David Lawson

Top Tips For The Perfect British Barbecue

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“My first outdoor cooking memories are full of erratic British summers, Dad swearing at a barbecue that he couldn’t put together, and eventually eating charred sausages, feeling brilliant!” – Jamie Oliver
As we hurtle through May, most of us will be wondering how on earth the year can be flashing by so fast. The great British summer is almost upon us, and that can only mean the most traditional of British pastimes is just around the corner – the barbecue! Hopefully we get some good weather this year….(unlike today – its raining on and off like a good UK summer tends to do!).
Yes, we Brits do love a barbecue in the summer. As we mentioned in our blog last month, we love to commemorate happy occasions with good food – and boy do barbecues mean delicious food! Sausages, burgers, hot dogs … you name it!
As the head of a Scottish meat manufacturing company – who use only the most high quality ingredients in our products – I tend to feel a certain obligation to make sure the meat we Brits are cooking is done right! That is why, with the help of the rest of the staff at Speyside HQ, I have put together some top tips for the perfect barbecue!
Tip 1: Traditional beats modern … every time! Ditch the convenience of a gas or electric barbecue and go for a traditional charcoal barbecue. You won’t regret that authentic smokey barbecue taste. Anyway, going old-school mountain man/woman style is half the fun!
Tip 2: The real taste is in the smoke. Carrying on from tip 1, I would just like to emphasise that to really get that authentic barbecue flavour you need to keep the flames to a minimum and the smoke to a max! Keep the lid on your barbecue shut and let your meat smoke for a good half hour. Only check occasionally, you don’t want to lose the heat and the smoke by regularly opening and closing the lid.
Tip 3: Some meat will need a bit of pre-cooking before going onto the BBQ. For example, I would recommend you pop your chicken in the oven before grilling on the barbecue. This will cut down on cooking time, and make sure that the meat is correctly cooked all the way through.
Tip 4: Although the meat is considered the most important part of a barbecue, you still need to know how to compliment your mains. Preparing your side dishes in advance should keep you in good stead. A traditional British barbecue is not usually without potato salad, coleslaw, corn-on-the-cob and a big side salad complete with baby potatoes.
Tip 5: Last but not least, have fun! A BBQ is about sharing a summer’s day with your loved ones. A novelty apron, some outdoor games and a ready laugh can go a long way!
We hope that we have inspired some barbecue chefs in some of you, and we wish you all a great British summer!


The Perks of Shopping Online!

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“I love shopping for things online, because when they arrive, it’s like a present to me … from me!” – Unknown
Excitement levels in Speyside HQ have been particularly high in recent weeks. We have all been working harder than ever to keep up with the growing demand for our traditional Scottish products.
What’s the reason for this? We have just launched our new online shop, where you can buy all of our products straight from our website. From our oatmeal stuffing, and our variety of puddings, to our brand new food for fitness beefed up burger range – all of which we can now personally deliver straight to your door! Perk! Get online and check it out – tell us what you think!

Since the launch, we have gone from strength-to-strength, which is certainly a boost for us! Nevertheless, we always put our customers first, which is why we have had a good think about what benefits our online upgrade has given our online shoppers!

Why are people more likely to purchase online? We have done a bit of research and found you the top five reasons why we think people are turning to the web instead of treading the aisles:
Perk 1: Variety is the spice of life – Get what you want at the click of a button… and by anything we mean ANYTHING. Tinned unicorn meat, zombie apocalypse protection and someone to stand in a long queue for you so you don’t have to, are just some of the weird and wonderful options!
Perk 2: ‘Dreich‘ no more – With almost everything now available online there really is no need to leave the house to do your shopping. This is especially true in Scotland, where grey seems to be the permanent colour of the sky. We do however; recommend you leave the house for more meaningful occasions such as exercise, sunlight (when it’s out), and social calls!
Perk 3: Quick, easy and hassle free – Shopping online is now extremely straightforward and takes up almost no time at all – once you know what you want. This leaves you with more time to do more meaningful things (see perk 2).
Perk 4:  Convenience – and by convenience we mean pyjama days. No need to make yourself presentable to the outside world just to feed your urge to shop. You can just nip online, slippers and all, and browse to your heart’s content.
Perk 5: Last, but certainly not least – as previously mentioned, you can now have Speyside products delivered straight to you door! No more hunting the supermarket shelves for our premium black puds, or scouring aisle after aisle until you find our traditional skirlie. Find Speyside Specialities all in one place.

Now that’s what we call a perk!


Eat Like You’re Running A Marathon!

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“We need delicious healthy food that we want to eat, enjoy eating and just happens to be good for us. To that end I’m so delighted to see Speyside Specialities launching their Power Food range.” – Dr Joanna McMillan

Millions of people across the world tuned in to watch the London Marathon on Sunday – including myself. It was fantastic to see all of those runners taking on the challenge of a 26.2-mile run for a good cause.
 I enjoyed watching the stories of the different runners; each and every one had their own reasons for doing the marathon – I found all of them incredibly inspiring!

