Andrew Scott, a comedian and film maker from Banff, and Chris Geddes, a musician from New Zealand, created the ScotScran series to highlight some traditional Scottish recipes as well as providing some laughs with a Scottish comedic character that wasn't stereotypically from Edinburgh or Glasgow.
Andrew's alter ego, Dodie McMuckie - who cooks in Buckie - was then born from this desire to show that it's not just the central belt that provides great comedy, as he explains: "I've always dabbled in comedy, having done stand-up and improv, and I always wanted to take it further.
"Dodie came about years ago with a pretty rough and ready video about pancakes, and the concept was one I wanted to expand. Dodie is in part my response to the state of Scottish comedy these days. For as long as I can remember, Scottish comedy has largely meant 'Glasgow Comedy', with a very few exceptions. That style of comedy dominates the scene here.
"Then I saw the film of Sunset Song, completely devoid of so much as a Aberdeenshire accent (let alone Doric dialect), and I knew I wanted to do something that was in the northeast voice. I think it goes well with the food, they're both aggressively local and are just a bit ridiculous in the right light. There's a reason the concept of haggis is the butt of so many jokes. You may as well turn that into a strength."
Dodie's Stovies. Picture: ScotScran
Using hilarious lines like "And this, is where we get the phrase 'Brose afore Hoes'", when describing how traditional Scots farmers would eat some Brose before taking to the fields to work, and referring to Stovies as an "amorphous broon sludge", host cook Dodie is sure to raise a smile or two.
Andrew and Chris hope the videos will shine a light on some of the regional Scots dishes that perhaps those in other parts of the UK, and the rest of the world, haven't heard of, Andrew said: "It occurred to me that most of the things I routinely cooked were not local food. In the grand scheme of global food, Scotland seems to have kept itself very niche, which has preserved its recipes and traditions, but the inverse of that is it hasn't traveled very well.
Dodie's delightful oatcakes. Picture: ScotScran
The videos are already proving popular, and even Dodie's Buckie brogue, something Andrew was worried might not translate well with viewers from outside Scotland, has been well received, he said: "I do worry the accent won't work abroad, but international feedback I've had so far has been pretty positive. They get the gist if not the words."
The pair have created three videos so far with recipes for stovies, brose and oatcakes, and say they plan to make 13 in total, with Halloween, Christmas and Hogmanay specials on top of that.
Andrew jokes that there were originally meant to be 14 episodes but that his three attempts to make Tablet went "very wrong in entirely new ways each time".
He also explained that tablet wasn't the only dish he struggled with, and that one of his home region's most famous dishes, the Buttery, gave him the most problems.
"I'm never making those again. Took absolutely bloody ages, made a hell of a floury mess, and at the end of it all you get these dense pastry discs that take 5 years off your life with every bite," he said jokingly, before adding: "And that's before you put on the extra butter."
Released every Monday, upcoming episodes will include recipes for Shortbread, Cullen Skink and Rumbledethumps.
