The Art and Mystery of Food

Apple Charlotte

2009-02-16T02:46:05-08:00

Above: Charlotte de pommes avec Crème d'oiseau d'Alfred et confitures de Griotte.

If there was ever a dessert that could be described as "quintessentially British" it wduld be the Apple Charlotte. Actually this is a bit of a cheat as a quick google search indicates that pretty much any introduction to this dessert involves phrases like "quintessentially British" or "typically British", "traditional British" or even "much loved Britsh". Although I imagine that by "British", these various commentators actually mean "English". So lets just say that Apple Charlotte is a much loved tradional English dessert, up there with bread and butter pudding and gooseberry fool.

For those of you that have no idea what an Apple Charlotte is, basically it is made by lining a mould with buttered bread slices, filling this with cooked apples, baking it in an oven and unmoulding the dessert once the bread as crisped up and the filling as warmed through. It is a homey dish that looks lovely and tastes delicious with relatively little effort - in effect exactly the what is required when listing the qualities of a "traditional British dessert".

But is it "British"? Well the "Oxford Companion to Food" thinks so, in has this to say "It seems clear that this charlotte began life in Britain". Fair enough, as they point out the earliest unequivocal reference to Apple Charlotte is a poem written in 1896.

"...The big round dumplin rolling from the pot,
The pudding of the bag, whose quivering breast,
With suet lined, leads on the Yankee feast;
The Charlotte brown, within whose crusty sides
A belly soft the pulpy apple hides..."

The only problem with this is that the author of the poem is Joel Barlow, would wan't British or even English, in fact he was a Connecticut Yankee. Barlow states that the poem was written in 1893 while in Chambray, Savoy (Savoie, which is in France). Having said that Barlow also spent time in London - until poscribed by the British government and made a citizen of France in 1792. So if we look at the Barlow evidence for Apple Charlotte as an British dish, we are on shaky ground. One of the other lines of evidence that the Apple Charlotte is British, is that the first recipe in print is from the early 19th centuries greatest English cookbook, "A New System of Cookery" by Maria Rundell (1807). In fact there are two earlier recipe from 1806, John Simpson's "A Complete System of Cookery, on a Plan Entirely New" and Viard's "Le Cuisinier Impérial",the latter being a French cookbook, in fact on of the more important French cookbooks of the 19th century.

So is Apple Charlotte French then? Well certainly "Charlotte de pommes" is and there are numerous references in the early years of the 19th century to this dish, including a reference to the "Charlotte de pommes" and "Charlotte aux confitures" on the menu of the La Grande Taverne de Londres, the first smart restaurant in Paris. Several other references suggest that the dish was a known dish in Paris by the begining of the 19th century. To date there are no references as early from British sources. So was this dish a new French invention at the end of the 18th century, or does it have earlier roots? Possibly. I tend to agree with numerous commentators from the end of the 19th century onwards that the French "Charlotte" is likely to be a reworking of the another dish known as variously as Schaleth, Schalet or Schalat. This is a western European Jewish pudding that is a form of the word "cholent" (a savory slow cooked stew). There are various recipes of this sweet dish, any one of which could be be an ancestral form of the Charlotte. There are another group of similar dishes found throughout the Russian culinary sphere, know as "Sharlotka/Scharlotka", which are suggested to be derived from the "British" Charlotte, equally or even more likely, they could be derived from the Jewish dish.

So is Apple Charlotte British? Well yes, obviously it is. If British people claim it as their own then that is the only important point. The fact that the history of the dish takes it outwith the UK doesn't change the quintessentially British nature of the dish. There is an unfortunately tendency for some people to use history as a prop for there own lack of confidence, they must have it that if something is British, French, Australian et al., then is was born an bred there. Has this every been true for any nation? It certainly isn't true for the Apple Charlotte.

Haggis Step by Step Guide

2009-02-02T00:00:55-08:00

Above: the pluck

Above: Pluck after boiling for an hour.

Above: Minced lung and heart, with grated liver.

Above: Prepared pluck with the other ingredient; suet, pinhead oats, spice (pepper, mace, allspice), herbs (marjoram, parsley, pennyroyal, thyme, winter savory) and salt.

Above: Soaked Ox bung (caecum) stuffed with haggis mixture. Note only 1/2 full.

