How to cook a cow's cheek and make a pate

A shop in a lane off the main pedestrian street in Dumfries, specialising in game and fish, also sells cheeks. No doubt they are also available from good local butchers, such as those in the food town of Castle Douglas.

This is an unusual dish these days but the Victorians were very fond of it. The cookery writer in Cassell's Family Magazine explained to readers in 1891 how to prepare cheek. She quoted a “Mrs Blakemore” who was always on hand to give advice to “Mrs Tomlin,” who had only been married for six months.

“Now about the cheek,” Mrs Blakemore went on, “That wants several hours' soaking in salt and water to remove the blood; then, by adding plenty of weak stock for gravy, and a good supply of vegetables and herbs, you may get a tureen of soup, and plenty of meat for dinner, with, as I said, some left over for potting.

She then went on to explain how to pot the meat, today we would call this a pate. “I always cut up the meat into inch squares, and season it well with salt and pepper, powdered mixed herbs, and allspice, and add an equal amount of something of a gelatinous nature, such as a cow's or calf's foot, or some ears and feet from the humble porker – all thoroughly boiled, of course; you must pack it closely into your mould, with a very little of the stock from the feet, then turn it out the next day. I forgot to say that it is much better to cut up the meat when warm.”

I hae min 'o

Some time during the 1960s a typewritten book of memories and stories about old Wigtown was compiled. The book includes sections headed “I have min o” or “I remember.” These were obviously the memories of long-time Wigtown residents. Here are some selections.

People often ate rabbit pie, sometimes with mutton in it. They grew their own vegetables and got gifts of fruit from the gardens of the big houses in the town.
On Sundays, food was a little special. In some houses that meant half an egg with the breakfast porridge; in others, it meant bacon and egg, porridge, and toast.
Ordinary folk had their main meal at noon and called it “dinner.” The gentry called that meal “lunch” and had a knife and fork tea. No one called an evening meal “dinner.” Better off people had damask tablecloths.
When the father was paid, a big ham end would be bought. For a special treat, a man had “a pint at the week-end.” As families were large and wages were small, few could afford more than that one pint a week. People baked a lot at home. Tattie scones were popular.
Farmers' wives bought eggs and butter to the town grocers to sell on Saturdays. Farmers had their own pigs and did their own curing. They also made “bleedy” puddings and white puddings. Farmers' children had bacon and eggs regularly, not just on Sundays.
On Sunday nights, children were given “a piece [sandwich] and milk” away to bed with them.
On New Year's Day there was bacon and egg for breakfast, a “fattened” fowl for dinner, and homemade ginger wine to drink.

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Here's how to make tattie scones: Ingredients – One pound of potatoes, two level teaspoons of salt, four ounces of flour, two ounces of butter.

Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water for 20 minutes then drain and mash well. Add the butter and the salt, then work in a little flour to give a stiff dough. Turn onto a floured board and roll out to half an inch thick. Cut into three-inch rounds and fry in a lightly greased pan for five minutes each side. Serve buttered while still warm.