Celebrate your inner Scots with cocktails and snack recipes for Robbie Burns Day!
Every 25th of January, Scots – and those that want to be Scots – celebrate the lauded poet with a bit of Auld Lang Syne (yes, he wrote that) a wee dram of whisky and a whopping of jocularity and camaraderie. Kick off your own Robbie Burns Day celebration with a poetry reading and be sure to check out the virtual online concerts from the Celtic Connections Festival, which presents over 30 online performances, including the hotly anticipated Transatlantic Session coming out of Quebec and Nashville on January 29.
Here, a few whisky cocktail and scotch egg recipes from the spirits experts at Dewar’s. Sláinte!
PENICILLIN
1.5 parts Dewar’s 12 Blended Scotch Whisky
.75 parts Lemon juice
.75 parts Honey syrup
3 slices fresh ginger
Candied ginger garnish
Method:
Using a wooden muddler, muddle the fresh ginger in the bottom of a cocktail shaker until it is well mashed. Add the blended Scotch, lemon juice and honey syrup, and fill shaker with ice.
Shake until well chilled (about 20 seconds).
Strain into an ice-filled rocks glass (you may wish to double strain through a fine tea strainer to remove the small flecks of ginger), spray a smattering of Islay Scotch over the top and garnish with candied ginger.
THE DARB
2 parks Dewar’s 12 Blended Scotch Whisky
1 part Martini Rossi (Sweet Vermouth)
3 Dashes bittercube Corazon bitters
Garnish with lemon twist
Method:
Stir and strain. Pour into a rocks glass over ice – large cube preferable.
Dewar’s DRAMBLE
1.5 parts Dewar’s 12 Blended Scotch Whisky
.75 parts Lemon juice
.50 parts Simple syrup
.25 parts. Crème du Mure
Blackberry garnish
Method:
Add all ingredients (minus crème de mure) to the glass.
Fill with crushed ice and stir.
Top with more crushed ice and then drizzle crème du mure on top.
Garnish with a fresh blackberry
Aberdeen Angus Egg with a Hickory Stick Coating
Serves 2
Ingredients:
2 hen’s eggs
For the outer layer:
200g Aberdeen Angus Minced Beef (30% fat)
50g breadcrumbs
A generous grating of nutmeg
An equally generous pinch of ground coriander powder
Black pepper and salt
50g finely chopped Scottish black pudding
For the crumb:
100g Sourdough breadcrumbs
1 bag of Hickory Sticks (crushed)
Method:
- Soft-boil the eggs by plunging them into boiling water for exactly 5 minutes before cooling in iced water. Peel them and set them aside.
- Combine the outer layer ingredients, mix thoroughly and chill in the refrigerator.
- Take a quantity of outer-layer mixture, about the same size as the egg, and form around the egg pressing it firmly to keep it all together.
- Roll each egg first in seasoned flour, then in beaten egg, and finally roll in the crumb mixture.
- Deep-fry at 170oC until outer layer is cooked through (approx. 4 mins), drain on kitchen paper and eat while still warm.
Scotch Quail’s Egg with Bacon, Whisky and Ketchup Crisp Crumb
These are surprisingly good. The crisps add a great crunch to the outside. The whisky flavour in the sausage-meat is subtle but present and the addition of smoked paprika, chilli and black pepper lend the whole thing a rather nice a kick. Serves 4
Ingredients:
12 quail’s eggs
For the outer layer:
6 x rashers peameal bacon (finely chopped/minced)
250g/8oz good quality sausage-meat
Pinch smoked paprika
Black pepper
Dash of Dewar’s whisky
Pinch chili powder
For the crumb:
Panko breadcrumbs
Ketchup flavoured crisps, crushed.
Method:
- Soft-boil the eggs by plunging into boiling water for exactly 2 minutes before cooling in iced water before peeling.
- Combine the outer layer ingredients and chill in a fridge fro 30 minutes.
- Take a quantity of outer-layer mixture the same size as the egg and form around the egg.
- Panee by rolling first in seasoned flour, then in beaten egg and finally in the crumb mixture.
- Deep-fry until outer layer is cooked through. It should take about 2-3 mins at 170C but of course it depends on the thickness of the sausage layer.
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