Above: Bung just after putting into a fish kettle.

Above: Haggis after 1.5 hours of simmering.

Above: Haggis, 'neeps and tatties.

Hot-pot and the Poor

2008-09-06T23:20:22-07:00

Previously I have discussed the origins of Hot-pot and stressed the point that most early sources that mention the dish come from quite high status sources, rather then pointing to a more humble origin as is commonly assumed. Moreover, I also stressed that there was a wider variety of ingredients in these early recipes then is also commonly allowed in an authentic Hot-pot.

However, it is not possible to avoid the fact that most people associate this dish not with men's clubs and upper-middle class dinner parties, but with simple family meals. If asked to suggest a likely origin of the dish, most people will mention mills or mining, in other words Hot-pot is perceived as originating with the very poor. So how did the image of Hot-pot become so firmly associated as a dish for the very poor?

Part of the answer to this is that it was made a dish of the poor. By the 1870's (some 30 years or so after the first mention of the dish), charities begun distributing this dish at Christmas to the poor in Liverpool. Specifically the "deserving poor". As William Simpson, the originator of Christmas Hot-pot fund was a teetotal and a crusader for purity, one assumes that the deserving poor where those of the poor that didn't drink alcohol. Simpson originally distributed 100 Hot-pots in 1876, after his death in 1883 David Radcliffe, the Mayor of Liverpool gained popularity and media attention by distributing 1000 Hot-pots to the poor of Liverpool in 1885. In fact, Radcliffe was only one of several charities that distributed Hot-pots to the Liverpool poor at Christmas.

The annual distribution of Christmas Hot-pots in Liverpool was widely reported, which means that not only is that a great deal of commentary, there are also some period illustrations of the even (see below). Essentially the construction of the Hot-pots were contracted out to various cooks, they were then cooked in ovens at the Liverpool Townhall or at local bakeries. The distribution to the "deserving poor" was undertaken by representative ministers of all religious denomination (I assume this means Christian).

In terms of composition, each Hot-pot contained 3 lb of meat and 5-7 lb of potatoes. Interestingly enough the meat is described as "excellent beef or mutton", which will come as a blow to those that insist that an authentic Lancashire Hot-pot is made with mutton only. No mention is made of the exact cut of meat, but the illustration indicates that the whole animal was used, which makes sense really as it would be rather a waste of resources to cut the best end of mutton chops out of enough animals to make 1000 Hot-pots!

This annual even seems to have continued throughout the 19th century and potentially into the 20th century. In fact is is quite common even now in the locality for fund raising or charitable events to involve a "Hot-pot Supper".

So entering the 20th century this dish has two main forms, a middle-class dinner dish which often contained oysters, kidneys as well as mutton and potatoes, and a dish made as an especially annual treat for the poor which contained mutton/beef and potatoes. It would seem obvious to me that there is likely to be substantial cross over between the two, however much people would desire there to be one authentic and true recipe.

Note: These images from the "Illustrated London News" (1885), contain what I think is the earliest image of a Hot-pot vessel. These look very much like bread panchions or pankins. More on this later.

Above: Unloading the supplies. Note that this looks to be beef, given the scale of the joints.

Above: Distribution of the prepared Hot-pots. The bearded chap looking out of the illustration is the Mayor, David Radcliffe.

Above: A detail of a crone and a waif with their Hot-pot. The poor waif is so deserving it seems that 10 lbs of Hot-pot and more is no burden at all.

Above: David Radcliffe showing the supplies to the great and good.

View this photo

Hot-Pot Revisited

2008-07-26T22:43:30-07:00

Over a year ago I speculated on the origins of Hot-pot, since this time I have collected some more information and formed a few more ideas. Originally, I speculated that there may be a connection between the familar hot-pot of mutton and potatoes and the earlier "Hot-pot" which was a posset type drink of enriched ale. In the last year I have found little evidence to suggest any connection other then the same name, so I now doubt that there is any direct relatioship.

