Saturday, March 20, 2010

Scotland's for me

I would like to preface the following by saying that I love Scotland. It's pretty much my favourite place on Earth, and so the last thing I would want to do is reinforce any negative stereotypes you may harbour against that great nation.

However. While spending last weekend in Fife (attending Fence's lovely Homegame festival), not only did I witness my first drunken, bloody fistfight and taste my first lager top (delicious), I also ate my own bodyweight in pastry-based goods and hastened the heart attack which is creeping slowly but inexorably closer with every pie that passes my lips. But who cares about that when it's all so very tasty? First, there was the obligatory fish supper from the Anstruther Fish Bar: fresh fish caught by local fishermen in a crisp, delicious batter washed down with a can of Irn Bru from what is officially one of the country's best chipshops is a treat which no one should deny themselves.

Then there's Fisher and Donaldson. Oh my. If I were to single out one thing that Scotland does better than anyone else, it would have to be their bakeries. Sure, some people might argue in favour of the French on this point, and perhaps they'd have a fairly strong case, but it certainly wasn't the French who realised the potential of encasing macaroni cheese in shortcrust pastry. And if, in some bizarre apocalyptic scenario which I can't quite imagine the details of right now, I was forced on pain of death to eat only one type of sweet baked good for the rest of my existence, I would have no trouble at all settling on Fisher and Donaldson's fudge doughnuts. That is, a doughnut, filled with vanilla custard, and topped with fudge icing. Gosh. I have seen various versions of this in Scottish bakeries, but none seem as soft or as fresh or as overwhelmingly more-ish as Fisher and Donaldson's. Definitely worth making a detour for if you are ever in the area (and by "the area", I mean Scotland or its vicinity.)