The Scottish Kitchen

Christopher Trotter

When one picks up a book with a title as authoritative, as definitive, as The Scottish Kitchen, one rather expects the pages between the covers to be authoritative and definitive, but also traditional. Trotter does, generally, keep to the mandate, though some of these recipes do veer off to the side and into cuisines that arrived on the coattails of immigrants over the years. That aside, the book is lavishly, and wonderfully, illustrated, and Trotter's comments are pointed and lively (too much so, sometimes; one wishes for an editor who'd mentioned that toning down one's use of exclamation points is usually a good thing). And, of course, there is a haggis recipe.

Lovely to look at, and fun to cook with.