A bridie or Forfar bridie is a Scottish

meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...

pasty A pasty () is a British baked pastry, a traditional variety of which is particularly associated with Cornwall, South West England, but has spread all over the British Isles. It is made by placing an uncooked filling, typically meat and vegetab ...

that originates from

Forfar Forfar ( sco, Farfar, gd, Baile Fharfair) is the county town of Angus, Scotland and the administrative centre for Angus Council, with a new multi-million pound office complex located on the outskirts of the town. As of 2021, the town has a p ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

History and preparation

Bridies are said "to have been 'invented' by a Forfar baker in the 1850s".Gow, Rosalie. ''Modern Ways with Traditional Scottish Recipes''. Pelican Publishing, 1981. p. 30. . The name may refer to the pie's frequent presence on wedding menus, or to Margaret Bridie of Glamis, "who sold them at the Buttermarket in Forfar". Bakers in Forfar traditionally use

shortcrust pastry Shortcrust pastry is a type of pastry often used for the base of a tart, quiche, pie, or (in the British English sense) flan. Shortcrust pastry can be used to make both sweet and savory pies such as apple pie, quiche, lemon meringue or chicken ...

for their bridies, but in other parts of Scotland,

flaky pastry Flaky pastry, also known as quick pastry, blitz pastry or rough puff, is a light and thin unleavened pastry that is similar to, but distinct from, puff pastry. It is often called quick pastry or blitz pastry in reference to the short time its pre ...

is sometimes substituted. The filling of a bridie consists of

minced Mincing is a food preparation technique in which food ingredients are finely divided into uniform pieces. Minced food is in smaller pieces than diced or chopped foods, and is often prepared with a chef's knife or food processor, or in the case of ...

steak A steak is a thick cut of meat generally sliced across the muscle fibers, sometimes including a bone. It is normally grilled or fried. Steak can be diced, cooked in sauce, such as in steak and kidney pie, or minced and formed into patties, ...

, butter, and beef

suet Suet is the raw, hard fat of beef, lamb or mutton found around the loins and kidneys. Suet has a melting point of between 45 °C and 50 °C (113 °F and 122 °F) and congelation between 37 °C and 40 °C (98.6&nbs ...

seasoned with salt and pepper. It is sometimes made with minced

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion ...

s. Before being baked, the bridie's filling is placed on pastry dough, which is then folded into a semi-circular shape; finally, the edges are crimped. If the baker pokes one hole in the top of a bridie, this indicates that it is plain, or without onions; two holes means that it does contain onions, a convention which is applied also to a

Scotch pie A Scotch pie or mutton pie is a small, double-crust meat pie, traditionally filled with minced mutton but now generally beef, sometimes lamb. It may also be known as a shell pie or mince pie (although the latter term is ambiguous) to different ...

Cultural references

The bridie is the subject of the

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

Scots

shibboleth A shibboleth (; hbo, , šībbōleṯ) is any custom or tradition, usually a choice of phrasing or even a single word, that distinguishes one group of people from another. Shibboleths have been used throughout history in many societies as passwor ...

, "''Gie iz twa bridies, a plen ane an ingin ane an aa''" (Give me two bridies, a plain one and an onion one as well). Forfar Athletic Football Club, who play in the

Scottish Professional Football League The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) is the national men's association football league in Scotland. The league was formed in June 2013 following a merger between the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League. As ...

, have a bridie as their mascot.

References

{{British pies British pies Savoury pies Scottish cuisine Forfar

History and preparation

Cultural references

See also

References