brose

[Matthew Allen Newsome <mnewsome@warren-wilson.edu>]

Poster: Matthew Allen Newsome <mnewsome@warren-wilson.edu>

While we are on the subject of brose, here is the recipe for actual 
brose.  I know it was the staple food of the bothy farmers (mid-1800s to 
the 1930s), but since the Duke of Atholl was using it in an alcoholic 
beverage (Atholl Brose), in the fifteenth century, I guess it's much 
older than the bothy period.  I have no idea just how old it is, though.  
It's basic enough to go waaaaaayy back, in my opinion.
Brose was made pretty much out of oat meal.  Not oatmeal, like you and I 
have for breakfast (Quaker's Maple & Brown Sugar, Apple and Cinnimon-- 
Cimminon, Simmonoin, Cininimon, sorry, Your Majesty :), but this was real 
oat meal.  Just ground oats with no processing.  It was eaten for 
breakfast, and oftentimes lunch and dinner, too.  Lots of people got 
rashes from malnutrition (this was during the bothy period, mind you.  
Not neccesarily any other period in which brose was eaten).
Anyway, here is the recipe, as told to me by Dr. Margaret Bennett.
You would take your cope (a wooden bowl used for making brose), and put 
in some salt (when asked how much, she replied "Oh, a fair amount.")
Then you would add hot water, and fill the bowl with your oat meal (about 
1/2 cup for 1 serving, I estimated).  She stirred it up, and it came out 
a pretty thick consistancy.
She said it was usually eaten with a seperate cup of milk.  You would get 
a spoonful of brose, dip it in the milk, and then eat it.
I actually got to try some.  Rather bland taste.  That one spoonful sat 
with me for a looong while, though.  I could see why you would want to 
eat a bowl of that before spending 12 hours straight on the farm.

Just as a disclaimer, this information comes from a lecture given by Dr. 
Margarett Bennett in Scottish Folklore.  She was speaking of brose in the 
bothy period, and I have no idea how the brose she prepared for us would 
differ from brose within our period (pre-1600).
Aye,
Eogan

=======================================================================
List Archives, FAQ, FTP:  http://sca.wayfarer.org/merryrose/
            Submissions:  atlantia@atlantia.sca.org
        Admin. requests:  majordomo@atlantia.sca.org