I am about to do Scottish food no favours.

And I doubt I am going to do my reputation any favours either. I was going to take the high ground and explain that the following dinner was emergency rations after a days serious walking in approximately zero conditions with rain varying from a light drizzle to a heavy downpour, and without which a serious case of terminal trembling would have set in. That was until i remembered that this was the dinner we had the night before our long walk to Killiekrankie and back. However! It did follow an afternoon of noseying around Pitlochry and was necessary to warm us from the inside before our night time walk around The Enchanted Forest (see below).



So, as I said, all I really wanted was the gammon steak with chips (there, the truth's out and I'm ruined), but it seemed rude not to have a starter. We were on our holidays after all. One of the specials sounded particularly inviting; Scottish Scallops with Pork Belly and Asparagus over a pumpkin puree. And it looked fabulous on its plate of slate too. Sadly although the scallops were perfectly cooked the pork belly was nothing more than a greasy piece of crackling and fat with only the barest quiver of meat underneath. Very disappointing indeed.

But as I said it was all about the gammon steak with chips. Actually that isn't quite true. It was all about the gammon steak with pineapple and chips.

I remember the very first time I had gammon steak with pineapple, although on that occasion it may have come with mash. It was the summer of Charles and Diana's wedding and we were staying at a bed and breakfast in St Andrews, that was also a working manse. Mrs Minister did all of our cooking for us, except on Sundays when we ate at the Pancake Place, not as a special treat you understand as as far as I recall none of us liked it but because nothing else was open on sundays. The gammon steak was probably a think slice of ham warmed in the oven and the pineapple was a ring fresh from the can that was cooked with the ham until the juice went a little thick. Not a perfect gammon steak and pineapple, but a welcome addition to our limited Scottish repertoire.



I really like gammon steak and pineapple. Just like I really like ham and pineapple pizza. It's not cool. It's not clever. I'm not even sure what it is or where it came from in terms of epicurious traditions. It's even verging on retro and kitsch. But I like it nonetheless. And this was a particularly fine Gammon Steak with Pineapple. The salty smokey meat which looked like meat, rather than processed other and the sweet juicy fruit of fresh pineapple. No tin opener here. The only minor disappointment was that the chips were just a little average and would have been all the better of being cooked hotter, crunchier and crispier. Us Scots and our deep fat fryers, I know. I told you I would do scottish cooking no favours.