Calling all butchers, bakers and dessert makers, The World Cloutie Dumpling Championship is almost upon us! Makers and tasters of Scotland's finest delicacy are set to descend on Fort William for a Cloutie Dumpling cook off on Wednesday 26th August 2009.
Organised by the Homecoming Hub Committee the Championship is the culmination of a ten-week programme of Homecoming events in Lochaber, The Outdoor Capital of the UK. The 'clouts' (cloths) are out, boiled and ironed, aprons at the ready, the flour, oatmeal, sugar, syrup and sultanas measured.
This novel twist to the more traditional past times of Caber Tossing or Haggis Hurling has captured the imagination locally and nationally to the extent that a bagpipe tune has been composed in the Cloutie (pronounced clooty) Dumpling's honour and scores of variations on the theme of the traditional delicacy are anticipated for adjudication.
The 'Cloutie Dumpling' is a traditional Scottish steamed pudding with fruit and spices. Although it is a dessert on the day it is made, while it is still warm, the following days it is normally cut into flat slices and gently fried in a little butter and eaten with fried egg and bacon for breakfast. It's traditionally made for Christmas, Hogmanay and birthdays and used to contain an old silver threepenny or sixpenny coin. The name 'Cloutie' refers to the cloth it is wrapped and cooked in.
The rules are simple. With so many recipes around the exact mix of ingredients, to be wrapped up in the obligatory square piece of cotton or linen cloth before cooking, is being left entirely to the competitors. However the finished Cloutie Dumpling should be no bigger than a large dinner plate - and no smaller than a side plate! The only other instruction is that the submitted dumpling should be left whole - and not cut up into slices.
Lochaber Provost, Allan Henderson, Hector MacLean of Lochaber Burns Club and Brian Gunn, Lochaber College Training chef, will form the panel of local 'Cloutie Dumpling Tasters and Testers' as the judges on the day. Their criteria will revolve round 'first impressions', and colour, aroma, texture and taste.
All entries are required to be delivered to the Training Kitchen of Lochaber College, Fort William, between 3pm and 5pm on Wednesday 26 August, where the cloutie dumplings will be transferred onto dinner plates or side plates provided by the college kitchen.
The adjudication will take place that evening, at the final Lochaber Homecoming Hub Ceilidh at 7.30pm. All the participants will be warmly invited to stay for the Ceilidh. And, after the judges have made their decision, the intention is to cut the Cloutie Dumplings up so that everyone can have a taste!
Highland Councillor Donald Cameron, a member of the Homecoming Hub committee, is thrilled with the initial response to hiscall for Clouties saying; ' The Cloutie Dumpling is one of Scotland's greatest national dishes enjoyed the world over. We have an expert panel on hand to judge the delicate variations in taste and texture with every entry guaranteed to be a treat!'
Entry forms and guidance notes are available from various outlets in and around Fort William, including the Homecoming Hub at Lochaber College, Ben Nevis Distillery, Ben Nevis Book Corner, Lochaber Rural Education Trust at Torlundy, Wynne the Butchers, or by emailing morag.maclean2@highland.gov.uk. Entrants can also call 01397-874204 for further information.
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