HE Scots have a wonderful word In her book The Haggis: A Little History, for the cold and gloom at this time Clarissa Dickson Wright relates tales of the of year. Dreich describes superbly Haggis was diplomatic bag being used to sneak the damp, dark days of midwinter “the original supplies into the British Embassy in Twhen the immortal memory of Scotland’s Washington DC, due to the American ban most celebrated poet, Robert Burns, is cele- boil-in-the-bag‘ on imports of sheep’s lung. However, brated on his birth date, January 25. ready meal” Mr Macsween is hopeful of getting a modi- Hot, steaming haggis will be piped in fied haggis into America in time for Burns to Burns suppers across the country on Night 2017. Monday and wherever there are Scottish nearly put off for life by the version served Haggis can be enjoyed anywhere—on the expatriates. The ‘great chieftan o’ the puddin’- in Pollock Halls of Residence, which resembled Caledonian sleeper, in a bap leaning against race’ has become so embedded in the the contents of a can of dog food.’ Happily, the Aga, at a midweek kitchen supper—but national consciousness that Mel Gibson was Scottish friends converted me (after a due it’s Burns and the immortal memory with invited to cook it on a TV show during the amount of teasing about three-legged haggis which it is inextricably entwined. filming of Braveheart and three ‘haggis, neeps being hunted through the heather). When Miss Rae organised her first Burns and tatties’ fences featured at last year’s All the stockists listed (see box) have been Night supper, she was ‘seized by a not European eventing championships at Blair recommended by Scottish Country Life entirely accurate nostalgia, a yearning for Castle. (However, due to the typically Scottish something I hadn’t really experienced’, summer, the ‘haggis’ element had to be Burns suppers being largely men-only removed, as so many horses struggled affairs when she was a young girl to jump it out of the deep mud.) growing up in Dundee. However, However, the origins of haggis with 20 friends crammed around are as obscure as Scotch mist. her dining table, the Address read Savoury puddings boiled in an ani- ‘magnificently’ by Paddy O’Connell mal’s stomach are universal and of Radio 4’s Broadcasting date back to at least Ancient Greece. House, the drink flowing (the The food writer Nichola Fletcher trombonist drank most of the —who, for many years, produced 10-year-old Macallan) and the a venison haggis at her deer farm humble fare carefully cooked and near Auchtermuchty in Fife—dis- presented, it was, she recalls, ‘a most closes that the first references to haggis enjoyably rumbustious affair’. she has found are in 15th-century English ‘Gie her As Burns himself recommended: cookbooks. Isn’t claiming haggis as an a Haggis!’ Oh, go ‘But, if ye wish her gratefu prayer,/Gie English dish, as Burns himself might have on then. Tatties and her a Haggis!’ Just remember to hide the said, a bit ‘warm-reekin rich’? a dram of whisky, too, please best Scotch. Not at all, contends Mrs Fletcher, ‘but it was Robert Burns who turned it into iconic readers for the ‘honest sonsie faces’ and Scottish food. This is peasant food. It’s the ‘gushing entrails’ of their haggis. Where to buy haggis sort of thing you want to eat when you’ve The rituals of Burns Night are reassur- ❍ Macsween, stocked in most come back from hill walking. When you’re ingly familiar. After the Selkirk Grace, the supermarkets (0131–440 2555; wet and cold, haggis, neeps and tatties are haggis is piped in (one proud Scot in exile, www.macsween.co.uk) as good as it gets.’ the Radio 4 newsreader Susan Rae, once ❍ Findlays of Portobello, Edinburgh James Macsween, whose Edinburgh fac- improvised with a trombone player at her (www.findlaysthebutchers.co.uk; tory sells some £4 million of haggis a year, London flat). The Address is read and, at the 0131–669 4559) points out that Burns’s Address to a Haggis appropriate point, the haggis is pierced ❍ Lindsay Grieve, Hawick, isn’t just a celebration of this poor man’s with a dagger (the sgian-dubh) and served Roxburghshire (01450 372109; dish, it’s also a biting satire on the preten- with neeps (what the English think of as www.lindsaygrievehaggis.com) tions of the Scottish bourgeoisie of the orange-fleshed swedes) and tatties. Then, ❍ Brian Devlin Butchers, Dollar, time. The ‘ploughman poet’s’ praise of the there’s the Toast to the Lasses and response; Clackmannanshire (01259 42139) unpretentious haggis was in stark contrast later, there are recitals of Burns’s poetry, ❍ to the dainty French dishes favoured by the often singing and sometimes a ceilidh. The three butchers in Castle aristocracy, who turned their noses up Don’t slosh a dram over your meal, says Douglas, Dumfries & Galloway’s food town: Ballards (01556 502501; at such unpretentious fare. Mr Macsween, as it’s ‘a waste of good whisky www.ballardsbutchers.co.uk), Haggis, jokes Mr Macsween, was ‘the and good haggis’. He advises that it’s best Grierson Bros (01556 502637; ‘Great chieftain original boil-in-the-bag ready meal’. The only accompanied by a full-bodied red wine www.griersonbros.co.uk) and stipulation is that it must contain offal. Mr or a dark beer. S. Henderson (01556 502654) Macsween’s features minced lamb and beef, Mr Macsween estimates he’ll attend a dozen ❍ For a great haggis supper, visit oatmeal, onions, seasoning and spices. He Burns suppers this month, including one o’ the puddin’-race’ The Bay Fish & Chips, Stonehaven, also makes a three-bird haggis, a venison in Brussels. Expatriates will go to extreme Aberdeenshire (01569 762000; www. one and two vegetarian versions, which are lengths to feast on their national dish. Prof thebayfishandchips.com) It might be made from sheep’s offal and forever associated with Scotland’s surprisingly popular with meat eaters. Martin Hogg of Edinburgh Law School Mrs Fletcher adds that haggis should be remembers a Burns supper in Regensburg ❍ Nichola Fletcher’s book, Ultimate infamous bard, but haggis—which will be consumed around the world at Burns nicely peppery, but warns that ‘there’s a lot in Germany at the height of the BSE crisis, Venison Cookery, contains a recipe for haggis (01337 828369; www. of disgusting haggis out there’. As an under- when one of the guests ‘had to smuggle suppers this week—is as popular as it ever was, says Flora Watkins nicholafletcher.com) Andrew Milligan/PA Archive/PA Images;graduate foodfolio/Alamy at Edinburgh University, I was a large quantity of haggis in his luggage’.

www.countrylife.co.uk Country Life, January 20, 2016 57