A marathon is no mean feat, running 26.2-miles is challenging. If you’re going to push your body to the limit you need to know how to fuel it.

As a food manufacturing company, which recently launched the original food for fitness – powerfood range, “Beefed Up Burgers,” we have put together a few tips to keep fitness enthusiasts on track when preparing for a gruelling work out.

While training, protein is a must! Protein helps to repair your tired muscles and keeps you healthy. Eat plenty of fish such as tuna and wild salmon; and meats such as chicken and lean beef. For vegetarians, bananas and nuts are a good alternative. 
  • The run up to the marathon – i.e. about 3 days before hand – is the stage where you really need to fill your body with the essential fuel it needs! Eating the correct food will make a huge difference to your performance on the day. Drinking plenty of water will make sure you are sufficiently hydrated, while compact carbohydrates found in sugary foods such as jaffa cakes and jelly babies will help you to build up the much needed ‘muscle carb’ glycogen.
  • On the day of the race eat a big hi-carb breakfast a few hours before you start. Drink plenty of water to make sure you are well hydrated.
  • While you’re running, your body will be looking for fast energy releasing fuel that is easy to digest. Try eating things such as bananas, raisins, sugary gummy bears, pretzels and cherries. If you don’t want food, there are plenty of sports gels and energy drinks out there to choose from. Coconut water is also a good choice.
  • After the race your body and muscles will be in serious need of repair. Give your body a helping hand by eating lots of protein and carbohydrates. Eat a sandwich with egg, tuna or ham and drink plenty of fluids.

By following these tips I hope to have inspired a burst of enthusiasm in a few of you! For many, fitness and healthy eating is more than just a hobby, it’s a way of life. That is why we developed a powerfood range with fitness enthusiasts in mind. Our burgers are made with grass fed, Scottish lean steak, and packed full of various superfoods. These ingredients not only make our burgers extra tasty, but they are well known for their health boosting properties which are endorsed by celebrity health expert and nutritionist, Dr Joanna McMillan.
For more information on our burgers, and to read Dr Joanna’s full endorsement visit our website: http://speysidespecialities.co.uk/pages/view/powerfood
To buy our burgers online click here.


Happy & Hungry! Why We Eat When We’re Feeling Good …

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Aberdeen Football Club won the Scottish League Cup last week – and boy has Scotland heard all about it! For many, this triumph brought exceptional happiness, but inevitably, for those out there that are Inverness Caledonian Thistle fans, the victory might be a seen as a bitter defeat – alas, not everyone can be a winner. 
A parade down the Granite City’s Union Street on Sunday saw over 70,000 Aberdeen football fans flood the entire vicinity. But gosh…. aren’t we a hungry lot? As a result, the happy Dons fans needed to refuel following all that cheering, with shops and restaurants all round the city seeing a huge boom in sales – some even sold out of food completely!
This reminded me of something I heard a while back about people eating more when they are happy, or in a happy environment. You would be forgiven to associate eating, and particularly binge-eating, with times of upset. So what is the general consensus on this point? Do we fill our faces when we’re feeling gleeful, and what exactly persuades us to reach for the grub when all is well?

As the head of a meat manufacturing company, who better to ask than my 25 food expert employees! After much deliberation over some Speyside Specialities black pudding, trialling out delicious recipes and nibbling on our newest creations, we finally came to a conclusion – deciding there are much more reasons to enjoy food when we are feeing happy.  

At the end of the day, eating is for enjoyment as well as providing energy, nutrients and substance to survive. Food should be there to provide delight, to share and often to toast a sense of occasion.
We discussed some of the reasons over a spot of lunch:
  • The Sun – The Scottish weather is rarely kind to us, but when it is, everybody pulls out the BBQ! Delicious sausages and burgers go down a treat!
  • Loved up and loving food! It’s no secret that a lot of us put on a bit of weight when we settle down in a relationship. In fact, research conducted by UKMedix has suggested it’s all down to the happier; ‘frame of mind’ a relationship puts us in.
  • Movie nights with the BFF and/or beau. Being with someone you really like makes us happy, and of course having a good munch and gossip is always going to go down well!
  • Eating Out … a lot! An active social life makes for an actively happy person! Restaurants, drinks and coffee catch-ups are all part of the package.
  • Birthdays – Who doesn’t love to sing happy birthday to a friend or family member? Singing puts us in a good mood as it releases endorphins into our system. Of course, after the singing comes the cake – and who can resist cake?
  • The buffet! Almost all of us are guilty of over indulging at a birthday or wedding buffet. Piling goodies on your plate is just a delight!
  • Celebrations – Christmas, Easter, Halloween – all of these holidays are linked to delicious food! Not to mention Aberdeen’s cup win again, but that limited edition ‘Sheep are on Fire’ Pie … WOW? 

