Island Paradise: The Great Clapshot Debate of 2015

Each Wednesday, Radio Orkney runs a segment called the Postbag in which letters from members of the Orkney community (and once, just once, from me!) are read over the air. I look forward to it every week - last week, I actually got disappointed on Tuesday morning when I realized that I had to wait another day to listen to it.

A couple of years ago, I wrote about clapshot - here and here. Clapshot is delicious... Or is it? Gray 1 told me that it only qualifies as clapshot if the potatoes and turnips have been through a freeze, and the neeps and tatties I tried had not yet been through a freeze. Anyway, what I had was delicious, and if it wasn't clapshot, it was at least close. Well, that very issue came up over the course of several weeks in some Postbag segments earlier this year:

January 28th 2015

February 4th 2015

February 11th 2015

I'm calling it the Great Clapshot Debate of 2015. And the highlight? On February 11th, Radio Orkney presenter Helen Foulis read a letter. And I quote:

"Once you've got your clapshot on the plate, there are a few dos surrounding ways to eat it. First of all, there has to be butter available on the table - real butter, obviously, especially now that we've heard that real butter is actually good for you. First, dig a hole in the top of your pile of clapshot until it resembles a volcano. Then, place a large knob of butter in the crater of the volcano, and add a generous pinch of salt and some black pepper. Then, replace all the clapshot that you've previously excavated fae the clapshot mountain, and smooth over the top so that the butter is contained within the structure. Wait a few minutes, and then dig out a small hole in the side of your clapshot mountain, and allow the molten butter to cascade out like lava flowing from an erupting volcano. Pure bliss."

Fantastic. I may actually try to make some clapshot for Lady Jaye one of these days - according to one commentator in the Great Clapshot Debate of 2015, you can accomplish the freezing process by putting the potatoes and turnips into the freezer. Watch this space!