There's a well-known tale of a pub in Dundee, famed for its stovies, which reluctantly capitulated to fashion by offering a low-calorie special, of stovies with crispbread.
One of the best ways to cook them is in stovies - that heart-warming dish made from four simple ingredients - potatoes, onions, dripping and stock or leftover gravy.
Well, there is also a risotto of wild woodland mushrooms, an asparagus soup or a fillet of Scotch beef with wild mushrooms, stovies, caramelised onions and mustard sauce.
It looked like watery stovies and a forensic examination detected only potatoes, salt cod and a green herb.
Longer nights mean the chance to cosy up to some hearty home-cooking, so give the frozen pizza a miss and sit down to Scotch broth and stovies or haggis and clapshot.
The steak arrived in a bowl of Scottish stovies, which were navvie-pleasingly hearty but limply flavoured.
Origin
Late 19th century: from Scots stove 'stew meat or vegetables', perhaps partly from Dutch stoven.