A Grand Tour by Soup: Scotland's Cock-a-Leekie and Scottish Baps

So the Grand Soup Tour has moved up into Scotland and although I have chosen to make a Cock-a-Leekie soup, I was quite undecided over which of the traditional Scottish soups to choose. Cullen Skink* which is a wonderful sustaining soup made with smoked haddock and potatoes is a favourite of mine and also on a fish theme, I love crab and whisky soup, similar to Partan Bree a cream of crab soup. The more basic scotch broth, which combines mutton, pearl barley and vegetables is one I have never made, as I'm not a fan of the texture of pearl barley in soups.

However, chicken soup in any guise is just perfect for damp autumn weather, and as we are having rather a lot of the clinging cold damp at the moment Cock-a-Leekie it was.

This soup might otherwise pass as a fairly standard combination of chicken and leeks, but it also includes prunes which I have always been rather puzzled by, even a little alarmed. I like prunes but I never view them as natural partners to an otherwise mild flavoured soup. When you see sweet fruits combined with meat or fish there are usually some balancing flavours such as saltiness, sourness or strong spicing; I'm thinking of curry dishes, tagines and chutneys where the sweetness is not allowed to overwhelm. That said there are classical french dishes of both pork and rabbit cooked with prunes but with no disrespect intended to tradition I have modified the 'prune element' of my recipe to appear as a 'Devils on Horseback' side/accompaniment rather than just dropping whole prunes into my soup.

Bacon is normally used to make a devil on horseback. The semi soft and stoned prune is wrapped in bacon which is then fried and served hot as a canape.  If you do this with anything but very thinly sliced bacon you can end up with some rather flabby bacon fat hidden in the middle which I find a bit off putting, so I opt to make them with a slice of cured  ham in the form of speck instead.

Here is a detailed article from Nigel Slater on making the traditional Devil on Horseback. My version which uses just a small amount of speck instead of bacon takes very little time to crisp up in a hot pan so the cooking of these can be left to the last minute which means they are served at their best. Even if they are double wrapped the cooking time is still very short.

Many cock-a-leekie soup recipes assume you are going to poach a whole chicken and use most of the meat and broth for the soup, but if you only want to serve your soup as a starter then just including some of the poached chicken meat will work fine. It does not have to be a whole chicken, just a poached chicken leg joint will be plenty for a couple of portions of soup but the best tasting broth will come from a slowly poached whole chicken. I would not try this with just a breast of chicken joint as there will not be the desired depth of flavour in the poaching liquid. Some recipes also include large pieces of stewing beef in the broth but I'm sticking with chicken. There also seems to be a difference of opinion on the addition of a starch to the soup with some calling for potato, rice or pearl barley while others do not add any at all. I favour adding cooked rice.

I have made this soup of couple of times this week. The first batch was made from leftover roast chicken joints (bones and small amounts of chicken meat) which was good but gave a less flavourful stock than the second batch made from a whole slowly poached chicken and I give that version here:

Ingredients
3-4 medium leeks cleaned, green tops separated from white stems
1 whole chicken approx. 1.5kg
1 medium carrot,peeled and cut into 2-3 pieces
1 bay leaves
2 sprigs thyme
5-6 whole black peppercorns
salt

40g long grain white rice, cooked in salted water and drained

couple of knobs of butter

1 stoned/pitted prunes (Agen prunes are well flavoured) and a half rasher of speck ham per person

2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley

Method
1. Chop the green part of the leeks into chunks and place in a large saucepan with the whole chicken, carrot, bay leaf and thyme and black peppercorns.

2. Cover with (approx. 2.5 litres) water, lightly salt the water and bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer and cook very gently for 2-3 hours, skimming any scum that rises to the surface at the beginning. You are aiming to poach the chicken until the meat is almost falling apart but you should still be able to lift the bird out whole from the poaching pan. The cooking time will depend on the size of the bird, how tender it was and how gently you are able to cook it. Gentle poaching will result in a clearer broth. You can cook the bird in advance/day before, but it will be easier to remove the skin and bones while it is still warm.

3. While the chicken is poaching cook the rice in salted water until just tender, drain off any liquid.

4. Prepare the devils on horseback by wrapping each stoned prune in the speck ham and secure with a wooden cocktail stick/food pick. If your prunes were bought with the stones in you may need to soften them for a while in warm water to make it easier to remove the pits. Set aside.

5. When the chicken is cooked, carefully remove the bird from the stock onto a board that will hold any excess stock that drains away as you prepare the cooked meat, most meat carving boards have a deep lip around them that will catch any liquid.

6. Remove the skin and bones and cut the meat up into large pieces, or cut up as least as much of the meat as you wish to use for the soup. You may wish to keep some back for another purpose if the soup is just a starter rather than a main course.

7. Strain the stock into a jug or bowl to remove the vegetables and herbs and skim off any excess fat.

8. Chop the white part of the leeks into approx. 2cm lengths and place in a pan large enough to eventually hold all of the soup. Add in a knob of butter and sweat the leeks gently until just starting to soften.

9. Add enough of the chicken broth to just cover the leeks, and simmer until they are perfectly tender. Leeks always catch me out by taking longer to cook than I expected, perhaps I buy tough leeks or keep too much of the coarser outer leaf on. If yours are tender and well trimmed this may only take 5-10 minutes, but it may take longer. You don't want that squeaky crunchy texture of undercooked leeks, they need to be tender.

10. Now add in the chopped chicken meat, the cooked rice and enough of the broth for the number of portions you want to serve and gently reheat all together. Taste for seasoning and add any additional salt and pepper.

11. When the soup is all heated through and seasoning checked heat a small non-stick frying pan with a knob of butter in and quickly fry the ‘devils’ until crisp and lightly brown on both sides.

12. Ladle the soup into warmed bowls distributing the chicken and leek evenly. Sprinkle some of the chopped parsley onto each bowl and place the crisp ‘devil’ on the side of the bowl, or on a side dish.

13. Serve with fresh bread and note the sense of tranquillity that will follow as everyone lets go of what they were thinking about to just enjoy the deeply nourishing bowl of soup before them.

These floury baps are made from a Dan Leppard recipe which has been posted by the Guardian. I have made them several times and always had good results. The recipe includes some cornflour as well as the  normal white bread flour. To get maximum flavour the initial sponge is allowed to rise for a few hours and can also be left overnight.

These baps bake to a soft tender crust and make excellent rolls for bacon butties/baps.


A Little History and the next destination

According to Alan Davidson in the Oxford Companion to Food, this soup in its current form dates back to the 18th century but there was a medieval version that contained onions and prunes/raisins. There has apparently been divided opinion on the prunes which is hardly surprising. Andrew Web in his book Food Britannia suggests the addition of prunes might have been a French Influence which brings me neatly on to my next country in the grand tour which is of course France. There have been very strong alliances between Scotland and France over the years with the Auld Alliance in place from 1295-1560. The Scottish and French would support each other in war, often against England. I had also often wondered the about the origins of the Scottish dish of collops, which is apparently from the french escalope.

So with a rather heavy heart after learning of the terrorist killings in Paris this week, the soup tour travels to France, for Potage Crécy. I live in hope that what we hold dear will serve to unite rather than divide us. Throughout my life people from other countries and beliefs have shared with me their love of good food, and shown me the greatest hospitality, and I hold that very dear. For me soup and bread are a symbol of that shared humanity.

* Cullen is the name of a seaside town in the Moray area of  North East Scotland. Skink is a Scottish word for a knuckle or shin of beef and also used for a broth made with shin of beef. So this is a fish version of that soup.