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Storytime Tapestry Newsletter
The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural
awareness throughout the world.
Welcome to Fascinating Facts and Tantalizing Trivia
A Hartson Dowd Column
Jan 25,
2007
January 25th is the date of the most celebrated Scottish event in Canada.
This is “
Storytime Tapestry Newsletter
The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural
awareness throughout the world.
Welcome to Fascinating Facts and Tantalizing Trivia
A Hartson Dowd Column
Jan 25,
2007
January 25th is the date of the most celebrated Scottish event in Canada.
This is “Burns Night,” held to honour the favourite Scottish poet,
Robert Burns, born on this day in 1759.
All across Canada, in Scottish
clubs, in community centres and in private homes, commemorative dinners are
served, nearly always beginning with the traditional “haggis.”
Several years ago, we were delighted to be invited to the home of
friends who hailed from Scotland. Not everyone there was of Scottish
background, but you could never have guessed.
All the men sported kilts, knee socks, ruffled shirts and velvet
jackets. The ladies were also
beautifully attired in Scottish garb and ready to participate (if not enjoy) in
the haggis. A good friend of the host
played the bagpipes and “piped ion the haggis” which was ready to be
carved. It has become quite a ceremonial
ritual to pipe in and carve the haggis.
During dinner we were each called upon to read a poem or propose a toast
to the famous poet. After dinner we
watched their children dance to their favourite Scottish music. At the close of the evening we stood and
formed a circle, linked hands before singing the best known of all Bobbie
Burns’ works, “Auld Lang Syne.”
THE FORMAT FOR A
BURNS SUPPER
Chairperson's opening
address
A few welcoming words start the evening and the meal commences with the Selkirk
Grace.
Some hae meat and cannot eat.
Some cannot eat that want it:
But we hae meat and we can eat,
Sae let the Lord be thankit.
The company are asked to stand to receive
the haggis. A piper then leads the chef, carrying the haggis to the top table,
while the guests accompany them with a slow handclap. The chairman or invited
guest then recites Burns' famous poem To A Haggis,
with great enthusiasm. When he reaches the line 'an cut you up wi' ready
slight', he cuts open the haggis with a sharp knife.
It's customary for the company to applaud
the speaker then stand and toast the haggis with a glass of whisky.
The company will then dine. A typical Bill o' Fare
would be:
Cock-a-leekie soup
Haggis warm reeking,
rich wi' Champit Tatties,
Bashed Neeps
*
Tyspy Laird (sherry
trifle)
*
A Tassie o' Coffee
The Immortal Memory
One of the central features of the evening. An invited guest is asked to give a
short speech on Burns. There are many different types of Immortal Memory
speeches, from light-hearted to literary, but the aim is the same - to outline
the greatness and relevance of the poet today.
Recipe for making
“HAGGIS”
|
METHOD
|
|
To
make a modern haggis, the pluck (liver, heart, lights or lungs) is washed and
put to boil until tender. When cool, the meat is chopped or minced finely and
mixed with the oatmeal, onions, salt, pepper and spices. It's then put again
through a coarser mincer. The mixture is moistened, usually with meat gravy,
put into a filler and pumped into the prepared natural, or artificial casings
which are then sealed. The haggis is then cooked in boiling water for about
an hour, depending on size, the mixture swells up to fill the skins, then
it's left to cool. An independent butcher specializing in haggis might make
an annual 200 tons, while a large meat-processing company may make the same
amount in a month. It is also sold tinned. The weight can vary from 75-100g/3-4oz
(individual size) to 4-5kg/8-10lb 'Chieftain' haggis which would feed 20. An
average over-the-counter haggis to feed a family of four is around
250g-500g/1/2-1lb.
|
|
Cooking and Serving
|
|
The safest way of reheating a whole cooked haggis is in the OVEN. Wrap it in
foil, in its skin, and heat it through in the oven gas mark 4/180C/375F for
30 minutes per 250g/8oz haggis.
For
reheating in a MICROWAVE, the outer casing should be removed. Allow
approximately 8-10 minutes on high for 500g/1lb haggis.
Re-boiling in hot water is risky since the haggis may burst and does not make
good soup.
|
|
Haggis without meat
|
|
A 'sweet' meatless haggis recipe has been handed down through my family for
four generations. It is something akin to the Hebridean Marag, a steamed
pudding made with flour, oatmeal, beef suet, dried fruit, and a little sugar.
Though the ingredients are the same, the sweet haggis is less solid, more
crumbly in texture. Another mention of a similar meatless Scottish haggis is
in Dorothy Hartley's Food in England (1954) under the description of 'Gold
Belly' which she describes as a version of an 'English oatmeal pudding;
Scotch mountain recipe'.
In
1984 an Edinburgh butcher, John Macsween, was challenged by Scottish poet
Tessa Ransford to make a vegetarian haggis for the Burns Supper opening of
the Scottish Poetry Library. After a number of experiments, he developed a
recipe with kidney beans and nuts. The enthusiastic response from guests and
press encouraged him to start making the meatless haggis commercially. The
volume of production has increased steadily every year.
The Macsween meatless haggis is made with oatmeal,
water, vegetable margarine, kidney beans, lentils, mixed nuts, carrots,
turnip, onions, mushrooms, salt, pepper, spices, and is suitable for vegans.
