Skirlie

Skirlie is one of those wonderful Scottish words that’s just so descriptive. My first introduction to it was when Dad would make it for me on Christmas Day as an alternative to stuffing. It is perfect for this purpose, as well as being good for stirring through mash. The pinhead oatmeal used here can be replaced with medium oatmeal to speed up the cooking time, but I prefer the nutty, toasty bite of the pinhead. You can also just use butter rather than the half butter and half dripping combination, but I think it gives the skirlie a better structure and is a nice authentic throwback flavour. Make sure you add a good grinding of black pepper at the end to really bring it to life.