Kale Brose

Scotland's hearty winter broth: curly kale cooked into a rich beef or ham broth and thickened with toasted oatmeal stirred in at the last, the old kaleyard supper of the cold north

Origin: Scotland

From the journey of Kale.

Kale brose belongs to the oldest layer of Scottish cooking, the broths and pottages of the kaleyard, the cottage kitchen garden in which the curly kale stood green through every frost of the winter. It is a dish of two of Scotland's most fundamental foods, kale and oatmeal, married in a single pot. A good beef or ham broth is made first, the kale cooked into it until soft and dark, and then the brose itself is made: toasted oatmeal is put into a bowl, a ladleful of the hot fatty broth is poured over and stirred so that the oats swell into rough, nutty knots, and this is returned to the pot to thicken the whole. The word 'brose' means exactly this, a dish made by pouring boiling liquid over oatmeal rather than cooking it slowly into a smooth porridge, and the little lumps, the 'knots', are prized rather than avoided. Sustaining, savoury, and warming, kale brose was the everyday winter supper of rural Scotland, eaten when the kaleyard was the only part of the garden still yielding, and it stands in a direct line of descent from the kale-and-barley broths of the whole Celtic Atlantic west.

Ingredients

The Broth

  • 1 ham hock or 500g beef shin on the bone
  • 2 litres cold water
  • 1 onion, halved
  • 1 carrot, roughly chopped

The Brose

  • 300 g curly kale, tough stems removed, leaves finely shredded
  • 4 tbsp pinhead (steel-cut) oatmeal, toasted
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Method

  1. Put the ham hock or beef shin into a large pot with the cold water, onion, and carrot. Bring slowly to the boil, skimming off any scum, then reduce to a gentle simmer and cook, partly covered, for about 1 hour 30 minutes, until the meat is tender and the broth well flavoured.
  2. Lift out the meat and set aside. Strain the broth if you wish, discarding the onion and carrot, and return it to the pot. Shred the meat from the bone and reserve.
  3. Toast the oatmeal in a dry pan over medium heat, shaking often, for 3 to 4 minutes until it smells nutty and turns a shade darker. Set aside.
  4. Bring the broth to a simmer, add the shredded kale, and cook for 12 to 15 minutes until tender. Return the shredded meat to the pot.
  5. Put the toasted oatmeal into a bowl or jug, ladle over a little of the hot broth, and stir briskly so the oats swell into rough knots. Stir this back into the pot and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes to thicken. Season well with salt and plenty of pepper and serve very hot.

Notes

Brose is distinguished from porridge precisely by this method of pouring hot liquid over the oatmeal rather than long, slow cooking, which leaves it nutty and knotted. For a quicker everyday version, use a good fresh beef or ham stock in place of making the broth from scratch. A vegetarian brose can be made with a well-flavoured vegetable stock and a knob of butter. Pinhead oatmeal gives the best texture; do not use rolled oats, which dissolve.

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