In certain districts in Scotland some of the old time
festivals were celebrated by partaking of dishes that were
considered peculiar to the season. They had been handed
down from generation to generation as the only fit and
proper way of celebrating the festivals. As these festivals
are changing or dying out it may interest many to have at
least the memory of them preserved in some account of the
dishes associated with them.
177
Yule Sowens. — On Auld Yule Eve, that is the night of
the 4th of January, in the north-east of Scotland, the mystic
hour of that sacred night was wont to be celebrated with a
bowl of sowens. Each of the assembled household and
guests, from the number of bowls filled with sowens, chose
the one they thought might contain one of the prizes, for
secretly before this the guidwife had placed the ring, the
threepenny, the button, and the thimble ; and amongst the
young folks the conveted prize was, of course, the ring, and
happy was the maid or youth who got the ring ; it meant
their marriage before another Yule. Thin sowens at Yule
meant a poor crop next year. It was therefore important
that due care should be had in the cooking least a careless
hand should bode ill for the year that was beginning.
How to make Sowens. — Sowens became famous at
the siege of Mafeking, for amongst the besieged there wai a
certain Aberdonian who remembered the dish of his youth
and how to prepare it. He found in some of the mills a
quantity of the siftings from the meal that had been thrown
aside in the days of plenty, and of this he made sowens, and
so greatly helped to pass through the days of famine.
Sowens is made from the husks sifted from oatmeal after
it is ground. These husks with the fine particles of meal
still adhering are called meal-seeds. The way to prepare
the sfnvens is to steep these in water in a large jar or barrel
till they become sour. By this time the particles of meal
have dissolved. The whole is then stirred well together and
the husks are then separated from the fluid by a fine sieve.
This milky fluid which remains is the sowens. It is allowed
to settle, the sowens forming a fine paste at the bottom and
the sf)ur water rising to the top. 'I'he sour water is then
[Kjured off and clean water added. By pouring off the water
occasi(»nally and adding fresh water the store of sowens will
keep for a long time and be ready for cooking at any time,
d'he same result, of course, can be attained at any time
without meal-seeds by sinqily steeping fine oatmeal for a few
days anfl carrying it through the same ])rocess. But the old
time way with the meal seeds was, of course, more economical
in the (lays of scarcity, and it used to be the only recognised
meth(Kl of making sowens.
M
178
How to cook Drinking Sowens. — Yule sowenswhen
prepared resembled good cream in colour and thickness.
The method of cooking was to have the sowens paste
reduced by water till about the thickness of new milk, and
to warm it in a pail placed in a pot of boiling water, care
being taken to prevent knotting by active stirring. When
little over blood-heat or about half between that and boiling-
point the dish was ready. It was usually sweetened with
syrup, and before the days of syru[) it is said to have been
served with a little butter.
Page 81
Presented as published in 1904. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
In certain districts in Scotland some of the old time festivals were celebrated by partaking of dishes that were considered peculiar to the season. They had been handed down from generation to generation as the only fit and proper way of celebrating the festivals. As these festivals are changing or dying out it may interest many to have at least the memory of them preserved in some account of the dishes associated with them.
Yule Sowens. — On Auld Yule Eve, that is the night of the 4th of January, in the north-east of Scotland, the mystic hour of that sacred night was wont to be celebrated with a bowl of sowens. Each of the assembled household and guests, from the number of bowls filled with sowens, chose the one they thought might contain one of the prizes, for secretly before this the guidwife had placed the ring, the threepenny, the button, and the thimble ; and amongst the young folks the conveted prize was, of course, the ring, and happy was the maid or youth who got the ring ; it meant their marriage before another Yule. Thin sowens at Yule meant a poor crop next year. It was therefore important that due care should be had in the cooking least a careless hand should bode ill for the year that was beginning.
How to make Sowens. — Sowens became famous at the siege of Mafeking, for amongst the besieged there wai a certain Aberdonian who remembered the dish of his youth and how to prepare it. He found in some of the mills a quantity of the siftings from the meal that had been thrown aside in the days of plenty, and of this he made sowens, and so greatly helped to pass through the days of famine.
Sowens is made from the husks sifted from oatmeal after it is ground. These husks with the fine particles of meal still adhering are called meal-seeds. The way to prepare the sowens is to steep these in water in a large jar or barrel till they become sour. By this time the particles of meal have dissolved. The whole is then stirred well together and the husks are then separated from the fluid by a fine sieve. This milky fluid which remains is the sowens. It is allowed to settle, the sowens forming a fine paste at the bottom and the sour water rising to the top. The sour water is then [Kjured off and clean water added. By pouring off the water occasionally and adding fresh water the store of sowens will keep for a long time and be ready for cooking at any time, d'he same result, of course, can be attained at any time without meal-seeds by simply steeping fine oatmeal for a few days anfl carrying it through the same ])rocess. But the old time way with the meal seeds was, of course, more economical in the days of scarcity, and it used to be the only recognised method of making sowens.
M
How to cook Drinking Sowens. — Yule sowenswhen prepared resembled good cream in colour and thickness. The method of cooking was to have the sowens paste reduced by water till about the thickness of new milk, and to warm it in a pail placed in a pot of boiling water, care being taken to prevent knotting by active stirring. When little over blood-heat or about half between that and boilingpoint the dish was ready. It was usually sweetened with syrup, and before the days of syru[) it is said to have been served with a little butter.