Author: minceandskirlie

Writer, poet, musician, and sometime IT professional in the North East of Scotland.
Thoughts

Miltonduff and Provenance Knockando Whisky

minceandskirlie

It’s been a while since I posted anything about booze on here. Partly because I don’t keep it around long enough to take pictures of it! But also because I don’t feel like I can talk about booze the same way I can talk about food. There are hundreds of fantastic beer, whisky and wine writers out there who can describe what they’re drinking with beautiful, descriptive prose. I’m not one of them.

However I can tell you what I like. Which might be enough for this blog. With that in mind I’d like to tell you about a couple of whiskys I’ve been supping over the last few weeks. Continue reading “Miltonduff and Provenance Knockando Whisky” →

News

A blogging birthday!

minceandskirlie

Mince and Skirlie is one year old this week! Happy birthday to us! It’s been a busy, eventful year full of great food, awesome drinks, good restaurants (and a few bad ones) and a lot of fun.

I love writing this blog but even more I love the fact that other people enjoy reading it.

Thanks to everyone who reads the recipes, reviews, thoughts and rubbish that I post and a special thanks to those of you that take the time to let me know what you think in the comments section!

Some stats for the first year:

There’s been 113 posts across 7 categories with 655 tags and 187 comments.

The blog’s had 9460 views with the busiest day being 530 views on August 8th (a massive, stumbleupon boosted record).

Average hits per day is 31.

The most popular recipe on the blog is for stovies.

Food and drink

Steak and ale pie

minceandskirlie

When I think of the food I enjoy the most it always seems dishes that involve chunks of meat cooked for a long time in boozy liquid are the ones that come to mind. A lamb shank cooked in red wine for a couple of hours or those French classics beef bourguignon and coq au vin. Any dish that involves moist meat which just falls apart without needing a knife and a thick, rich sauce which you can only get from a couple of hours of slow cooking is a winner. The only way you can make that better is by sticking some pastry on top of it. Continue reading “Steak and ale pie” →

Food and drink

Rosemary meatballs in tomato sauce

minceandskirlie

I set aside a load of time yesterday for my first attempt at making my own beef stock. Unfortunately my plan was scuppered by Morrison’s not having any bones left (they had some in the morning apparently) and the butchers being closed due to illness. I had the time to spare so it would be a shame not to spend it cooking something. We have a flourishing rosemary bush in the garden and there was some good mince on the shelf in front of me which made think that meatballs would be a good idea. Continue reading “Rosemary meatballs in tomato sauce” →

Food and drink

Piri Piri Chicken

minceandskirlie

A few years ago we went on holiday in Portugal and the country introduced us to the awesome flavour of piri piri chicken. Since then we’ve subsisted on bottles of Nando’s marinade. Which is tasty enough but it’s not the same flavour I tasted over there.

This year’s chilli harvest has been a bit neglected and we now have a massive glut of slightly dried out, fiery red bird’s-eye chillies and some big green jalapenos. I thought of the perfect dish to use some of them up! Old trusty google brought up a few results; the tastiest looking was Jamie Oliver’s from his 30 minute meals series. Especially good for an evening when we also had an appointment with a potential wedding venue so time was tight. Continue reading “Piri Piri Chicken” →