An additional query that I have followed up is Thackeray's reference to the a Colonel Newcome who was "..great at making hash mutton, hot-pot, curry..". Newcome's character was based on the types of Anglo-Indian personalities that Thackeray was familiar with from his own family background and also from establishments such as the "Oriental Club" in London. Could hot-pot have origins outwith the UK? As it turns out one of the earliest recipes published for "Hot-pot" comes from the chef of the Oriental Club (see below, Richard Terry). Unfortunately, I have found no other Anglo-Indian connections. However, Terry's recipe may be an adaption of an earlier recipe from either The American Stranger’s Guide to London and Liverpool at the Table, 1859 or London at Table, 1851. The latter recipe is definately based on the earlier work. While both these books were published anonymously, "London at Table" appears on the list of works attributed to Lord William Pitt Lennox. Lennox served in the army with Wellington, but is best known as an anecdotalist. Lennox's seems to have served as the source of inspiration for the more up-maket recipes for Lancashire Hot-pot. But the 1930's "Florence White", an early collector of regional English recipes was able to give a near identical recipe as the particular version found in Bolton (Lancashire). Here I have listed several early examples of up-market form of "Hot-pot". While the recipes are closely related, some said to be connected to Lancashire, some are not.

London at Table, 1851 (Lord William Pitt Lennox)

At the bottom of the table, startling as it may sound, let there be a hotpot ; and as we are in a generous frame of mind, we will give to the public at large a receipt for one of the very best, most economical, and easily dressed dishes in the world, as Apollo sings, " Ply me, try me, prove, ere you deny me." The lean part of a loin of mutton, cut into small cutlets. Four mutton kidneys cut into slices, a quarter of a hundred oysters boiled and bearded, four or five potatoes peeled and cut into small slices ; mix the latter together, and put a handful into the bottom of a white earthen pot, or turtle mug, large enough to hold the whole of the above ; then a layer of mutton, oysters, and kidneys, after that a layer of potatoes and onions, then mutton, continually sprinkling pepper and salt betwixt each layer. When the pot is full, pile on the top a good lot of mashed potatoes, and bake in a moderate oven three hours ; before sending to table fill up with good gravy.

The American Stranger’s Guide to London and Liverpool at the Table, 1859

......followed by a Paté de Lancashire, vulgarly called Hot Pot. As many may doubt the merits of this popular dish,……….the following receipt is given: The lean part of a loin of mutton, cut into small cutlets. Four mutton kidneys pounded, a quarter of a hundred oysters bearded, four or five potatoes peeled and cut into small slices; mix together, and put a handful into the bottom of a white earthen pot, after that a layer of potatoes and onions, then mutton, &c., as before, until the pot is full; continually sprinkling pepper, salt, and a pinch of curry powder betwixt each layer. When the pot is full, pile on the top a good lot of potatoes, bake in a moderate oven three hours; before sending to the table. Fill up with good game gravy.

Indian Cookery, Richard Terry, 1861

Cut 8 pieces of lean mutton the size of a walnut, take the skin from 3 kidneys, and cut each into three; place these in a strong pudding basin, with one onion, 2 potatoes, sliced, a little macaroni, and 3-doz of oysters, season all well with black pepper and salt, fill the basin with stock, and place in an oven ¾ of an hour; take the basin out, and cover the top with mashed potatoes; place again in the oven for half an hour or until brown; when done, pin a napkin round, and serve.

Dinners and dinner-parties by George Vincent, 1862

Hot-pot (for eight persons) A Lancashire dish, is much liked; so much so, that every one at the table always partakes of it, and most persons make their dinner of it. This dish must be made in a fireproof pan, resembling in shape a turtle-mug or cheese-pan. Cut three pounds of rump-steak into square pieces, cut eight or ten potatoes into quarters, some whole small onions, and mushrooms if in season, all well-seasoned with cayenne black pepper and salt, together with a dozen kidneys; place all in layers on the other, pour over them three or four table-spoonfuls of mushroom catchup, and put six or eight dozen oysters at the top, cover it with a crust, and bake for two hours. A few larks or snipes are a great addition to the above

Apart fom these up-market versions containing oysters and kidneys, several plainer recipes were published slightly later. These are the style of recipe that most people associate with the modern "Lancashire Hot-pot", although there is no particular relationship with Lancashire indicated in the early recipes.

