Hairst Bree (Hairst bree)
Overview
Hairst bree, harvest broth, also called hotchpotch, is a Scottish lamb and summer vegetable soup. Neck or shoulder of lamb is simmered slowly in water with salt until the broth is rich and the meat is tender, and the fat is skimmed off. Then as many young garden vegetables as possible are added in turn: diced carrots and turnips, spring onions, broad beans, fresh peas, small florets of cauliflower and finally shredded lettuce. Unlike Scotch broth, it has no barley or dried pulses, so it is light and green. The meat is cut up and returned to the pot, and it is finished with chopped parsley.
History
Hairst is the Scots word for harvest and bree for broth, and the soup was made in late summer, when the kitchen gardens were at their fullest. The Edinburgh writer Meg Dods praised the hotchpotch in her cookery book of 1826, and the Scottish cookery writer F. Marian McNeill recorded it in The Scots Kitchen in 1929 as one of the finest of Scottish soups.
Main ingredients
Lamb neck, peas, broad beans, carrots, cauliflower, lettuce. The soup is built on lamb broth with summer vegetables and is usually served hot. Diet: contains meat; usually gluten-free.
Explore: Bean soups · Lamb soups · More soups from Scotland
Recipe
Method
- 11 h
Simmer the lamb in 2.5 l salted water for 1 hour, skimming off fat and foam.
- 220 min
Add the carrots, turnip and spring onions and cook for 20 minutes.
- 315 min
Add the broad beans, peas and cauliflower and cook for 15 minutes.
- 45 min
Take out the lamb, cut it up and return it with the lettuce for 5 minutes.
- 5
Season and serve with chopped parsley.
- ✓
Serve. About 2h 30m from start to bowl.
Sources
Description, history and recipe written by SoupWiki and checked against the sources above. Calories and times are rough estimates.
