Louise Gray

Environmental journalist

My Dad gave me this for Christmas one year and it’s a great reference book if I want to recreate dishes from my childhood. Some of my favourite memories of food are my grandmothers’ cooking which tended to be simple Scottish fare: lamb broth, drop scones, fried herring, porridge and proper marmalade. Scotland has a reputation for bad food and we do have some fabulously unhealthy junk food. But we also have some of the best produce in the world and know the best ways to cook them. Because these recipes are historic, they tend to use ingredients in season at the same time, which is also useful.