What to Eat in Dundee and Angus
The almond edge of a Dundee cake is the bit I always want. It breaks into the buttery crumb, and a piece of orange peel turns up just when you think you’ve worked out the flavour. The cake and the marmalade share a chapter in the story of a Dundee confectionery firm. After breakfast I’d head along the coast, where a fishmonger can explain what an oak fire does to a haddock.
This is a guide to Dundee and the part of Angus you can follow out to Arbroath, Forfar and Montrose. There’s a pastry worth eating warm, a summer crop that needs its own visit and a cattle story that starts on an Angus farm. I’d make the smokie the first stop if you’re only following one food beyond the city.
1. Dundee cake
Dundee cake makes you appreciate what happens at the edge of a fruit cake. A whole almond stays firm while the cake underneath has the softness of butter and dried fruit. The peel contributes a little bitterness. A thin slice has enough going on that I’d leave it just as it is, with a pot of tea.
Dundee’s account of the cake takes you to the Keiller confectionery family and a nineteenth-century recipe with sultanas, candied orange peel and whole almonds. The pattern of almonds on top is a detail that survived. For a version you can identify today, Goodfellow & Steven’s cake sold by V&A Dundee includes Mackays marmalade and a little Amontillado. That’s the baker’s version and an appealing link between two different ways Dundee made use of oranges.
Dundee’s cake and the Keiller archive · The Goodfellow & Steven cake
2. Dundee orange marmalade
I want to be able to see the peel in a spoon of Dundee marmalade. The point of keeping it is the little interruption it gives you on buttered toast, a bitter chew in the middle of the sweetness. The same detail helps identify the marmalade in accounts of the old Keiller business.
There’s a popular story about a shipment of Seville oranges and Janet Keiller deciding what to do with them. The dated jars are the part I’d hold on to. Wessex Archaeology studied Keiller jars found in Oxford, including one dated to the period from the company’s beginnings in 1797 to its change of name in 1828. The labels get more elaborate as the firm wins medals and sells farther afield. It’s an unusually tangible record of a Dundee food becoming something people recognised well beyond the city. Mackays is a modern maker with its own history and a Dundee marmalade in its range.
The Keiller jars and their dates · Mackays and Dundee marmalade
3. Arbroath smokies
There’s a reason I’d buy a smokie whole if I had somewhere to sit down with it. The copper skin peels away and the haddock underneath comes apart in firm white flakes. The smoke clings most around the outside. Take a forkful from nearer the bone and you get more of the fish itself.
The protected specification traces the method to Auchmithie, just up the coast from Arbroath. The smoker salts the haddock, pairs the fish by size and ties them at the tail. They hang over a hardwood fire in what’s known as the barrel. Jute twine, once a by-product of local spinning mills, has its place in the specification as well. Timing still depends on the fire and the judgement of the smoker. In Arbroath, Alex Spink & Sons uses an oak fire, and the harbour makes the story easy to picture.
Protected Arbroath Smokies and the smoking method · Alex Spink & Sons on Seagate
4. Forfar bridies
A bridie is a meat pastry made in a broad half-moon or horseshoe. I’d eat one from the paper while the pastry is still warm enough to shed a few flakes. The pastry edge is the first thing I go for, then the beef filling where the meat juices have soaked into the inside.
Visit Angus traces the bridie’s local roots to the nineteenth century. There are familiar stories about how it got its name, and the bakery counters give you something more immediate to investigate. Ask which pastry and filling the baker uses and whether there’s onion in that day’s version. McLaren’s makes bridies daily at its Market Street bakery in Forfar, where the item is still part of a working bakery’s ordinary output.
Visit Angus on the Forfar bridie · McLaren’s Market Street bakery
5. Angus strawberries and raspberries
A raspberry that’s ripe enough to eat straight from the punnet gives way before you’ve had a chance to decide what to do with it. I’d save a handful for cream and eat the rest as they are. Strawberries give you a slightly different pleasure. I look for the little scented ones, even if the punnet has some odd shapes in it.
