Hogmanay in the Hebrides is a celebration like no other. Lewisman Coinneach Macleod shares his recipes – and tells us how it’s done
RECIPES COINNEACH MACLEOD
For us here in the Hebrides, December is about hunkering down. We have dark, long winters – once it gets to Christmas, we only have three to four hours of daylight. It takes more than a peat fire and woolly socks to get through! That’s why in my new book, The Hebridean Baker: My Scottish Island Kitchen, I’ve included recipes for warming casseroles, hearty soups, perfect biscuits to dunk in your tea, comforting desserts and a cocktail or two that’ll definitely put hairs on your chest!
My lifelong love of baking comes from my aunt Bellag. At 94, she still bakes every day. Her husband is 95, so I think if you want a long life, Hebridean cakes are definitely the way to go! She also inspired me to start posting on social media.
I remember it was her 70th wedding anniversary, and I was sitting at the stove as she was making a duff – a traditional Hebridean cake that’s boiled, not baked. She told me she had made the duff as her own wedding cake, really bringing to life the traditions of those days. I remember thinking, ‘I don’t want people on my island to lose these stories’, and I had the idea that if I created wee videos of me baking and telling stories, maybe the people on my island would enjoy them. Well, I’ve had just under 22 million people watch my videos on TikTok, and I know there aren’t 22 million people living on my island! I’m humbled that so many people have enjoyed the stories of the Hebrides.
Living here on the Isle of Lewis is hard work – in the nicest possible way! My family are sheep farmers, and even on Christmas Day (unless, of course, it’s a Sunday) it’s quite traditional to take the sheep from the hills back into the village. There are only around 50 people living here, so it’s a real community. My cousin always invites us round for Christmas dinner – she has a lovely big, warm kitchen and family come from the mainland, so there are 15 or 16 of us altogether. We use produce we’ve grown through the autumn months – carrots, potatoes and our own beef and lamb. It’s very homespun, but not in a humble way. It looks beautiful.
But Hogmanay? That’s our big celebration and it’s full of tradition! Before the bells [the midnight hour when New Year’s Eve becomes New Year’s Day], you have to change the bedclothes, mend anything that needs it, settle debts, return anything borrowed, and make sure you put the ashes out from the fire. Then, when the bells go, you open the front door and the back door – the old spirits go out the back door and the new spirits come in the front.
And then there are the cèilidhs! If I’m not spinning my cousin round on the dancefloor to a strip the willow on Hogm
