crowdie

Rob searches for a closer connection to his family members, hoping to understand their self-sustaining way of life, including fishing for herring, cooking over peat fires and making crowdie cheese.

Instead I'd suggest starting slowly with oatcakes and crowdie cheese to line your stomach against excessive celebration or commiseration later on.

Crowdie, a cream cheese thought to have been introduced by the Vikings, is harder to get outside Scotland; you can substitute Quark at a pinch, but whichever you use it's even nicer whizzed up into a quick pate with some smoked fish, a squeeze of lemon and some black pepper.

Scotch Crowdie.—Boil one pound of oatmeal one hour in four quarts of any kind of pot-liquor, stirring often enough to prevent burning; season with one tablespoonful of salt, a level saltspoonful of pepper, one ounce of butter, and serve with plenty of bread.

The pot-au-feu of France and Switzerland, the olla podrida of Spain, the borsch of Poland, the tschi of Russia, the macaroni of Italy, the crowdie of Scotland, all are practical examples of this fact.