A bridie or Forfar bridie is a
Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
meat
Meat is animal Tissue (biology), tissue, often muscle, that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted and farmed other animals for meat since prehistory. The Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of vertebrates, including chickens, sheep, ...
pasty
A pasty () or Cornish pasty is a British baked turnover pastry, a variety of which is particularly associated with Cornwall, but has spread all over the British Isles, and elsewhere through the Cornish diaspora. It consists of a filling, ty ...
that originates from
Forfar
Forfar (; , ) 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 had a population of 16,280.
The town ...
,
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
.
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 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 pie. ...
for their bridies, but in other parts of Scotland,
flaky pastry
Shortcrust 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 pie.
...
is sometimes substituted. The filling of a bridie consists of
minced
Mincing is a food preparation technique in which ingredients are finely divided into uniform pieces. Originally carried out with a knife or , mincing became widely done with machines developed in the nineteenth century.
History
To mince in the ...
steak
A steak is a cut of meat sliced across muscle fibers, sometimes including a bone. It is normally Grilling, grilled or Pan frying, fried, and can be diced or cooked in sauce.
Steaks are most commonly cut from cattle (beefsteak), but can also ...
, 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 and solidification (or congelation) between . Its high smoke point makes it ideal for deep frying and pastr ...
seasoned with salt and pepper. It is sometimes made with minced
onion
An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), 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 which was classifie ...
s. Before baking, 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 mean that it does contain onions, a convention which is also applied to a
Scotch pie
A Scotch pie is a double-crust meat pie, traditionally filled with minced mutton (whereby also called a mutton pie) but now generally beef, sometimes lamb. It may also be known as a shell pie to differentiate it from other varieties of savoury ...
.
Cultural references
The bridie is the subject of the
Dundee
Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...
Scots shibboleth
A shibboleth ( ; ) is any custom or tradition—usually a choice of phrasing or single word—that distinguishes one group of people from another. Historically, shibboleths have been used as passwords, ways of self-identification, signals of l ...
''Twa bridies, a plen ane an ingin ane an a'' (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 well ...
, have a bridie as their mascot.
See also
*
Scotch pie
A Scotch pie is a double-crust meat pie, traditionally filled with minced mutton (whereby also called a mutton pie) but now generally beef, sometimes lamb. It may also be known as a shell pie to differentiate it from other varieties of savoury ...
– the most common pastry snack in Scotland
*
Turnover (food)
A turnover is a small pie, made by placing a filling on a piece of pastry dough. The dough is then folded over and sealed, and is then cooked by either baking or frying. Turnovers can be sweet or savoury and are often eaten as a sort of portable ...
– a sweet or savory filled pastry
References
{{Scottish cuisine
British pies
Savoury pies
Scottish cuisine
Forfar
Street food in the United Kingdom