Stovies

Best Ever Stovies

 

Stovies; the most Scottish of dishes, probably not to be found anywhere else in the world. Made mainly with Beef, Onion and Potatoes, it is the ultimate comfort food dish and perfect for that rainy day where you want some stodge. It is also a dish for a Monday evening, using up leftover roast beef from Sunday dinner the day before. As a leftover dish, it could be compared to the more English speciality of bubble and squeak, but with a meaty difference. Although my title suggests this is the ultimate stovies recipe, I’m sure many will disagree. In fact, it would be hard to find two people with the exact same stovies recipe. It seems to be one of those things that every family does differently- over the years chucking in all sorts found in the cupboards to conjure up their families now longstanding method. I have asked people what they put in theirs and received answers ranging from baked beans, to lorne (or square) sausage, corned beef and even polish sausage! I received a recipe recently from a chef friend of mine which used another unusual, but very British ingredient: HP sauce. I tried it and it worked so well so I’ve added it to my usual method! Remember and always serve stovies topped with pickled beetroot (from a jar) and oatcakes on the side- delicious! Let me know in the comments if you add any unusual ingredients to yours and how my recipe compares….

If you liked my Stovies recipe then try out another classic Scottish recipe for Cullen Skink 

RECIPE

SERVES AROUND 4 (Depends on the amount of beef you have leftover) 

DIFFICULTY LEVEL: Rookie

 

Ingredients:

  • Leftover beef from your roast dinner (Use as much as you want- there should be about the same amount of beef as tatties) I used around 300g 
  • Potatoes, thickly sliced, no need to peel. (Again, judge yourself how many to use- try and aim for half beef and half potatoes) I used around 300g 
  • Beef stock cubes
  • 1 onion, diced
  • Worcestershire sauce
  • 75g grated strong cheddar cheese
  • HP sauce 
  • Butter
  • Salt and Pepper

 

Method:

  1.  Boil the sliced potatoes in beef stock until just about cooked through (if you overcook them they will go really mushy- it’s nice to have some bite still to the potato) 

2. Meanwhile, add the onion to a large pot with a knob of butter and cook over a medium heat until soft (around 5 minutes)

3. Slice the beef into strips or cubes and add to the onion- during the five minutes cooking time is fine. Pour in a good few glugs of Worcestershire sauce (about 4 tablespoons) Season with plenty salt and pepper.

4. Drain the potatoes, keeping some of the stock and add the potatoes into the pan of onions and beef. 

5. Add the cheese, around 5 tablespoons of HP sauce and some of the remaining beef stock.

6. Stir over a high heat to break up the potatoes, melt the cheese and mix it all together. Leave in the pan for a couple of minutes to caramelise the bottom and then stir through, to get crispy golden bits through the stovies. Serve with oatcakes and sliced pickled beetroot! 

Find lots of other Scottish recipes from a fellow Scottish Food Blogger, Foodie Quine.

6 Comments

  1. I’ve never had stovies but they sound like a great way to use up the leftovers from a roast dinner. I like the idea o adding a tin of baked beans to them but maybe that is because we often used to have a baked bean and beef pie on a Monday when I was growing up. I think the beans were to bulk out the pie because there probably wasn’t enough beef left to fill it!

     
  2. Just seen stovies on counyry file, its a no brainer, i must mke this diah 😁

     
  3. Eve Cruickshank

    Finally, now this is stovies as I know them and yes we had them on Monday and used leftovers from Sunday lunch. Didn’t add Worcester sauce though, mum probably hadn’t heard of it ! Also had to have a glass of milk with them traditionally. Great recipe thanks.

     
  4. Eve Cruickshank

    Just noticed you added cheese that never happened !! May try it though.

     

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