Aberdeenshire farmservants' chamer accommodation and food in...
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1980.105
Original Tape ID
Summary
Aberdeenshire farmservants' chamer accommodation and food in the 1920s; anecdote about cooking turnips.
Charles Reid describes the chamer [room] where he was accommodated on his first farm. It was above the hay house in the stable, and was reached through a hole in the floor, which could be closed to keep out draughts. Heat rose from the horses below. The farmer wakened the workers in the morning at 4.45. Mr Reid saw to the cattle before breakfast at 6.00. They had brose: the kitchie deem [kitchen maid] poured on the quantity of hot water that each man wanted [on his oatmeal], then they helped themselves to milk. Porridge would have taken too long to make.
For supper they might have neep [turnip] or kail brose, made with the bree [cooking water] in which the vegetables had been cooked, then the vegetables with milk. Mr Reid tells how he complained about the neeps at a Burns Supper and explained that they have to be cooked slowly. At Bogs of Rora the mistress was his old schoolteacher, Mrs Mackie.
Item Location
County - Aberdeenshire
Language
Scots
Genre
Collection
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Good