Remember when I was obsessed with Scotland? I wrote about Edinburgh, then Inverness, then Inverness again, and I also made Cranachan. Well, here’s one more plug for Scotland… tattie scones. Tattie scones are basically fried flat discs made of potato dough. They are delicious and I first had them when I tried Scottish breakfast. In a very meat-heavy meal, yet my favorite thing was made with potatoes.
Although I did have tattie scones a few times during my vacation to Scotland, I sort of forgot about them afterward. That is until I recently went out for breakfast with my friend Hannah. I had tattie scones with scrambled eggs and fell in love all over again.
I really love cooking things I normally have at restaurants because at home I can have MORE. Lots more. In a restaurant I will be served two, maybe three, tattie scones. I want to be able to have at least four and preferably six. It’s gluttonous, but it’s true. Sure, I could order three side orders of tattie scones at a restaurant but I do have some amount of dignity. At least in public. At home, I’m totally cool with Ryan seeing me gorge myself on tattie scones. That’s real love people.
So, I find tattie scones are best eaten warm and fresh out of the pan. This way they are crispier and overall more delicious (in my opinion). But you could of course have them cold. As for what potatoes to use, you need floury ones. Floury potatoes are soft and fluffy, but dry once cooked. They aren’t great for regular boiling as they will fall apart. For example, when I poked my potatoes with a fork to check doneness the potato split with a large crack. It wasn’t ruined, but boiling potatoes will hold their shape when poked. Here in the UK examples of floury potatoes are King Edward and Maris Piper. In the US the lingo is a bit more muddled. Look for potatoes that have a high starch content or that are labelled good for baking. Russet or Idaho potatoes are good examples.
What makes tattie scones different than other foods with potato based doughs? I’ll tell you. These sort of reminded Ryan and me of latkes in flavor, but I think it’s been forever since he and I had eaten a latke because they are pretty different. Latkes use shredded potatoes, onions, and egg, and barely (if any at all) flour. I also looked into gnocchi – which is sort of similar to both latkes and tattie scones. Gnocchi is made with potatoes, flour, eggs, and salt. The big difference is you boil gnocchi. Who knew there was such diversity in potato based doughs? Now we all know a bit more. You’re welcome.
Adapted from the Guardian.
Messy level: When Ryan looked at the kitchen afterward he called it “a warzone.” I would argue it’s not that bad, but you do have to boil the potatoes, mash them, then make a dough, and then roll out the dough. That’s a lot of steps, a lot of tools, and the potential for a lot of mess.
- 1 lb/500g floury potatoes, unpeeled (see notes above about types of potatoes)
- 3 tablespoons/40g butter, plus a little more for greasing
- 1 cup/ 125g all-purpose flour, plus a little more for dusting
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Put the potatoes in a big pot and cover with salted water. Bring the water to a boil and then let the potatoes simmer until cooked. The potatoes are cooked when they are fork tender. This takes about 25-30 minutes depending on the potato's size.
- Drain the potatoes and then return them to the pan. Leave them in there to dry a bit from the heat of the pot. Once the potatoes are cool enough to handle rub off the skins. You can do this bare handed or use a paper towel to help you.
- Add the butter and then mash the potatoes using a potato masher or fork. Mash them as best as you can. Some tiny pea sized lumps are ok, but big lumps will not do!
- Now pour in the flour and salt. Use a wooden spoon and mix everything all together until you have a dough.
- Divide the dough into 4 pieces (or more pieces if you have a small skillet and so need to make smaller circles). Roll the dough out into circles that are a little less than ¼" thick. If you want perfect circles use a small salad plate and a knife as a template. Otherwise roll it out into a rough circle and that's good enough.
- Heat up a large skillet over medium high heat. Put some butter in the pan to grease it.
- Put one dough circle in the preheated skillet. Use a spatula to press it down against the pan. Cook the dough for about 3-5 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. [Note: As you cook you might need to lower the heat so the later tattie scones don't get immediately burned.] Repeat until all your dough circles are cooked.
- Once the scone is cooked remove from the heat, cut into four triangles and serve. It goes well with Scottish breakfast or scrambled eggs and lox.
