Traditional Burns’ Night Dishes
The annual celebration of Burns’ Night commemorates the famous Scottish poet Robert Burns (with celebrations generally held on the poet’s birthday on the 25th January). Burns’ Night is held to remember and celebrate the contribution that the poet Robert Burns made to Scottish literature and culture. Well known as the ‘plough man poet’ Burns worked as a tenant farmer throughout his life, becoming an excise collector a few years prior to his death.
As a farmer, Robert Burns’ love for food, especially traditional Scottish fare, is a large part of celebrations. These include the ‘Burns’ supper’ where traditional Scottish dishes are served to commemorate Burns, with his most loved poems read aloud and enjoyed by the diners. The first Burns’ Night supper was organised by John Ballantine and Reverend Hamilton Paul, who invited nine guests to Burns’ home in Alloway for a hearty dinner of sheep’s head and haggis. The practice gained popularity, and while sheep’s head is no longer a feature of the table, there is a variety of traditional Scottish dishes served each Burns’ Night.
Many of the dishes served on Burns’ Night, such as haggis and black pudding, can be difficult to find outside of a butchers, many of which will add their own flair to the end product.
The Dishes
To celebrate the life of Robert Burns, traditional Scottish fare is served around the country during a Burns’ Supper, to celebrate his life and achievements. To participate in the tradition many families around the world will cook up a proper feast of haggis, neeps and tatties for the crowd. Here are a few of the Burns’ Night dishes that are enjoyed each year:
A thick soup made with haddock, onions, potatoes and cream, this is a traditional Scottish favourite that is served as a part of a Burns’ Night menu around the world. Originally made with beef scrapings, the transition from beef to smoked haddock was made in the town of Cullen, which was a thriving fish port, creating the soup we know today. This dish is easy to make at home after picking up a smoked haddock, with a variety of recipes to try.
Burns was roaming Scotland between 1759 and 1796. During this period, it was common to eat as much of the meat from each slaughtered animal as possible. Dishes such as oxtail, lamb’s heart or liver were far more common than they are today . The practice of eating from ‘nose to tail’ is the principle of using as much of the animal as possible to reduce waste. At the original Burns’ Night Supper, the guests were served a spread made up of haggis, a dish created to help serve less popular cuts of meat, and sheep’s head, a dish that is extremely rare in the modern day. In order to honour the poet’s life there is a range of traditional dishes that utilise unusual cuts of meat, or organs. Here at Ian Chatfield Butchers & Deli we are committed to finding a use for as many cuts of meat as possible. To find out more, follow this link.
While this dish may have originally been a French dish of chicken and onions, after centuries the dish has taken on a wonderful local flavour. Cock-a-Leekie soup is a Scottish classic, with the sweet taste of the leek and delicious chicken stock combining to create a fantastic dish. The dish is generally made after simmering a whole chicken in a pot in order to create the fantastic broth that the dish is famous for. In order to make a perfect soup it is crucial that you find a fantastic chicken to use. While some traditional recipes still include prunes in the dish, some now leave them out, so you can decide if you want to add that extra burst of sweetness that the prunes add to the flavour. If you are interested in cooking Cock-a-Leekie soup our butchers offers some beautiful poultry for our customers to enjoy. To peruse what we have to offer, follow this link to our website.
This most famous of Burns’ Night dishes is a must on any Burns’ Night menu. The combination of potatoes, haggis and turnips is an iconic celebration of Scottish cuisine. Haggis is made from the diced innards of a sheep, such as the heart, lungs and liver, combined and boiled in a sheep’s stomach. Many believe that this dish was created as a way to preserve the innards of hunted animals which would otherwise be wasted. Today a haggis often contains chopped onions, suet, oatmeal and spices that often create a similar texture to a sausage. This dish was celebrated by Burns himself, who wrote the poem ‘Address to a Haggis’ in order to immortalise his love for this unique Scottish dish.
No meal is complete without a dessert, especially on Burns’ Night. The cranachan, also known as a ‘cream crowdie’, is an incredible Scottish dish similar to a trifle. The dish combines oatmeal, cream, raspberries and whisky to make a very Scottish dessert. Cranachan is arguably the most famous and accessible of the traditional desserts served on Burns’ Night, and while it was originally served only when raspberries were in season, the pudding is now a popular dish year around.
Robert Burns
This incredible poet is known for his wish to be known as a Scots bard, with his poetry written in the Scots vernacular, which even when Burns was an active poet was falling into disuse with the spread of purely English culture within the British Isles. The shift towards English vernacular and cultural hegemony began in 1603 when King James VI of Scotland became King James I of England, and in the following centuries the erosion of Scottish culture and tradition continued steadily, with very little record of the Scottish vernacular style recorded.
Burns is often considered a precursor of the Romantic poets, due to his focus on nature and pastoral life, as well as the disregard for authority that became central to some of the most celebrated poets of the romantic era. Many 18th century poets were inspired by Burns’ work and his literary influence is felt to this day.
If you are planning a Burns’ Night dinner for your family and friends, please visit us at Ian Chatfield Butchers & Deli for some incredible Scottish fare for your celebration. If you wish to enquire about the availability of your favourite dishes, then please contact us here.
