{"id":1155,"date":"2013-01-25T14:01:07","date_gmt":"2013-01-25T14:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xislblogs.xtreamlab.net\/slwoods\/?p=1155"},"modified":"2013-01-25T14:01:07","modified_gmt":"2013-01-25T14:01:07","slug":"haggis-a-poetic-dish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.slwoods.co.uk\/?p=1155","title":{"rendered":"Haggis – a poetic dish"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"portrait
The Bard of Ayrshire. Picture courtesy of Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>Today, 25th January is the birthday of Robert (or Rabbie) Burns<\/a> (1759 \u2013 21 July 1796), Scotland’s most celebrated poet. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language, although much of his writing is also in English and a light Scots dialect, making his works accessible to an audience beyond Scotland. He also wrote in standard English and this brought out his bluntest political and civil commentaries.<\/p>\n

Burns is also regarded as a pioneer of the Romantic movement and after his death he became a great source of inspiration to the founders of both liberalism and socialism, as well as a cultural hero in Scotland and the Scottish diaspora around the world.<\/p>\n

Rabbie’s birthday is now traditionally celebrated by a Burns Night supper, of which haggis<\/a> is an essential ingredient, traditionally accompanied by ‘neeps’ (turnips or swede) and ‘tatties’ (potatoes). One gets the impression that Rabbie was rather fond of haggis, since in 1786 he wrote “Address To A Haggis”, which is reproduced below.<\/p>\n

Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face,
\nGreat chieftain o’ the pudding-race!
\nAboon them a’ yet tak your place,
\nPainch, tripe, or thairm:
\nWeel are ye wordy o’a grace
\nAs lang’s my arm.<\/p>\n

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
\nYour hurdies like a distant hill,
\nYour pin was help to mend a mill
\nIn time o’need,
\nWhile thro’ your pores the dews distil
\nLike amber bead.<\/p>\n

His knife see rustic Labour dight,
\nAn’ cut you up wi’ ready sleight,
\nTrenching your gushing entrails bright,
\nLike ony ditch;
\nAnd then, O what a glorious sight,
\nWarm-reekin’, rich!<\/p>\n

Then, horn for horn, they stretch an’ strive:
\nDeil tak the hindmost! on they drive,
\nTill a’ their weel-swall’d kytes belyve
\nAre bent like drums;
\nThen auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
\nBethankit! hums.<\/p>\n

Is there that owre his French ragout
\nOr olio that wad staw a sow,
\nOr fricassee wad make her spew
\nWi’ perfect sconner,
\nLooks down wi’ sneering, scornfu’ view
\nOn sic a dinner?<\/p>\n

Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
\nAs feckles as wither’d rash,
\nHis spindle shank, a guid whip-lash;
\nHis nieve a nit;
\nThro’ blody flood or field to dash,
\nO how unfit!<\/p>\n

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
\nThe trembling earth resounds his tread.
\nClap in his walie nieve a blade,
\nHe’ll mak it whissle;
\nAn’ legs an’ arms, an’ hands will sned,
\nLike taps o’ trissle.<\/p>\n

Ye Pow’rs, wha mak mankind your care,
\nAnd dish them out their bill o’ fare,
\nAuld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
\nThat jaups in luggies;
\nBut, if ye wish her gratefu’ prayer
\nGie her a haggis!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Haggis,<\/a>
Haggis, neeps and tatties.<\/figcaption><\/figure>I’m looking forward to some haggis, neeps and tatties this evening at The Volunteer Tavern<\/a> in St Judes, Bristol, beautifully prepared by Mark the chef, as well as a wee dram or two to wash it all down. I’m also looking forward to the other courses, starting with cock-a-leekie soup or Scotch broth for starters finishing with cranachan<\/a> for dessert.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, I might also have to find time to bone up on the Address above as I might<\/em> have to do it. <\/p>\n

If you are celebrating Burns Night too, do enjoy it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, 25th January is the birthday of Robert (or Rabbie) Burns (1759 \u2013 21 July 1796), Scotland’s most celebrated poet. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language, although much of his writing is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[14,16,25,22],"class_list":["post-1155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-translation-and-language-related-matters","tag-dialect","tag-english-usage","tag-food","tag-language"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slwoods.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slwoods.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slwoods.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slwoods.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slwoods.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1155"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.slwoods.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1162,"href":"https:\/\/www.slwoods.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155\/revisions\/1162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slwoods.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slwoods.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slwoods.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}