A Manual of Domestic Economy: Suited to Families Spending from £100 to £1000 a Year by J. H. Walsh, 1857

Take some fine chops from a neck of mutton, and trim them nicely, taking off most of the fat. Lay them at the bottom of a deep and rather wide dish, season them with pepper and salt. Lay a few slices of onion in the middle at the bottom of the dish, if the flavour is approved, and pour a quarter of a pint of cold water upon the whole. Then cover it with a layer of sliced potatoes, on the top of which lay a few more small chops, well seasoned, and cover all with another layer of sliced potatoes. Bake from an hour to an hour and a half or more, according to the size of the dish; in a very moderate oven.

There are also numerous recipes which are identical or very similar a "Hot-pot" which are given completely different names. The most clear example of this was called a "Baked Irish Stew" by Eliza Acton. So while some modern commentators differentiate Irish stew and Hot-pot by the cooking method, this is not actually the case. Irish stew could also be a baked dish like Hot-pot.

So we are in the interesting position of having an iconic regional dish working class dish, that appears to be neither a working class dish nor specifically regional in origin. It is worth noting that at the time that the first recipes were appearing, it is unlikely that the very poor would have access to domestic ovens. This is slightly problematic for those who would like to attribute working class/quasi-peasant origins to this dish. It is possible that it was bought elsewhere as a form of early convience food (unfortunately no records of this exist) or it had slightly an origin higher up the social ladder.

Unfortunately there is a tendency to lump a whole lot of quite different social groups under the same terms, such as "working class" or " peasant" etc. Often this is a gross over simplification or just simply anachronistic and wrong. In Lancashire and near-by regions there where people who had domestic ovens (larger farms and cottages) who are much more likely have been able to have made this type of dish, yet nobody seems to consider this?

One final thing. I had originally concluded that there was unlikely to be any direct connection between the older culinary terms "Hotch Potch" or "Hodge Podge" and "Hot pot". I still haven't found any real evidence that they are related, however, in a dialect dictionary from Devon there is a hint that in some instances there was a connection made between the sense of "Hotch Potch" or "Hodge Podge" as a jumble or confusion and a preparation of potatoes. Time will tell is a closer connection can be made between these terms and "Hot-pot".

HAUCHEE-PAUCHEE or ALL TO PAUCH, said of potatoes which have been boiled to a mash (devonshire dialect 1837

The Incredible Adventure of Shrimp Paste

2008-06-04T04:09:42-07:00

Rachel Laudan recently proposed an interesting series questions about how we can track the global migration of foods and recipes. In many of the posts that I have made on this site, I have looked at a recipe that can be easily traced in a relatively linear fashion. However, these cases are likely to be exceptions, rather the the norm. So how do we trace the migration of recipes? The following case of shrimp pastes and fish sauces demonstrate how difficult this can be.

Recently I have been reading as much as I can find on Anglo-Indian foods and customs. It is a fascinating area of research in its own right, but it is also often throws un-expected light on other aspects of food history. One of the centers of Anglo-Indian activity in London was The Oriental Club, which seemed to be entirely populated by ex-colonial stereotypes. One interesting recipe published in a small cookbook titled "Indian Cookery" (1861) by Richard Terry, the club's chef is called "Bullachong":

"Pick and clean 2 quarts of shrimps, or prawns, pound them well in a mortar, rub them through a coarse wire sievve; place them again in the mortar, add 1-oz. of glaze, 2 cloves of garlic, or green ginger, if to be had, 4 chillies pounded very fine, 1 tablespoonfull of tomata sauce, and the juice of half a lemon: beat all well together add 4 tablespoonsfull of ghee, melt 4 pats of butter in an omelette pan, pour in the bullachong, and fry, keeping moving the whole time; place it on your dish, pour gravy round, and serve. This may be kept some time by placing it in bottles, and keeping well corked"

This shrimp paste was most likely intended as a relish to go with other dishes, but what interested me was the resemblance in the name with the modern Malay "Belacan". As part of the 19th century expansion of the British Empire, parts what is now modern Malaysia were formerly the colonies of British Malaya. Prior to this period the British had a huge presence in this region. So is "Bullachong" simply a British adaption of a Malay dish? Are there earlier English references to this dish?

