Robert Burns, Burns' Brunch with home-made haggis recipe, the Saltire, Selkirk Grace and selected Scottish Poetry

As January drew to its close, my thoughts turned to Scotland and to our handsome national bard, Robert Burns, who was born on January 25^th, 1759. Our celebration of his birthday was going to be a modest affair: two Scottish ladies and their Greek husbands – so a Burns Brunch rather than the more usual Burns Supper. It is comforting to know that on that day you join a vast global community honouring the memory of this simple Ayrshire ploughman-poet. Certainly the majority of revellers will be Scots, home and far-flung, and those of Scottish lineage. But his work appealed to many of varied backgrounds. For example, in 1956 the Soviet Union became the first country in the world to honour Burns with a postage stamp marking the 160^th anniversary of his death. Michael Jackson was said to be planning to record some of Burns’ songs before his untimely demise; while Bob Dylan has said that Burns' love poem/song, A Red, Red Rose, penned in 1794, was a major source of inspiration for him. Now there’s far-reaching – way before blogs, tweets and You-Tube!

Here you see probably the best-known portrait of Rabbie, painted by Alexander Naysmith in 1787.

 

                                                                                      

First task in preparation was to take the Saltire out for an airing. As I said in my Highland Haj Episode 1 post in January 2013, it’s a family habit as we travel down Lochfyne to check the Inverary Castle for the flag that will indicate that the Duke of Argyll is in residence.   Another more-recently established tradition is for members of my family to be welcomed here by the Scottish national flag fluttering from the flagstaff on our balcony, used to mark high days and holy days.  Imagine my surprise, then, to learn that from 1997 planning permission is required to fly the Saltire - gasp! – has my family unwittingly been party to a heinous act of unlawfulness? Actually, this ruling obtains only in Scotland, not in England and Wales, so I guess we can fly it with abandon here in Macedonia! The flag design is a white St Andrew’s cross on a blue background. For those of a more pedantic nature, it will be of interest to know that this shade of blue was standardised by a committee in 2003 who decided to adopt Pantone 300 as the designated tone : thank goodness for the Scottish Parliament! 

 An interesting tale is recorded by Walter Bower and George Buchan, Scottish chroniclers in the 14^th and 15^th centuries, respectively. Their claim is that the flag originated in 832AD at a battle in what is now Athelstaneford, East Lothian.  They say that an army of Picts and Scots under King Angus II, stood against the Angles.  The night before the battle, Angus is said have dreamt of St Andrew bearing the distinctive diagonal cross on which he was crucified in Patras. Next morning Angus prayed for deliverance and a white cloud saltire formation appeared in the clear blue sky (both quite miraculous phenomena, given our weather!). Interpreting this as spiritual if not divine support, the king ‘repaid’ his victory by naming Andrew as Patron Saint of Scotland. 

The Saint Andrew’s cross as a symbol of Scotland goes back to 1286 when the Guardians of Scotland used this as a seal, and by 1542 a white saltire set against a blue background was depicted as the flag of Scotland. 

Below you can see our cat, Mr Mischief, being rather baffled by and unsure of the whipping sound the flag made in the wind. 

                                         

So, back to our Burns Brunch.  Traditional fare on the bard’s birthday is : haggis, neeps and  mash.

Haggis is a national dish (not unlike the Thracian tzigerosarmas of lamb pluck sometimes encased in cabbage leaves ) of sheep’s pluck ( heart, lungs, liver ) minced and mixed with onion, oatmeal, suet and spices, traditionally  cooked in the animal’s stomach. 

Neeps refers to turnips, a root vegetable we don’t have in Greece, but a fine substitute is a mix of carrot and white radish, boiled, mashed with butter, and well-seasoned with salt and lots of pepper - mmm!

Mash is mashed popato, but real, tasty, firm stuff. Burns liked plain wholesome food and in his address

To A Haggis was disparaging about French ragout and claimed: 

Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware (watery food)

That jaups in luggies   (splashes in bowls)

 Just imagine what he would make of the reconstituted Knorr-type, sloppy ‘mash’!

