Savoring the Flavors: 18th-Century Scottish and Irish Cuisine
If you’re curious about what people actually ate in 18th-century Scotland and Ireland, the answer might surprise you. Geography, climate, necessity, and resourcefulness shaped the cuisine of the time, far from the stereotypical image of “peasant food.” Some of the dishes served in the 1700’s are still eaten today. While researching my books To Condemn a Witch and To Rescue a Witch, I was lucky enough to travel to Scotland twice and sample some of the cuisine. (I already knew Irish cuisine thanks to my grandma.)
How Geography & Climate Shaped the Table
Both Scotland and Ireland faced harsh weather and rugged terrain, which had a huge influence on what ingredients were available and how they were prepared. People ate what the land and sea could offer, including oats, barley, potatoes, cabbage, dairy products, root vegetables, or meats like fish and game.
Scottish Fare
Some classic Scottish dishes and ingredients include:
- Haggis – A savory pudding made from sheep’s offal, oatmeal, and spices, now considered the national dish of Scotland. When I went to Scotland the first time, I was pretty nervous to try this, but it was pretty tasty.
- Scotch broth & Cullen skink – Hearty soups made with barley, root vegetables, lamb, or smoked fish, like haddock. I specifically ordered Cullen skink because the name tickled me. As with the haggis above, the rest of my family waited for me to try it first. It tastes like a creamy clam chowder and was delicious. I’ve made it at home ever since.
- Barmbrack – Sweet bread made with fruit. On Samhain (All Hallow’s Eve) people would back fortune-telling items into it. If your slice held a coin—you’d be rich; a ring—you’d be the first to be wed; but if you got a thimble—you’d die a spinster!
Cuisine was a fun way to include tradition and historical accuracy into my book To Rescue a Witch. During the fire festival of Samhain, William MacLeod proposes to Fiona with a ring he strategically hide in a slice of barmbrack.
Irish Cooking: Potatoes, please!
Irish cuisine in the 18th century was equally shaped by necessity — and there’s one crop that changed everything: the potato. Introduced from the Americas and quickly embraced for its hardiness and nutrition, potatoes became the backbone of Irish sustenance by the mid-1700s.
Some hallmark Irish dishes rooted in this era include:
- Irish Stew – A humble, long-simmered dish of mutton or lamb (later beef), potatoes, and onions. It’s one of the most enduring and beloved traditional meals in Ireland. My Irish grandma (the cute one in the picture above) used to make this for us all the time growing up, and there were never any leftovers because it was that good!
- Colcannon – Creamy mashed potatoes blended with cabbage or kale. I was decidedly not a fan of anything with cabbage. I hated the smell and the texture of it. But plain, old mashed potatoes? Give that to me every day and twice on Sunday.
- Brown soda bread & boxty – Breads and pancakes that used simple, affordable ingredients like flour, baking soda, and potatoes.
Irish cooking in the 18th century often revolved around stewing and one-pot cooking — techniques that stretched minimal ingredients into filling meals and were perfect for communal tables and long winter evenings.
Common Threads Between the Two Traditions
Scottish and Irish cuisines, despite their unique identities, exhibit shared characteristics. These include the use of local, simple ingredients, hearty soups and stews for warmth, and comparable preservation techniques like smoking, salting, and drying that people employed before the invention of refrigerators.
And of course, sharing a tale about the fae folk over meals.
The flavors of 18th-century Scotland and Ireland were born out of resilience — transforming humble ingredients into dishes we still enjoy today. This post focused on food, but don’t worry—I’ll cover whiskey and Guinness in another post closer to Saint Patrick’s Day.
Lisa
P.S. – I’ll be sharing more about Celtic culture and history in person this year!
I’ll be at the North Texas Irish Festival in Dallas (https://www.ntif.org/) on March 6, 7 and 8, and at the San Antonio Highland Games and Celtic Music Festival (https://www.sahga.org/) on March 28 & 29. I’m tentatively speaking at the San Antonio festival – more details coming soon. Come say hi, and savor the heritage with me!
