Hogmanay Sue Lawrence North of the border, 31 December is the time to eat, drink and make merry with friends and family. This warming Hogmanay menu is just the thing to gather friends round and celebrate the New Year with a dram or two.

In this article

Food and drink traditions First-footing

Hogmanay dinner celebrations Recipes

Growing up in Scotland, Hogmanay was always far more important than Christmas. I remember in the 1960s my father, like most fathers, having to work on Christmas Day morning. But on 31 December, party time truly began.

Hogmanay was a time for friends and fun. Friends and neighbours would get together and have drinks and the obligatory shortbread (often eaten with cheese), sultana cake, black bun and such delights as ginger or blackcurrant cordial - as well as, of course, the obligatory drams of whisky. The jollities would continue until 'the bells' (nowadays timed by television, but in my parents' day by radio) and then the proper partying would begin.

It was one of the few times of year that Scots kissed each other in public and I remember having to endure pecks on the cheek by bristly bearded first-footers while wishing all and sundry Happy New Year.

As a youngster, I can remember feeling like Liesl in The Sound of Music at Hogmanay, in the scene where she begs Captain Von Trapp for her first sip of champagne. I didn't have the gorgeous white dress (more like thermals and thick woolly socks, ready for first-footing), but somehow I felt that pang of being hard done by as I watched everyone else sipping 'proper' drinks, while I was only ever allowed lemonade.

Until one year there was The Snowball (advocaat and lemonade) on offer. Just the one - but, oh, the joy of tasting that first Hogmanay drink, all yellow and frothy and festooned with a garish red cherry. Nowadays the very thought of it is enough to bring out the abstemious side of me, but the thick, sweet drink was nectar to my young unsophisticated palate.

Traditionally it was a dark-haired man who was first over the doorstep bearing a piece of coal, for luck

First-footing had its own rituals. Traditionally it was a dark-haired man who was first over the doorstep bearing a piece of coal, for luck. Then, once the first-footers had begun, they were on a roll, not stopping until every house with lights on was visited and the New Year toasted yet again.

It was all great fun, especially during the not-infrequently snowy or icy Hogmanays, when tramping around on foot became highly dangerous, yet also fun since you greeted so many fellow revellers on the way. But it did not stop there. Even when you had gone to bed in the 'wee small hours' there was the prospect of it happening all over again, for first-footing began with a vengeance later that day.

Whereas Hogmanay was all about friends, New Year's Day was about family. Duty visits were obligatory, hangovers or not, in order to first-foot every cardiganned aunt, gangly cousin and, of course, the full quota of grandparents, to eat, drink and be (more) merry.

Nowadays, perhaps with stronger drink-drive legislation or perhaps simply because fewer of us are best chums with our neighbours, there is more emphasis on food, with many people having good friends over for dinner. Then, after midnight, everyone continues to party the night away, with friends dropping by until the early hours, to toast in the New Year.

For dinner, you want easy dishes that can all be prepared in advance, then reheated or simply tarted up just before serving. Scotch pancakes were part and parcel of my childhood, the 'girdle' forever on the stove ready for a pancake to be flipped within minutes of the batter being mixed. We had them with butter and jam for tea, but served as a savoury starter with Scottish smoked salmon and a horseradish-zapped cream, they're an easy starter.

A hearty casserole is ideal for the main course - lamb stew topped with a crust of best Scottish black pudding is perfect food to warm diners up. To line the stomachs further, a dish of Rumbledethumps, made from wholesome potatoes, turnips (called 'swede' south of the Scottish border) and kale is delicious and comforting.

Pudding must be over-the-top as we Scots have such a sweet tooth, so a steamed pudding served with hot butterscotch sauce will end your Hogmanay dinner with panache.

• Scotch pancakes with smoked salmon and horseradish crème fraîche
• Lamb stew with Stornoway black pudding crust
• Rumbledethumps
• Seven-cup pudding with butterscotch sauce

Sue Lawrence grew up in Dundee. Her career as a food writer began when she won MasterChef in 1991. She has written for several newspapers and has written several cookery books, the most recent of which, A Cook's Tour of Scotland: From Barra to Brora in 120 Recipes, was published in 2006.