MacSweens of Edinburgh is the unchallenged King of Haggis-makers and we actually prefer their wonderful vegetarian haggis as a lighter alternative. However, their overseas delivery service is prohibitive for the Greek pocket in these euro-pinching times (it’s the state that pinches our euros!)  

So I found a GoodFood veggie haggis recipe but had to make changes as the original buck wheat and borlotti beans are ingredients not readily found in my larder. Here is my alternative:

  Vegetarian Haggis

Ingredients and Method:

I onion, I carrot and 6 mushrooms, finely chopped – all fried together in a little oil

100 grams of red lentils cooked in 250 ml of vegetable stock, stock retained.

About 10 walnuts chopped and about 30 almonds, skinned, toasted then lightly ground.

3 large spoonfuls of kidney beans, mashed and added along with the lentils and nuts to the onion mixture.

70 gm of bulgur wheat covered in cold water and left to swell.

70 gm of rolled oats

These two ingredients are fried for a few minutes then added with the stock  to the rest of the ingredients in an oven-proof dish.

 Add some oil, soy sauce, gravy browning, lemon juice, salt pepper and garlic salt to taste.

 Stand for 20 minutes for the flavours to blend then cook at 180oC for half an hour or so.

(The original recipe uses almonds and hazelnuts, but since we have almond trees in the garden and had collected walnuts near Mount Olympus – more on that in next blog! – those are what I used)

Below you see the onion mix being fried and, clockwise from the left, assembled ingredients of stock, burgul wheat, kidney beans, walnuts, and almonds in boiling water prior to being skinned.

 

      

Here are all the ingredients in their ovenproof container, with the finished dish on the table accompanied by mashed potato, gravy and the carrot-radish mix/mash. A nice red, red wine helped it all go down a treat. 

         

As I said, ours was a modest affair but tradition must be observed to some extent.  
 So I recited the first verse of 

To A Haggis 

Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face,

Great chieftain o’ the puddin’ race!

 Aboon them a’ ye tak your place,

Painch, tripe or thairm;

Weel are ye wordy o’ a grace

As lang’s my arm.

Glossary: sonsie =   jolly, ample;  painch= stomach;  thairm= small intestine;   wordy= worthy 

Nobody seemed to object to the fact that we were spooning the haggis out, rather than stabbing it with a dirk or dagger, thereby making its sonsie face fa’.

 And, of course, such a meal cannot start without the recitation of the Selkirk Grace, strongly associated with and often attributed to Burns, though a version of it, known as the Galloway Grace was in use in the 17^th century.

Here is the usual version:

The Selkirk Grace 

Some hae meat and canna eat,

And some wad eat that want it;                     ( would like to eat that lack it)

But we hae meat and we can eat,

And sae the Lord be thankit

On that very point, as they say in the debating world, we have good reason for thanking the Lord, the meteorological Greek God, whoever. For below these two pictures show the severity of our winter.  Unlike all of our neighbours who are wrestling with severe storms,  howling cold winds, Siberian snowfalls and fearsome flooding, we are fortunate to have experienced only light snow – enough to seem like someone had dusted the area with icing sugar and to give the atmosphere a beautifully milky glow.

      

 Our doggie, Leon, loved playing in it.

Before I go I’d like to share with you the Burns’ poem that inspired Bob Dylan.

Like much of his work it is simple and heart-felt:      

     

 A Red, Red Rose

My Luve is like a red, red rose,

That’s newly sprung in June;

My luve is like the melodie,

That’s sweetly play’d in tune.            

As fair art thou, my bonie lass,

So deep in luve am I;

And I will luve thee still, my Dear,

Till a’ the seas gang dry.   

            

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my Dear,

 And the rocks melt wi’ the sun;

 And I will luve thee still, my Dear,

While the sands o’ life shall run.

 And fare-thee- weel, my only Luve!

 And fare-thee-weel, a while !

 And I will come again, my Luve,

Tho’ ‘twere ten thousand mile! 

Now there is a lovely romantic note, particularly relevant since we have just celebrated Saint Valentine’s Day.

                                          

                 

One other thing I would like to share with you is a favourite photo of Mr Mischief, fears now dispelled, ‘sitting to attention’ before our national flag – respect !!