Aberdeen Butterie Rowies
This
Saturday (7 February 2009) I return to my cauf-kintra, the Granite City of
Aberdeen, on Scottish Cup business with two football scarves – Aberdeen FC
and East Fife FC. As I will be sitting in the away kit-men seats at
Pittodrie, the Don’s scarf will remain firmly in my pocket! Jim
Corstorphine’s excellent preview of the game (our thanks to Jim for
permission to use it on The Flag) refers to the East Fife victory over
Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup in 1938. For that replay, on their way to
winning the Scottish Cup (the only lower league ever to have achieved that
distinction), The Fife played in a red strip instead of their normal black
and gold. Aberdeen were so impressed by the red strip that from the next
season onwards The Dons changed from black and gold to the now familiar
Pittodrie red jerseys. On Saturday East Fife will be playing in green and
white but I don’t think that will inspire Aberdeen to change again!
Can Baikie's Boys Disappoint the Dons?
All roads lead to Aberdeen this weekend as the
East Fife faithful make the journey north to face Aberdeen in the
Scottish Cup. Incredibly, it’s almost THIRTY-FIVE YEARS since the
Methil men played at Pittodrie, and it goes without saying a fair
percentage of the club’s present day supporters have never seen
their favourites line up to face the Dons!
The Bayview faithful have been buzzing ever since
the draw was made, and all are eagerly anticipating Saturday’s
match.
So do Second Division East Fife have any chance
of causing an upset at Pittodrie? On paper, the answer would have to
be no; but then again, the same would have been said when the two
clubs were first paired together in the competition back in 1927!
Back then, the Fifers were only in their sixth
season as a Scottish League club, and were sitting in the top half
of the Second Division. Aberdeen, on the other hand, were a firmly
established First Division club who were more than capable of
beating the best in the land. A few eyebrows were raised, therefore,
when the Fifers forced a replay following a 1-1 draw at Bayview;
surprise then turning to shock when the Methil men finished the job
with a 2-1 win at Pittodrie!
Eleven years later, in March 1938, the two clubs
were drawn to face each other once again. Not even the most
optimistic follower of the men in black and gold would have dared
predict a repeat of the events of 1927, but that’s just what
happened; East Fife knocked the Dons out of the competition with a
2-1 win at Pittodrie following a 1-1 draw at Bayview! That year,
however, the Fifers went on to emulate the class of ’27 by going on
to win the cup just over a month later.
After the Dons had gained a little revenge by
knocking the Fife out of the cup with a 2-1 victory at Pittodrie in
1959, the Methil men were presented with another giant-killing
opportunity in 1965.
After holding out for a no-scoring draw at
Pittodrie, the men in black and gold used home advantage to the full
in the replay at a packed Bayview to make it a hat-trick of Scottish
Cup wins against the Dons with a single goal victory.
Will history repeat itself yet again? The
circumstances are very similar to 1927, 1938 and 1965; but is the
gulf that exists between the top-flight clubs of today greater than
it was back in the good-old-days?
At quarter-to-five on Saturday, weather
permitting, we will know the answer. One thing is certain, however;
if the present East Fife team adopt the traditional cup-battling
qualities of their predecessors, we’re in for an enthralling
afternoon!
Although Aberdeen have more than matched both
halves of the Old Firm in recent weeks, Pittodrie holds no fears for
the Fifers according to manager Dave Baikie. The management team
have done their homework, and this week have been busy trying to
assess all areas of the Aberdeen team in order to identify any
possible weaknesses that could be exploited. The players will all be
very aware, however, that a very difficult task lies ahead.
The Bayview boys will have to be at their very
best on the day, but it is perhaps worth remembering that several
members of the present squad were in the team that knocked SPL side
St Mirren out of the CIS Cup on their own soil last season.
On the injury front, only Jonathon Smart is
doubtful for the big match, and a decision will be made on the big
central defender towards the end of the week.
Hopefully the match won’t be affected by the
weather we’ve been experiencing recently, and with both clubs having
agreed on a reduced admission price for visiting supporters of just
£15 for adults, £10 for concessions and £5 for under 12’s, why not
take full advantage and have a great day out following the Fife!
Aberdeen
lies between the Rivers Dee and Don (Pittodrie stands near the River
Don) and Ptolemy identified it as ‘Devana’. That gave rise to a popular
local brewery - Devanah - sadly long gone. The city prospered from its
wholehearted support of Robert I and his family. Tradition has it that
the citizens attacked the English garrison in Aberdeen Castle and put
them all to the sword after The Bruce's victory over his local enemies,
The Comyns, at the Battle of Inverurie ( 1308 ). The password used on
that occasion by Aberdonians, "Bon Accord", was then
supposedly conferred on the city as its motto. The city was to benefit
tangiably from its support of Robert I, as in 1319, he gifted to the
citizens his hunting forest of Stocket. Renamed the Freedom Lands, the
revenue from the forest was paid into a Common Good Fund - which at
present stands in excess of £20 million. Because of the city's
geographical position, for many centuries, Aberdeen was relatively
isolated from the rest of Scotland but through its sea trade
enjoyed visitors from the Continent. Trade was carried out with the
Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, Germans, Dutch and French. The French
connection could have given rise to the local delicacy, the famed
butterie rowies of Aberdeen. As the well known food writer Theodora
Fitzgibbon pointed out butteries are practically the same, apart from
the shape, as the ordinary French breakfast croissant. Eat a butterie
and dream that you are in France!
Ingredients: 1 lb flour; 1 oz yeast or 1/2 tablesp dried yeast; 1
tablesp sugar; 8 oz butter; 4 oz lard; 3/4 pt tepid water; a pinch of
salt.
All utensils should be warm before starting. Makes about 15.
Method: Mix the sifted flour and salt into a basin, then cream the yeast with
the sugar. When it has bubbled up add it to the flour with the water,
which must be blood heat only. Mix well, cover and set in a warm place
until double the bulk, about thirty minutes. Cream the butter and lard
together and divide into three. Put the dough on to a floured board and
roll out into a long strip. Put the first third of fats in dots on to
the top third of the pastry strip and fold over like an envelope, as if
making flaky pastry. Roll out, and do this twice more until all the
butter mixture is used up. Then roll out and cut into small oval shapes
( or small rounds ). Put on to a floured baking sheet with at least 2
in. between each one to allow for spreading. Cover, as above, and leave
to rise for three-quarters of a hour, then bake in a moderate to hot
oven ( 375 degrees - 400 degrees/ Gas mark 5 - 6 ) for 20 minutes.
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