Whatever your reason for having a treat, we think it’s certainly a good thing if you keep it in moderation. Do you have a happy trigger that encourages you to treat yourself?  Why not tell us all about it! We’d love to hear your recipes too!


Seafood … See Food … and Eat It!

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“The quality of food and drink that Scotland has to offer is world-renowned and our premium produce is increasingly cultivating an impressive reputation overseas.” – Alex Salmond, First Minister of Scotland

It was national scallops day in the USA this week and as an avid seafood lover, I certainly made the most of the day!  I cooked one of Speyside’s Specialities’ delicious featured recipes – black pudding and scallops with orange cardamom syrup. As I sat and enjoyed the distinctively Scottish meal, I started thinking about the Scottish seafood industry.

As the head of a Scottish meat manufacturing company, I see seafood as an important branch of the food and drink industry, and something to support. The food industry in Scotland is huge, and is worth over £5.4 billion to the UK economy. With our bounteous rivers and lochs, and a sea rich in much more than just oil, there is a lot to be gained in regards to seafood, and besides, much of it provides the perfect accompaniment to our meat products.  
I have often heard, and very much agree that Scottish seafood is the best in the world – reflecting the harsh but stunning environment, a lot of Scottish seafood can be tough on the outside, making it all the more tender and full of flavour on the inside!

Some of Scotland’s top seafood exports include:
  • Fish such as salmon, trout, haddock, bass, cod and mackerel. These are big business for the Scottish export industry. In fact, Scotland is Europe’s largest premium salmon producing country.
  • Scallops – definitely deserving of a national day. Scottish West Coast scallops in particular are highly regarded with seafood lovers.
  • Brown crab (cancer pagurus) and velvet crab (necora puber) are extremely common throughout Scotland with many top restaurants serving them around the world.
  • Mussels and other shellfish are in abundance around the Scottish coast. I have often spotted people (and also taken part in) collecting fresh mussels along hot spots in the Scottish coasts.
  • Lobster – Many regard Scottish lobster as the best in the world, myself included!

I would highly recommend any foodie to try each and every dish. It’s a hard to choose amongst all of the different offerings, but my favourite seafood of all time is most definitely Scottish crab, shellfish and lobster!
What is your favourite seafood dish? Do you have a favoured seafood recipe to share with us? 
Yum – that was tasty. Why not try out our black pudding and scallops recipe for yourself!


The Great Debate: To Photograph Your Food, Or Not To Photograph Your Food?

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“The quality of food and drink that Scotland has to offer is world-renowned and our premium produce is increasingly cultivating an impressive reputation overseas.” – Alex Salmond, First Minister of Scotland

It was national scallops day in the USA this week and as an avid seafood lover, I certainly made the most of the day!  I cooked one of Speyside’s Specialities’ delicious featured recipes – black pudding and scallops with orange cardamom syrup. As I sat and enjoyed the distinctively Scottish meal, I started thinking about the Scottish seafood industry.

As the head of a Scottish meat manufacturing company, I see seafood as an important branch of the food and drink industry, and something to support. The food industry in Scotland is huge, and is worth over £5.4 billion to the UK economy. With our bounteous rivers and lochs, and a sea rich in much more than just oil, there is a lot to be gained in regards to seafood, and besides, much of it provides the perfect accompaniment to our meat products.  
I have often heard, and very much agree that Scottish seafood is the best in the world – reflecting the harsh but stunning environment, a lot of Scottish seafood can be tough on the outside, making it all the more tender and full of flavour on the inside!

Some of Scotland’s top seafood exports include:
  • Fish such as salmon, trout, haddock, bass, cod and mackerel. These are big business for the Scottish export industry. In fact, Scotland is Europe’s largest premium salmon producing country.
  • Scallops – definitely deserving of a national day. Scottish West Coast scallops in particular are highly regarded with seafood lovers.
  • Brown crab (cancer pagurus) and velvet crab (necora puber) are extremely common throughout Scotland with many top restaurants serving them around the world.
  • Mussels and other shellfish are in abundance around the Scottish coast. I have often spotted people (and also taken part in) collecting fresh mussels along hot spots in the Scottish coasts.
  • Lobster – Many regard Scottish lobster as the best in the world, myself included!

I would highly recommend any foodie to try each and every dish. It’s a hard to choose amongst all of the different offerings, but my favourite seafood of all time is most definitely Scottish crab, shellfish and lobster!
What is your favourite seafood dish? Do you have a favoured seafood recipe to share with us? 
Yum – that was tasty. Why not try out our black pudding and scallops recipe for yourself!