old Scots families, various traditional long-standing recipes kept as sacred and passed in-whole - This recipe came to my grandmother from her husbands mother, Annie Lovett, who was a cousin of the Fraser’s Lord Lovat.  Lord Lovat had visited her in Nova Scotia when she was a young girl.  This was a recipe from the Frasers and originated in Aberdeen from around the early 18^th century (1700’s) when Cornstarch and Confectioners Sugar were commodities only had by the Nobles and Chiefs, as they came from the colonies abroad.

The following are examples of traditional Scots recipes from the author's family:

Shortbread       

Butterballs       

Oatmeal Cookies