Search for Edinburgh's best stovie recipe gets underway

Dig out your granny's recipe book

Cafe 1505 will crown the Stovie King or Queen

The search is on for the Capital’s best stovies.

In a bid to ignite Edinburgh’s passion for the age-old comfort food by serving a new recipe each day in January, Café 1505 on Nicolson Street is calling on proud home cooks to share their secret recipes for the perfect stovies – for them to be replicated by professional chefs and served to the public.

A new recipe for the traditional dish will be served up each day throughout January to the public.

At the end of the month, the café hopes to use customer feedback and sales figures to award the city’s ultimate recipe, crowning a member of the public as Edinburgh’s stovies Queen or King.

“Likewise, there are those who adapt the traditional formula by adding new, potentially controversial, ingredients and flavours.

“We’re urging the public to hand over their precious recipes for our catering team to prepare. Who knows, we might just settle the city’s ultimate stovies recipe once and for all.”

The traditional potato-based stew typically contains leftover meat and onions, but recipes and ingredients vary widely across families and regions.

Alan Dickson, Executive Chef is looking forward to working with his team to do justice to the public’s recipes.

Ahead of the competition he has provided his own stovies recipe which is made with 500g of baking potatoes, 250g of corned beef, two white onions, a litre of vegetable stock, coarse sea salt and cracked black pepper, a tablespoon of vegetable oil and flat leaf parsley.

The chef’s process is to peel and slice the potatoes and set them aside in cold water before cooking the sliced onions for a few minutes in vegetable oil until they are tender.

The potatoes are then added and stock is gradually poured in, not making the mixture too wet, before the corned beef is stirred in and seasoned to taste.

He said: “I’m really intrigued to find out what resonates, and whether the traditional or modern take on stovies is more popular with customers.

“One thing is for certain, my money is on a granny coming in first place – I’d be amazed if any of the younger generation can compete!”

Applicants are encouraged to hand their recipes to the Café 1505 team, send them a message on Facebook or email them to [email protected] between now and the 31st of January.

The winning recipe will receive a two night bed and breakfast stay for two at Ten Hill Place Hotel.

Café 1505 is owned by the Royal College of Surgeons and owes its name to the year of the historic institution’s inception.

All profits support the charitable aims of the College which are education, assessment and advancement in surgical standards. Food is prepared on site by the same catering team that serve the conference business and Ten Hill Place Hotel.