To make it, the lentils, black beans, onions and oatmeal are soaked in water
overnight; the next day the mushrooms are washed, the turnips and carrots
peeled and chopped and put through a fine mince along with the black beans
and mushrooms. The mixture then goes through a coarser mincer with the
lentils, oatmeal and onions. It is seasoned, and melted margarine is added
and mixed in. The mixture is then fed into a 'filler' which pumps it into the
skins which are sealed and boiled in water.
|
Hartson Dowd
hsdowd@telus.net
,” held to honour the favourite Scottish poet,
Robert Burns, born on this day in 1759.
All across Canada, in Scottish
clubs, in community centres and in private homes, commemorative dinners are
served, nearly always beginning with the traditional “haggis.”
Several years ago, we were delighted to be invited to the home of
friends who hailed from Scotland. Not everyone there was of Scottish
background, but you could never have guessed.
All the men sported kilts, knee socks, ruffled shirts and velvet
jackets. The ladies were also
beautifully attired in Scottish garb and ready to participate (if not enjoy) in
the haggis. A good friend of the host
played the bagpipes and “piped ion the haggis” which was ready to be
carved. It has become quite a ceremonial
ritual to pipe in and carve the haggis.
During dinner we were each called upon to read a poem or propose a toast
to the famous poet. After dinner we
watched their children dance to their favourite Scottish music. At the close of the evening we stood and
formed a circle, linked hands before singing the best known of all Bobbie
Burns’ works, “Auld Lang Syne.”
THE FORMAT FOR A
BURNS SUPPER
Chairperson's opening
address
A few welcoming words start the evening and the meal commences with the Selkirk
Grace.
Some hae meat and cannot eat.
Some cannot eat that want it:
But we hae meat and we can eat,
Sae let the Lord be thankit.
The company are asked to stand to receive
the haggis. A piper then leads the chef, carrying the haggis to the top table,
while the guests accompany them with a slow handclap. The chairman or invited
guest then recites Burns' famous poem To A Haggis,
with great enthusiasm. When he reaches the line 'an cut you up wi' ready
slight', he cuts open the haggis with a sharp knife.
It's customary for the company to applaud
the speaker then stand and toast the haggis with a glass of whisky.
The company will then dine. A typical Bill o' Fare
would be:
Cock-a-leekie soup
Haggis warm reeking,
rich wi' Champit Tatties,
Bashed Neeps
*
Tyspy Laird (sherry
trifle)
*
A Tassie o' Coffee
The Immortal Memory
One of the central features of the evening. An invited guest is asked to give a
short speech on Burns. There are many different types of Immortal Memory
speeches, from light-hearted to literary, but the aim is the same - to outline
the greatness and relevance of the poet today.
Recipe for making
“HAGGIS”
|
METHOD
|
|
To
make a modern haggis, the pluck (liver, heart, lights or lungs) is washed and
put to boil until tender. When cool, the meat is chopped or minced finely and
mixed with the oatmeal, onions, salt, pepper and spices. It's then put again
through a coarser mincer. The mixture is moistened, usually with meat gravy,
put into a filler and pumped into the prepared natural, or artificial casings
which are then sealed. The haggis is then cooked in boiling water for about
an hour, depending on size, the mixture swells up to fill the skins, then
it's left to cool. An independent butcher specializing in haggis might make
an annual 200 tons, while a large meat-processing company may make the same
amount in a month. It is also sold tinned. The weight can vary from 75-100g/3-4oz
(individual size) to 4-5kg/8-10lb 'Chieftain' haggis which would feed 20. An
average over-the-counter haggis to feed a family of four is around
250g-500g/1/2-1lb.
|
|
Cooking and Serving
|
|
The safest way of reheating a whole cooked haggis is in the OVEN. Wrap it in
foil, in its skin, and heat it through in the oven gas mark 4/180C/375F for
30 minutes per 250g/8oz haggis.
For
reheating in a MICROWAVE, the outer casing should be removed. Allow
approximately 8-10 minutes on high for 500g/1lb haggis.
Re-boiling in hot water is risky since the haggis may burst and does not make
good soup.
|
|
Haggis without meat
|
|
A 'sweet' meatless haggis recipe has been handed down through my family for
four generations. It is something akin to the Hebridean Marag, a steamed
pudding made with flour, oatmeal, beef suet, dried fruit, and a little sugar.
Though the ingredients are the same, the sweet haggis is less solid, more
crumbly in texture. Another mention of a similar meatless Scottish haggis is
in Dorothy Hartley's Food in England (1954) under the description of 'Gold
Belly' which she describes as a version of an 'English oatmeal pudding;
Scotch mountain recipe'.
In
1984 an Edinburgh butcher, John Macsween, was challenged by Scottish poet
Tessa Ransford to make a vegetarian haggis for the Burns Supper opening of
the Scottish Poetry Library. After a number of experiments, he developed a
recipe with kidney beans and nuts. The enthusiastic response from guests and
press encouraged him to start making the meatless haggis commercially. The
volume of production has increased steadily every year.
The Macsween meatless haggis is made with oatmeal,
water, vegetable margarine, kidney beans, lentils, mixed nuts, carrots,
turnip, onions, mushrooms, salt, pepper, spices, and is suitable for vegans.
To make it, the lentils, black beans, onions and oatmeal are soaked in water
overnight; the next day the mushrooms are washed, the turnips and carrots
peeled and chopped and put through a fine mince along with the black beans
and mushrooms. The mixture then goes through a coarser mincer with the
lentils, oatmeal and onions. It is seasoned, and melted margarine is added
and mixed in. The mixture is then fed into a 'filler' which pumps it into the
skins which are sealed and boiled in water.
|
Hartson Dowd
hsdowd@telus.net
|
|
