Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1941 (SND Vol. II). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1730-1737, 1897, 1985-1988
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BUFF, v.3 To toast before the fire or on a brander a salted herring which has been steeped in fresh water. Also derivs. bufter, buffer, buffie, a buffed herring.Sc. c.1730 in R. Chambers Minor Antiquities (1833) 109:
A gude buff'd herring, reisted skate An' ingans.Per. 1737 Ochtertyre House Booke of Accomps (ed. Colville 1907) 16:
19 Feb. Supper eggs in the shell . . . cold mutton pye . . . bufft harrings . . . a cold fowll.Fif. 1897 “S. Tytler” The Witch-Wife xi.:
The herring taken out of the salt to “buff” or brander before the fire, sending an appetising aroma through the houseplace.Fif. 1985 Christopher Rush A Twelvemonth and a Day 36:
She boiled them, fried them in oatmeal, roasted them on the brander, dished them up as kippers, as bufters, as bloaters, shredded them onto hairy potatoes: producing variety out of monotony. Fif. 1988 Alistair Lawrie et al. eds Glimmer of Cold Brine 54:
Salt herring cooked on a brander were called Buffies or Buffers or Buft Herrin', and making them was a long process.