Good Scotch Cooking

I may be misremembering, but I'm pretty sure in one of the Little House books, Pa compliments Ma's "good scotch cooking."  It's her Scotch something.  I know, I KNOW, the term these days is "Scottish", unless one is referring to whisky.  But I'm trying to quote something positive.  Trying.  Anyway, I found a Scottish cookbook at an estate sale a while back, and decided it was high time (or highland time?…  Sorry!  I love horrid puns.) I made something from it.  The following is a simple recipe-- simple ingredients, simple cooking, and ultimately simple (but filling) flavors.

Chicken Stovies
1  frying Chicken, cut up
4 large Potatoes
2 large Onions (Don't use red.  It tastes fine, but looks odd.)
2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
1/3 C Butter
1 C chicken stock or broth

Peel and slice the potatoes into quarter-inch slices.  Peel and slice onions thinly.  Arrange alternate layer of chicken, potatoes, and onions in a heavy frying pan.  Dot each later with butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Add the broth.  Cover tightly, bring to a pin, and simmer very gently for about a hour.

Rereading this as I post it, I wonder if I didn't misinterpret the preparation of the chicken.  I interpreted "cut up" as meaning into little bite-sized bits, but now I'm thinking, since it was listed (as I have it here) in the ingredients, not in the prep work, that maybe the recipe just means broken down into parts (wings, thighs, etc.).  That would also explain why it needs an hour to cook.  I guess I'll have to try that next time.

This ended up being a grand way of using up the dark meat of the chicken that I'm not wild about.  (Join me in heaving a giant sigh at the culturally determined preference for bland white meat that I can't shake.)  As you can probably see from the photos, though, the choice of red onion wasn't the best.  The leftovers looked really unappetizing.  It's a little under-seasoned for the taste of my family, either from time or culture.  I would certainly use more salt, and probably include some herbs for additional flavor.  But it's easy enough to cook and was satisfyingly filling. Not bad for a first venture into a cuisine known for meat boiled in a stomach.  Though to be fair, other cultures used entrails as cooking vessels.  The Scots are just more famous for it than everyone else.