a biscuit whose origin lies in the ‘short cakes’ made in the 16th century (see biscuit). In Britain it is regarded as a particular speciality of Scotland, although similar biscuits, such as Shrewsbury cakes, are made elsewhere. The original Scottish shortbread is simply a thick layer of rich, sweetened shortcrust pastry, without any extra flavourings. The texture is delicately crumbly. It relies on the quality of the ingredients for its mild but satisfying flavour. The classic proportions of ingredients for a shortbread recipe are one part sugar to two of butter and three of flour. It may be slightly adjusted by varying the type of flour used; usually soft cake flour is chosen, which is further softened in some Scottish recipes by adding some rice flour.
There are many variations. The thick Pitcaithly bannock has peel and almonds in the mixture. Queen Victoria's Balmoral recipe for shortbread was seasoned with a little salt; egg yolk and a little cream are added for extra richness in Ayrshire shortbread; and demerara sugar in Dorset shortbread. Goosnargh cakes, named for the village in Lancashire where they achieved great popularity in the 19th century, contain ground coriander and whole caraway seeds.
Petticoat tails are Scottish shortbread biscuits, baked in a round, with a characteristic shape resembling that of an outspread bell-hoop crinoline petticoat. The shortbread is made of flour, butter, and sugar, bound with milk or an egg, and optionally flavoured with almond or caraway seeds. The centre circle should be marked and removed before slicing the main round.
Dorothy Hartley (1954) says:
These simple biscuits … date at least from the twelfth century. They were called ‘petty cotes tallis’; that is, little cases, or ‘cotes’ (we have the word in sheep-cotes—small enclosures), made of pastry and cut into triangular pieces. ‘Tallis’ or ‘tallys’ were cuts made on sticks to count or measure by, so the word tally came to mean any sort of cut-out pattern … Every cook knows how the pointed ends of cut cakes and biscuits break off—so, after several centuries of broken tips, someone evolved the cure: they cut a circle out of the centre before baking. By then the filling had come out of the ‘cotes’ and they were biscuits only—‘pettycotes tallys’.
Another theory claims that the name is a corruption of petites gatelles, small French cakes popular with Mary Queen of Scots, who brought them to Scotland in 1650. Marion McNeill (1929), quoting the Annals of the Cleikum Club, says, ‘In Scottish culinary terms there are many corruptions, though we rather think the name petticoat tails has its origin in the shape of the cakes, which is exactly that of the bell-hoop petticoats of our ancient Court ladies.’
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
Hartley, Dorothy (1954), Food in England, London: Macdonald.
McNeill, F. Marian (1929), The Scots Kitchen, Glasgow: Blackie.
