Scots Cooking: The Best Traditional and Contemporary Scottish Recipes

Finally a book that successfully combines contemperory with the traditional.The recipes are beautifully presented with spectacular colour photographs. Unlike some cookery writer's books the recipes are usable for every day life covering such topics as breakfast, meats and baking. Being Scottish myself I know that this book genuinely reflects Scottish cooking and I love the way the author combines the recipes with anecdotes making the book not only a good cooking book but also a good read. I would highly suggest that everybody should buy this book as the recipes are the best things that have come out of Scotland since Sean Connery. (amazon.com)

A HISTORY OF STEAK

Beef was not an important part of the American diet before the Civil War. Cattle were not indigenous to the Americas, so you could not find cattle in the New World until the Spanish introduced them into in Mexico in 1540. In the 18th century, the Spanish and French colonist began to raise cattle. As the railroads developed, they used trains to transport to herds from San Antonio to New Orleans. However, this industry collapsed because of the cold winter, and 90 percent of the herds were wiped out.
Eventually, technology, animal husbandry, and barbed wire changed the industry. In 1871, a Detroit meat pecker named G. H. Hanharmand brought refrigeration railway cars west, transforming the industry. Slaughterhouses had been set up in the Midwest for shipment of meat back to the east where the appetite for beef was beginning to develop. After the Second World War, beef became a symbol of American prosperity. Americans were eating 62 pounds by 1952, 99 pounds by 1960, and an all time high of 114 pounds in 1970. Nowadays, that rate is increasing everyday.

The Origin of Brownies

The first known recipe for brownies was published in the 1897 Sears, Roebuck Catalogue. The origin of the Brownie is thought to be American. It is classified as a bar cookie and is thought to derive its name from the brown color of the cookie. Folklore has its origin coming from a careless cook that forgot to put baking powder in the chocolate cake batter recipe. Since this time there are almost as many brownie recipes as there are cooks.

G or not G?