Obviously there are numerous references, two of the earliest are of particular interest:

In the 17th century the adventurer William Dampier describes a fermented fish product in Tonkin (now northern Vietnam)

"To make it, they throw the mixture of shrimps and small fish into a sort of weak pickle, made with salt and water, and put it into a tight earthen vessel or jar. The pickle being thus weak, it keeps not the fish firm and hard, neither is it probably so designed, for the fish are never gutted. Therefore, in a short time they turn all to a mash in the vessel; and when they have lain thus a good while, so that the fish is reduced to a pap, they then draw off' the liquor into fresh jars, and preserve it for use. The masht fish that remains behind is called balachaun, and the liquor poured off is called nuke-mum"

He calls this fish paste "Balachaun". Originally I thought that Dampier may have incorrectly recorded this name, as I could find no modern usage of this term in Vietnam for shrimp/fish paste. However, another 16th century European in the Cochin-Chinese (now southern Vietnam) city of Hoi An describes the following:

"The Cochin-Chinese use a kind of sauce, which they call balachiam, made of salt fish macerated and steeped in water. This is a sharp liquor not unlike mustard, and serves to sharpen the appetite to the rice, which they cannot eat without it ; and for this reason those who can afford it lay in large stocks of it, as Europeans do their stores of wine."

A little further research indicated that in the trading port of Hoi An, a Malay dialect was used, so it is quite possible that Dampier et al., correctly recorded the name of a fish paste/sauce in Vietnam using a Malay term. One slight niggle is that Belacan a shrimp paste and in modern Vietnam shrimp paste is known as "mắm tôm/ruoc " . Well names change over time and even in historical times "shrimp paste" can be made using fish, especially the lower grades. Further evidence that the Anglo-Indian "Bullachong" was a British attempt at Malay Belachan was found in the "The Peoples Indian Cookery Book" (Calcutta, 1900) were a recipe for "Balichow" recommends using "Malacca Balichow". Malacca in Malaysia is still famous for its shrimp sauce/paste products. However, a further complication is also a recipe in the same book for "Balachong". Rather annoyingly there is no description of Balachong, only a method of how to prepare a dish using Balachong (I assume it is a shrimp paste).

A clue to the origin of Balachong is seen in the following 19th century description:

"Gnapee or Nga-pee is made of prawns, shrimps, or any cheap fish, pounded into a consistent mass, and frequently allowed to become partially putrid. It is known in commerce by the name of Balachong, and largely consumed as a condiment to rice in all the countries to the east of Bengal, including the southern part of China and the islands of the Eastern Archipelago. Its distribution gives rise to an extensive internal trade, and like the herrings and salt fish with the negro population of the West Indies, it forms to the natives a palatable addition to their ordinary food."

So it seems that Balachong (and similar spellings) is a relatively common trade or generic name for fermented shrimp or fish paste and also for Anglo-Indian dishes using this paste. Another early Anglo-Indian recipe for this dish is:

"AN INDIAN DISH, CALLED BALLACHONG (1845).—Take a pint of picked shrimps, a pint of sour apples finely chopped, mix and shake them in a stew-pan to dry a little over the fire. Take one pound of butter, two cloves of garlic, and one onion chopped very fine ; pepper and salt to taste, a spoonful of curry powder and Cayenne mixed. Fry the onion and garlic in the butter, and the other ingredients fry together. Put them whole into a jar and cover close. When wanted for use, fry a piece in small quantities dipped in butter."

Another 19th century source gives a definition of the traded ballachong:

"BALACHONG, a kind of cake formed of dried fish, pounded up with salt and spices, and then allowed to ferment freely. The best sort, or the red balachong, is made of shrimps. The black, or common sort, is made of other small fish. It is esteemed a great delicacy by the Malays and Chinese, with whom it forms an article of extensive commerce."

So the story of this dish is that fermented shrimp paste was a common trade item in the region and was used as a base for various other dishes, some of which were then named after the Malay origin trade name for this shrimp paste. In fact several forms of Ballachong are still made in Calcutta and is generally recognized as an Anglo-Indian dish. In addition, while a fermented shrimp paste was obtained as a trade item, local non-fermented versions are also made, the Anglo-Indian dishes could be either. Simple and neat.

Well actually the story is not quite that simple.