The stretch of country around Dundee and into Angus is a good place to follow the soft-fruit trade. Grower records show how the crop found a place on mixed farms. The Arbuckle family introduced strawberries at Star Inn Farm in the Carse of Gowrie west of Dundee in 1959, alongside livestock and other crops. In Angus itself, Charleton Fruit Farm near Montrose lists seasonal picking. Check the farm’s update before making the trip. What’s ripe is the interesting part.
Angus Growers on the Arbuckles and their fruit · Charleton Fruit Farm picking updates
6. Aberdeen-Angus beef and the Keillor herd
There’s an Angus farm behind a name that now turns up on menus the world over. Hugh Watson of Keillor was one of the breeders who helped establish the black, naturally hornless cattle that became Aberdeen-Angus. The breed’s development involved several north-east Scottish herds. Keillor is the particular thread to follow from this part of Angus.
A ribeye gives you a good look at how the fat runs through the meat. The fine fat through it gives a sense of why a well-reared, well-finished steak can stay juicy. A breed name alone gives you very little about the animal’s farm or the butcher’s ageing. I’d ask where the beef was reared and which cut the butcher thinks is at its best that week.
Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society on Hugh Watson · The breed’s north-east Scottish history
Where to taste and buy
The cake is easy to take home. The smokie and the bridie are the two I’d arrange the journey around, with a farm stop when there’s ripe fruit.
V&A Dundee shop for a Goodfellow & Steven Dundee cake
The museum shop lists a boxed Dundee cake made by Goodfellow & Steven. Look for the almond top and the combination of sultanas, Mackays marmalade and Amontillado.
Buy it whole to take home. The online product page is a useful starting point. Ask the shop about stock if you’re going to the waterfront specifically for the cake.
Alex Spink & Sons for an Arbroath smokie
Ask for a whole Arbroath smokie at the Seagate fish shop. Visit Angus lists the shop as a maker using the traditional method over oak.
It’s a fishmonger’s purchase. Ask what’s ready that day and how they recommend serving it. The harbour and the Signal Tower Museum make good follow-ons if you want to see how the fishing town fits together.
McLaren’s in Forfar for a warm bridie
Go to the original shop and bakery on Market Street. McLaren’s makes Forfar bridies there daily, and a warm one is an easy lunch to take away.
Ask which batch is fresh and whether there’s a choice of filling. Market Street is the stop for the on-site bakery, and the business also has other branches.
Charleton Fruit Farm for the fruit that’s ripe
Head north of Montrose for seasonal pick-your-own fruit. What you can pick changes as the crops ripen, so start with the farm’s own updates.
This is the stop to leave flexible in a summer visit. Pick for what’s ready and take a punnet for the journey back.
The Drinks Cabinet
Three Angus drinks that begin with something from a farm, from rye and potatoes to raspberries.
Scroll across to see the drinks.
Arbikie Highland Rye
Arbikie makes Highland Rye on the estate near Lunan Bay. I’d try it for the grain itself and the peppery, cereal character that makes a rye whisky an interesting change of pace within a Scotch tasting.
The estate has a rye experience and broader distillery tours. Choose the rye option if you want to get into the growing and distilling as well as what happens in the cask.
Arbikie’s Highland Rye experience · Visiting the Angus distillery
Ogilvy Scottish potato vodka
Ogilvy’s vodka begins with potatoes grown at its Angus farm. It’s the drink I’d put beside the whisky if you’re curious how much of a familiar crop survives in a spirit. Try a small sip on its own to notice the weight of it before adding anything.
Ogilvy advertises a distillery tour and tasting at Hatton of Ogilvy. Book with the maker and check the current tour details before heading out.
Gin Bothy raspberry liqueur
The raspberry liqueur is an easy way back to the fruit story. Gin Bothy infuses its gin with raspberries for a drink with the fruit’s colour and sweetness. I’d try it in a small glass and look for the tart edge underneath.
The Bothy Experience in Glamis has a shop and bookable tastings. Ask for the raspberry liqueur specifically if it’s the one you’re after.
Gin Bothy raspberry liqueur · The Bothy Experience in Glamis