Clootie is a traditional Scottish dessert pudding made in a cloth, often served on special occasions, and passed down from generation to generation. The recipe includes flour, dried currants, and minced beef tenderloin, but can be made vegetarian. It is cooked like a dumpling and can be served sweet or savory.
A clootie is a traditional Scottish dessert pudding. This dessert gets its name from the cloot, or cloth, it is prepared in. It is often served on special occasions, such as Christmas, birthdays and Burns Night. It is a recipe that has been passed down from generation to generation. It’s more common in Scottish households for the older generation, such as grandparents, to be tasked with making the clootie, as it’s a somewhat complicated recipe and takes some time to master.
In a 2003 survey of 6,000 people by Food Trust Scotland, clootie was named as one of the top 10 traditional Scottish foods. This dessert was made on special occasions and is specifically known as a birthday tradition. Part of the birthday tradition was to have the whole family mash, or skelp, the dough into the cloot so it formed a nice round shape. Being the last person to slap was reserved for the birthday boy or girl. Wrapped coins were placed in clooties before cooking.
Clootie can be made with a variety of different ingredients. The traditional recipe includes flour, dried currants and minced beef tenderloin. Sugar, eggs, milk and molasses are also essential. The animal fat in beef tenderloin can be replaced with vegetable fat to make this dessert edible for vegetarians. Different spices and fruits can also be experimented with in this versatile recipe. It can be made sweet or savory by serving it with butter and jam or tomatoes and bacon, respectively.
The recipe for clootie dates back to when the modern stove was invented. In those days, most food was prepared over an open flame in a large pot. This dessert was no exception and can still be prepared this way today. The ingredients are mixed together and wrapped in a cloth, or cloot, which is first dipped in boiling water and sprinkled with flour. Some space should be left in the cloot to allow the dessert to expand before it is tightly sealed with string.
Clootie is referred to as a pudding or dumpling. The dumpling is an accurate way to describe it, as it is cooked like a dumpling. The dessert, wrapped in clover, is cooked in boiling water for about three and a half hours. Once the time is up, the cloth is removed and the dumpling is placed in front of the fire or in an oven to dry.
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