At the present time fermented shrimp paste is used extensively thought South-East Asia and is known by numerous different names depending on location and production method. In 19th century British sources by far the majority of references to Balachong or gnapee reference the product to Burma. In part this is likely to be due to the huge internal trade of this product in Burma, but also due to the fact that the British authorities were keen to control trade in Burma and attempted to tax this product. A typical 19th century reference in to ngapee:

"The greatest Burmese delicacy is ngapee — putrid shrimps, salted, beaten, and dried. No meal that a Burman makes would be complete without this ingredient. Large quantities are sent up the rivers, and the King of Ava admits it as a delicacy within the gilded portals of his palace."

To appreciate how extensive the internal Burmese trade in Gnapee was, it is worth knowing that in 1854-55 it is estimated that 13,500 tons of this product traded. Records of this product date back to the 12th century. Gnapee/nga-pi can be made of either fish or shrimp, the name means actually means "pressed [or ground] fish". So the Anglo-Indian dish is a result of East Indian trade with Burma and the British presence in Burma.

Actually, to complicate things even further, another dish of huge popularity in Burma is called "Balachaung", which is so popular that it seems almost to be a national dish. This link gives a typical modern recipe. As you can see it is a relish that is made from both dried shrimp and shrimp paste. Interestingly it seems to be a dish in transition between the Anglo-Indian Ballachong/Ballachow and fermented shrimp/fish paste condiments. Given the proximity of Calcutta to Burma, potentially the Calcutta Anglo-Indian dish is derived from this Burmese relish or less likely the Burmese dish derives from the Anglo-Indian dish.

Another complication in the origin of the Anglo-Indian dish is the presence of another great European trading power in India and SE-Asia - the Portuguese. Portugal's western Indian colony of Goa has many dishes which are specifically regional and reflect both Indian and Portuguese influences. One of these dishes is known as "Balchao". While this is essentially a sour shrimp relish (often used to flavor other dishes), there is so much variation in the recipes that it might be more useful to think of it as a "recipe family", rather then a specific dish. Many recipes suggest using fresh shrimp, equally it can be made with dried shrimp. It can be consumed when made or bottled for future use. Another former Portuguese colony, Macao, also has a similar recipe known as "balichao", although descriptions of this condiment sound more similar to a fermented fish sauce. There are also scatter references to similar dishes though out SE-Asia and even in Sri Lanka.

Obviously the Goan "Balchao" and the Burmese "Balachaung" are related both in name and in preparation to the Anglo-Indian Balichow/Balachong. But what exactly is this relationship? Is it linear with one origin in Burma or the former Portuguese colonies? Is there a more complicated relationship with multiple points of origin? While the former is more "neat" and makes a better story, I prefer the latter scenario as it is more likely to be the truth. If we consider the recipe for recipe for "Balichow" in "The Peoples Indian Cookery Book" (Calcutta, 1900), the name is essentially that of the Portuguese colonies, however the recipe actually suggest the use of fermented shrimp paste from Malaysia. Given that a whole bunch of similar "Bal-"sounding names were used in trade for fermented shrimp/fish paste as far back as the 17th century, deriving an origin based on the name of the dish alone is problematic. Even though it is likely that the origin of these names is rooted in a Malay dialect, it is also untrue to say that these dishes are Malay in origin. Equally, if we look at the way in which the dishes themselves, there is so much variation in technique, the manner in which they are consumed and how the are stored that this is also problematic.

Maybe the best option would be to change the scale of the analysis. Rather then looking at a huge geographic area over an extended period of time, perhaps it is better to look at the original set of Anglo-Indian recipes and simply say that these are derived from the Anglo-Indian community in Calcutta. Ultimately, I think that the real value of this exercise is not to produce a "just so story" with a simple, if unlikely point of origin, but to demonstrate the existence of a large family of inter-related dishes covering a large area of the world in multiple cultures over a significant amount of time. Maybe

Still more Haggis

2008-05-20T04:36:51-07:00

In previous posts (Ode to a haggis part I and II) I have discussed the history of the haggis in great detail. The main point was that these puddings were originally found in both Scotland and England, before becoming known as the national dish Scotland. A secondary point was that even during the period that the haggis was becoming known as a purely Scottish dish, not all Scots were over-joyed with the prospect of eating it.

