Ancient Scottish Highland Cookery

The Highlanders, in former times, had a concise mode of cooking their venison, or rather of dispensing with
cooking it, which appears greatly to have surprised the French, whom chance made acquainted with it. The Vidame of Chartres, when a hostage in England, during the reign of Edward VI., was permitted to travel into Scotland, and penetrated as far as to the remote northern Highlands.

After a great hunting party, at which a most wonderful quantity of game was destroyed, he saw these
Scottish sevages, as he termed them, devour a part of their venison raw, without any further preparation than compressing it between two batons of wood, so as to force out the blood, and render it extremely hard. This they reckoned a great delicacy; and when the Vidame
partook of it, his compliance with their taste rendered him extremely popular.

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