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Kale Brose
Take an ox-heel, cleanse it thoroughly, and pour over it five pints of water. Bring it to a boil, remove the scum as it rises, and let it simmer gently for four hours. Meanwhile take two large handfuls of greens; cleanse, and free them from insects, then shred them very finely. Put them into the broth; and when sufficiently cooked, stir half a pint of toasted oatmeal into a little of the fat broth. It should be stirred with the handle of a spoon, and very quickly, so as not to run into one mass, but to form knots. Add it to the rest, with salt and pepper to taste, let all boil up together, and serve as hot as possible. Probable cost, 1s. 6d. Sufficient for six persons.
A Scottish one-pot broth built on a gelatinous cut and toasted oatmeal. The hinge is the oatmeal: it goes in dry, in a thin stream, stirred fast into a ladleful of the fat broth so it sets into small knots rather than a paste.
- Ox-heelThe lower leg and foot of the ox, sold as cow heel and prized for the gelatine it gives the broth rather than for its meat. Ask a halal or Caribbean butcher, who will usually have it split; otherwise use about 2 lb of oxtail or beef shin with a split calf's foot for body.
- Imperial measuresFive imperial pints is 100 fl oz, roughly 2.8 litres or about 12 US cups. Half an imperial pint of oatmeal, measured by volume, is about 1 1/4 US cups, or roughly 6 to 7 oz by weight.
- The oatmealUse pinhead (steel-cut) or coarse medium oatmeal, not rolled oats or instant, which dissolve. Toast it dry in a heavy pan over medium heat until it smells nutty and colours lightly, about 5 minutes, and let it cool before it meets the liquid.
- Making knotsLadle a cupful of the hot fat-slicked broth into a bowl, then trickle the oatmeal in while stirring hard with the handle end of a wooden spoon. The handle is not affectation: the narrow shaft keeps the meal moving in threads rather than smearing it smooth.
- The greens"Greens" here means curly kale, traditionally cut after the first frost, which sweetens it. Two large handfuls is roughly 8 oz trimmed; strip the ribs and shred the leaf as fine as the recipe insists, or it will not cook through in the time the broth has left.
- TimingFour hours of gentle simmering suits the heel. Modern kale needs only 10 to 15 minutes in the broth; add it near the end, then finish with the oatmeal for a few minutes more.
- Skimming and fatSkim the scum in the first twenty minutes, but do not degrease the broth entirely. The oatmeal needs the fat to form knots, and the dish is meant to be rich and unstrained.
- YieldSix bowls, as the original states. Serve immediately; the knots soften and the broth thickens to porridge on standing.
Brose is the Scots word for a dish made by pouring boiling liquid over dry oatmeal and stirring rather than cooking it, distinct from porridge, which is simmered. Kale brose belongs to the same frugal tradition as Scotch broth: a cheap gelatinous cut, a long simmer, whatever greens the kailyard held through winter, and oatmeal to make it a meal. Kale is associated with Hallowe'en customs in the north-east of Scotland, where it stood in the garden as the last reliable vegetable and was cut sweeter after frost. The costing at 1s. 6d. for six people makes the point plainly enough for a Victorian household watching its money.