3. Butteries/Rowies

‘I’m making do with a coffee and a rowie, the region’s own flattened, salty version of a morning roll, designed to keep for a week on a heaving trawler or something, allegedly.’ These words in Ian Banks’ brilliant book Stonemouth describe Aberdeenshire’s local bread beautifully.

And for those assuming something called ‘butterie’ must involve butter, sorry to disillusion you: it has never been traditional to use butter to make it. It was always ‘white fat’ or lard, a