Try these Scottish recipes for? Tartan Day celebrations your

Scottish-American societies throughout the United States will be observing Tartan Day, which celebrates Scotland's history, people, culture and contributions to the world.

The Saint Andrew's Society of the State of New York extends the special day into a weeklong event with receptions, parade and 10K run. Other societies from Mississippi to Michigan to South Carolina and California will mark the day with parties, parades and, of course, food from Friday through April 12.

Tartan Day marks the signing of the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320 at Arbroath Abbey. This historical occasion sowed the seeds of modern day democracy and was used as a basis for the American Declaration of Independence, according towww.tartandayscotland.com.

The U.S. Senate passed Tartan Day into law in 1998.

Proud of her heritage, Day Lander of Moss Point, Miss., asked readers to share their best Scottish recipes. True to form, Florida and Mississippi readers arose to the occasion with recipes for beef in red wine, oxtail soup with rice and barley, tweed kettle, cock a leekie soup, tablet or tarblet, shortbread and lemon curd.

Pat Stills of Bradenton shares a 19th-century dish from the Edinburgh area in Scotland. It is believed that the dish got its name from the salmon of the River Tweed.

TWEED KETTLE

3 pounds fresh salmon

2 green onions, chopped or 2 tablespoons chives, chopped

2 tablespoons parsley or dill, chopped

Pinch ground mace

1-1/4 cups fish stock

1-1/4 cups dry white wine

Salt and black pepper to taste

Place the fish in a deep saucepan and cover with

water. Bring slowly to the boil and let simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the salmon from the saucepan and reserve the stock. Take the skin and the bones from the fish and cut into 2-inch cubes, season with salt, pepper and mace.

Put the salmon back into the saucepan and 1-1/4 cups of fish stock and 1-1/4 cups of dry white wine along with onions or chives. Cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes. Add the chopped parsley or dill before serving. This can be served either hot or cold with a cucumber sauce. Serves 4-6.

-- Submitted by Pat Stills

"I hope some of these recipes will be of use," said Jeanne Eismon of Parrish.

She offers recipes for beef in red wine, which represents the strong links between Scotland and France by using French red wine, and the rich, meaty oxtail soup.

BEEF IN RED WINE

1- 1/2 pounds stewing steak, cubed

1 tablespoon seasoned flour

2 ounces lean bacon, chopped

3 small onions, sliced

7 ounces button mushrooms, chopped

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1/2 bottle red wine

1/2 teaspoon sugar

Bouquet garni

Salt and pepper

Set oven to 300 degrees. Gently fry the bacon and then add the onions and cook until soft. Add the mushrooms and fry for a few minutes. Set the mixture aside and keep warm. Cut the steak into 1- 1/2-inch cubes and dust with seasoned flour. Heat the oil in a heavy bottom casserole dish and fry the meat and garlic until brown. Add the wine, sugar and bouquet garni and season. Stir well, bring up to heat, cover and cook for about 2 hours or until the meat is tender. Remove from the oven and stir in the bacon mixture. Heat for 5 to 10 minutes and serve with boiled or mashed potatoes. Serves 4 to 6.

-- Submitted by Jeanne Eismon

OXTAIL SOUP WITH RICE AND BARLEY

1 pound oxtail

2 ounces butter

2 onions, chopped

2 sticks of celery, chopped

2 ounces lean ham or bacon, small cubed

1 bay leaf

Bouquet garni

2 pints beef stock

8 peppercorns

2 cloves

1 medium carrot, grated

1 tablespoon rice

2 tablespoons barley

A small glass of sherry

1 tablespoon corn flour (cornstarch)

Roll oxtail pieces in seasoned flour and fry in butter, a few pieces at a time, until sealed all over. Add onion and celery to pan with ham or bacon and fry all together until nicely browned. Transfer to large saucepan, add stock and herbs, peppercorns and cloves, bring to boil and simmer very gently, covered for 4 hours. Strain liquid and leave to get quite cold, preferably overnight.

When cold, take off fat. Meanwhile, discard bones, cut up lean meat of oxtail into very small pieces and reserve. Put strained soup into saucepan and add grated carrot, rice and barley and simmer for 1 hour until barley is well cooked. Mix corn flour with sherry, add to soup and bring to boil, stirring until thickened. Add oxtail meat last of all, season to taste and continue cooking to reheat oxtail. Serve hot. Serves 6.

-- Submitted by Jeanne Eismon

Mrs. John W. Allen of Diamondhead, Miss., shares four recipes, tablet or tarblet (the Glasgow-area pronunciation), cock a leekie soup, lemon curd and shortbread

"I received the lemon curd and shortbread recipes from a aunt in Scotland some 60 years ago," said Allen. "She had probably been making the lemon curd for more than 50 years."

Tablet or tarblet is a traditional Scottish sweet that is similar to toffee but not chewy and similar to fudge, but more grainy. It's sort of like dulce de leche.

TABLET OR TARBLET

1/2 pound (1 cup) butter or margarine

1 pint (2 cups) water

4 pounds caster sugar (extra fine granulated sugar)

1 pound tin of sweetened condensed milk such as Nestle's

Flavoring of choice (see suggestion at end of recipe)

Put butter and water into a deep pan and melt on low heat. When melted add sugar and bring to a boil, stirring slowly all the time. When boiling add the condensed milk and simmer for 25 minutes, stirring to prevent sticking.

Take off the heat and add flavoring of choice, then beat very well for 5 minutes. Pour into a greased pan and score into little bars. Wrap each bar in wax paper.

Suggested flavorings: vanilla, peppermint, orange, lemon or ginger.

-- Submitted by Mrs. John W. Allen

COCK A LEEKIE SOUP

1 large chicken

1 onion stuck with 2 cloves

Stock

2 pounds leeks

Pepper and salt

Put onion inside chicken. Place the chicken in a large saucepan and cover with seasoned stock. Bring to the boil. Trim the leeks and add half of them. Simmer gently for 1/2 hour. Add the rest of the leeks and any additional seasoning the soup may need. Simmer for up to 3 hours, depending on whether the bird was a tough old cock as in the traditional Scot's recipes or a plump young hen.

Just before serving take the bird out and cut into as many pieces as there are eaters before returning it to the soup.

-- Submitted by Mrs. John W. Allen

LEMON CURD

2 lemons

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 ounce butter

Melt butter slowly. Add rind of lemon, juice and sugar. When melted, add well-beaten eggs, stir until thick. Do not boil. Keeps well in refrigerator.

-- Submitted by Mrs. John W. Allen

SHORTBREAD

1 cup soft butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

Cream butter until soft. Add sugar gradually. Add 1-3/4 cups of flour. Blend carefully. Turn out dough and gradually knead in remaining flour. Roll to1/4-inch thickness. Cut into shapes. Arrange on greased baking sheet. Bake in slow oven at 300 degrees for 30 minutes.

-- Submitted by Mrs. John W. Allen

Showers of recipes

Don't forget to send in those recipes for baby and bridal showers. A reader asked for ideas for both types of showers as she is playing hostess at both. She also asked for baby and wedding shower decorating ideas. Some readers already have sent theirs.

Andrea Yeager, a freelance writer, can be reached at ayeager51@cableone.net. Send contributions or requests to Cook's Exchange, P.O. Box 4567, Biloxi, MS 39535-4567.

This story was originally published March 28, 2012 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Try these Scottish recipes for? Tartan Day celebrations your ."