Hogmanay is very important in Scotland. Why? Well, any excuse for a party. Scots celebrate Christmas, but Jesus, do they celebrate new year. Christmas is very much a family thing. Hogmanay, on the other hand, is all about community spirit.

In the countryside where I grew up, in the Perth and Kinross area outside Edinburgh, it was the job of the farmer to put something on for all the locals. One of my main childhood memories of Hogmanay is being in a barn with hay bales and upturned potato crates to sit on. People bring food and drink – big kegs of local ale – and there's a ceilidh band and everyone's giving it laldy. All the farmers are dancing Strip the Willow and throwing each other around and round, and at midnight everyone crosses arms and sings Auld Lang Syne to bring in the bells. And if you're 14 or 15 years old, you'd be sipping up the empties and getting in trouble with your parents for being drunk.

As for the food, there's winter soups and stovies – a very traditional dish of beef or lamb cooked with potatoes, onions and stock. Everyone in the Scottish countryside has a haunch of venison in the freezer, so out it comes to make a venison casserole. Everything is served with mashed potatoes. It's good honest winter's food and it can be done fantastically well. I love it. Interview by Killian Fox

Scottish venison

Venison is a fitting dish for a Hogmanay celebration here in Scotland, where we have access to some of the best game in the world at this time of year. Scottish venison is an incredible meat if it's sourced and cooked in the right way. For me, it's one of the wonders of our Scottish larder.

I always ask my gamekeeper to hang my venison for 10 to 12 days to ensure the meat is tender and full of flavour. It's worth the wait and almost heightens the excitement of preparing this wonderful dish. The meat is incredibly tender and flavoursome, largely due to the Scottish deer's diet of grass and vegetation rather than high-energy cereals.

I use roe deer and red deer at the restaurant. While I prefer the gamier flavour of red deer, roe deer can often be more tender. It's certainly worth experimenting, as both taste outstanding at this time of year if you source the meat from a quality supplier. One thing to remember when cooking venison is always to serve it pink or it can be very tough.

Pairing the venison with a natural, seasonal match of fresh, local root vegetables offers a perfect combination and the addition of my homemade rosehip and crab apple jelly gives it an exciting, flavoursome and festive twist.

For the jelly, it's best to cook the crab apple and the rosehip separately as the latter can take longer to soften. This is a real prepare ahead recipe, but as it is Hogmanay it's certainly worth it. I recommend you make the jelly over a few nights when you can fit it in during a busy festive period.

Serve the venison with the celeriac, turnip and beetroot gratin and a rosehip and crab apple jelly

Serves 6
rack of roe deer venison 1.5kg, on the bone
vegetable oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
butter 50g
thyme 2 sprigs

Heat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Heat a large non-stick ovenproof frying pan over a medium heat and add a drizzle of oil. Season the venison joint on both sides with salt and pepper and place in the hot pan. Colour the meat well on all sides for about 4 minutes. Add the butter to the pan and let it melt and foam, then add the thyme and baste the joint with the foaming butter.

Transfer the pan to the oven. Roast the venison for 15 minutes, then check; the meat should still be pink inside. Transfer to a warm platter and leave to rest in a warm place for 10 minutes. Save any juices in the pan.

Slice the venison and arrange on warm plates, reheat any pan juices and drizzle over the meat.

Celeriac, turnip and beetroot gratin

Serves 4-6
unsalted butter 20g
whipping cream 150-200ml
nutmeg a pinch
celeriac ½ head
beetroot 1
turnip ½
salt and pepper

Butter a 20cm gratin dish and set aside. Bring the cream and nutmeg to a simmer in a saucepan and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat the oven to 150C/gas mark 2. Peel the celeriac and slice very thinly – preferably with a mandoline. Peel and slice the beetroot and turnip in the same way. Place a layer of celeriac in the buttered dish, top with beetroot and turnip and repeat until all the vegetables are used, finishing with a layer of celeriac.

Pour the simmering cream mixture over the vegetables so that it covers them generously. Place the dish on a baking tray. Bake for about 1½ hours and then check the vegetables are cooked by inserting a sharp knife. If there is any resistance, put the dish back in the oven for 10 minutes.

Rosehip and crab apple jelly

Serves 4-6
rosehips 100g
crab apples 200g
lemon juice 2
sugar 50g
thyme a sprig

Remove the stalks from the rosehips and place in a large non-stick pan. Cover with water and bring to the boil, then simmer gently until they are soft, topping up with water as required. This can take around an hour.

Pour the rosehips through a muslin cloth into a large bowl and leave the juices to drip through overnight – or for around 12 hours.

Wash the crab apples and chop roughly – there's no need to peel and core them for this recipe. Place them in a pan and cover with water.

Add the juice of one lemon then slowly bring to the boil and simmer gently for around 30 minutes. Pour the cooked fruit through a sterilised muslin cloth, into a large bowl and leave the juices to drip through the muslin overnight – or for around 12 hours.

The next day, pour the juice into a deep heavy-bottomed saucepan and add the 50g sugar. Add the juice of one lemon, then heat the juices and sugar, stirring gently from time to time to dissolve the sugar, before bringing to the boil for around 10 minutes. Test every 3 to 5 minutes until setting point is reached. When the jelly has reached setting point, pour it into warm sterilised jars using a funnel then cover with a lid. Store in a cool, dark place until ready to serve.

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