In part, this is likely to account for the lack of a recipe for haggis in early Scottish printed cookbooks. A recipe for a haggis only appeared at the end of the 18th century in Mrs Maciver's cookery book. The recipe in is essentially identical to the modern recipe. However, I recently came across a haggis recipe in a Scottish recipe collection manuscript. This collection of over three hundred recipes is in a leather-bound volume originally belonging to Martha Lockhart, Lady Castlehill and was written 1712-13. It is now kept in the Mitchell Library in Glasgow. A selection of these recipes was published in 1976 by Hamish White.

The obvious recipe of interest is titled: To make a Haggas Pudding

The ingredients for this haggis are:

Lights (lungs), heart and kidney (no liver) of a sheep or lamb, beef suet, currants, nutmeg, salt, grated bread, sweet herbs, egg yolks and cream.

These items are stuffed into a sheep paunch as per normal, and boiled for 4 hours, with the final instruction to "gash it carelesly, then it will rune out green". Hopefully due to the sweet herbs.

This is a very different recipe then given by Mrs Maciver in 1773:

A Good Scotch Haggies

Make the haggis-bag perfectly clean, parboil the draught ; boil the liver very well, so as it will grate ; dry the meal before the fire ; mince the draught and a pretty large piece of beef very small ; grate about half of the liver ; mince plenty of the suet and some onions small ; mix all these materials very well together, with a handful or two of the dried meal ; spread them on the table, and season them properly with salt and mixed spices ; take any of the scraps of beef that are left from mincing, and some of the water that boiled the draught, and make about a choppin of good stock of it ; then put all the haggis meat into the bag, and that broth in it ; then sew up the bag : but be sure to put out all the wind before you sew it quite close. If you think the bag is thin, you may put it in a cloth. If it is a large haggis, it will take at least two hours' boiling.

However is near identical to a whole bunch of recipes published in the 16th and 17th century. For instance:

The Second Part of a good Huswifes Jewel by Thomas Dawson 1597

To make a Haggas pudding

Take a peece of a Calves Chaldron and parboile it, shred it so small as you can, then take as much Beefe Sewet as your meat, ten shred likewise, and a good deale more of grated bread, put this together, and to then seven or eight yolkes of egs and two or three whites, a little creame, three or four spoonfuls of rosewater, a little Pepper, Mace and nutmegs, and a good deale of sugar, fill them and let them be sodden with a very soft fire, and shred also with a little Winter savoury, parsely and Time, and a little Pennyroyal with your meat.

The Compleat Cook or, The Whole Art of Cookery, 1694

Take a Calves Chaldron, boil it, and when it is cold mince it very small, then take the yolks of four eggs, and the whites of two, some cream, grated bread, sugar, salt, currans, rosewater, some beef-suet or marrow, sweet herbs, marjoram, thyme, parsley, and mingle together; then having a sheep-maw ready dressed, put it in the aforesaid materials and boil it. .

Others take a good store of Parsely, savoury, tyme, onions and oatmeal groats chopped together; and mingled with some minced beef suet, with cloves, mace, pepper and salt, fill the paunch, so it up and boil it: when boiled, cut a hole in it and put in some beaten butter, with yolks of three eggs.

Another very good way.

Take a Calves chaldron or muggets, boil it tender and mince small, put to it grated bread, the yolks of six eggs, with as many whites, some cream, sweet herbs, spinage, succory, sorrel, strawberry-leaves minced small, a little butter, pepper, cloves, mace, cinamon, ginger, currans, sugar, salt dates, and boil it in a napkin or calves-panch; being boiled, dish it and trim with scraped sugar, stick it with sliced almonds, and run over with beaten butter

In fact it is quite likely that the Castlehill recipe has been copied from one of the many such examples as given above. Interestingly these recipes are from English cookbooks, so does this mean that the Scottish haggis is English? Not possible to say I'm afraid. It is a possible that the origin is English and the "modern" haggis of Mrs Maciver represents a local adaption, but it is equally possible that Lady Castlehill simply copied a recipe from an English cookbook because it was an upmarket version of a familiar, pre-existing dish.

Certainly we know that haggis type puddings existed in Scotland before Lady Castlehill's time, what we don't know is what these haggis were like. It would be interesting to know of other haggis recipes contained in early recipe collections and if so, what these recipes were like.

Frumenty

2008-03-31T05:46:16-07:00

Apologies for the lack of recent posts. A new job means that I have a little less time for food history. One quick post then in the way of illustrating how recreating even simple historic recipes isn't plain sailing.

