How to spend a Saturday in winter

Who says crofting is all work? The Other Half and the Wee ‘Un relax on the sofa in the festively decorated snug after morning tea, while…

…the Big Lad loafs in his bean bag. Guess who does not have a comfy spot?

Put them together, and you have breakfast

Now that you know how to make hash browns, sausage gravy and soda biscuits, it’s time to get complicated. Prepare all of those, plus scrambled eggs (eggs and a little butter, that’s it) and coffee, then have the entire ensemble ready to be served at the same time. The hash browns take the longest, the soda biscuits have to be out cooling five minutes before everything else is ready, the sausage gravy has to be cooked through with no flouriness, and the scrambled eggs have to be just done. And when you can do that for six separate breakfast orders, I might just offer you a job as a short-order cook.

Soda biscuits

Soda biscuits are a versatile addition to a cooked breakfast, working well under sausage gravy, scrambled eggs, baked beans, slices of black pudding and fried tomato, and more. Tip two cups of plain flour into a basin, add a good pinch of salt and two heaped teaspoons of baking powder, rub in a tablespoon of lard (best) or butter, and then gradually mix in about a cup of milk to create a smooth, elastic batter. Ideally, you’d use bicarbonate of soda and buttermilk to make the biscuits rise, but buttermilk can be hard to find - at least in the UK.

Sausage gravy

A delicious, filling and warming addition to a cooked breakfast is sausage gravy. Cook 250g of sausage forcemeat in a heavy frying pan over a moderate heat, breaking the forcemeat up with a wooden spoon. When the meat is browned and the fat has run out (this recipe does not work with lean pork), add two tablespoons of flour to the pan and fry until lightly browned, stirring frequently.