One recipe group that I have been interested in for a while are the frumenty (various spellings based on the Latin frumentum meaing grain). They are of interest to me as the dish has been made in England since at least the Medival period, until the mid-20th century. The dish itself has remained did not change all that much during this time span, but the social context did. Basically, the recipe is wheat pounded and seperated from its hulls, then boiled in cow or almond milk until it forms a gel, this mixture was then sweetened, spiced or coloured as appropriate to the the period. During the Medieval period it most often served without sugar with boiled venison as a type of pottage or in non-meat days with porpoise or beaver tail. Despite being mammals the entire of the former and the tail of the latter were counted as "fish". Having eaten beaver tail I can tell you that it tastes completely unlike fish, which why it was popular on fish dominant days I imagine.

By the modern period frumenty had become associated with Christmas eve, as the following 19th century description indicates:

Christmas-eve is celebrated in almost every family by
a supper of frumenty, made of steeped wheat boiled
with milk, apple-pie, cheese, and yule-cake. It is
accounted very unlucky to cut into the cheese before
supper. At the commencement of supper a large fire
is made, on which is placed the yule-log, and atall mould-
candle, called the yule-candle, which is not to be snuffed,
is lighted and placed on the table; a piece of the log
is preserved until the following Christmas by each
prudent housewife, to secure the house from fire during
the year.

The popularity if frumenty in 19th rural England is rather interesting as for the most part wheat was a recent addition to the diet, especially in the North. It is possible that this was viewed as a high status dish and was eaten only on festivals where rarities like wheat were more freely available. So popular was frumenty at this period that it was possible to buy the wheat pre-boiled and set into a jelly from vendors. This jelly was called "Creed Wheat" ( to cree grain is to soften it by soaking or boiling) and it is the creed wheat I had a problem with . Buying whole wheat is not a great problem and instructions for preparing the grain where essentially the same since the Medieval period: Beat grain to loosen the hull, then gently boil. Remove the hulls and you will get a wheat gel that will set solid like well made oat porridge. Try as a might I could not get this process to work with the wheat I used. Back to the drawing board. I managed to find another source of wheat, this time with partial removal of the hull ("pearled wheat"). Problem solved, gel formed in roughly 40 minutes of gently boiling. Clearly the important part of all the recipes I looked at was the removal of the hull, however I failed to note this initially. This illustrates part of the difficulty with historical recipes; if I can get this simple process wrong, what hope would I have with a more complicated dish? And in addition, in this instance I had a very good idea what the dish should be like at several stages, often this is not the case with historical recipes.

Above: Wheat in earthenware pot being gently simmered for 8 hours. When this failed to produce a wheat gel, I removed the wheat to a modern saucepan and boiled it hard for about 2 hours - still no gel.

Above: Top right, whole wheat before boiling, and Top left, after ten hours of treatment. Bottom left, wheat with partial removal of hull, and bottom right, after 20 minutes of gently boiling.

Above: Christmas eve frumenty. The creed wheat was mixed with milk, egg yolk, spice and sugar and gently heated to give an indulgent but comforting porridge type dish. I can see why it was popular.

If you are interested in making this dish you could look for pearl wheat (very hard to find) or substitute pearl barley. Least you think this inauthentic, here is a recipe from the end of the 17th century.

Yorkshire oatcakes/Haverbread

2008-01-22T15:53:52-08:00

Above: Joseph Pickles born 1823, Hunslet, Yorkshire, UK; died 1897, Strathfieldsaye, Victoria, Australia)

Above: Mine chimney constructed on the Victorian goldfields by Joseph Pickles. This chimney at the "Red, White and Blue Mine" was decorated with red, white and blue bricks!

On the 16th of September, 1854 my Great-great-great Grandfather Joseph Pickles departed from Merseyside on the White Star Line Clipper "Sultana" on a three month voyage which would eventually end in the Hobson Bay in the Port Philip District of Victoria. One of the reasons why I know this information is that he kept a diary of the voyage. Although he came from a relatively poor family in the Hunslet region of Leeds, during the early-mid 19th century young children received a basic education (by the age of 14-15 they are usually employed in the local mill industry). Hunslet and the neighbouring regions of Holbeck and Beeston where early industrial centres largely clothing mills, but also brickworks. In the 1841 census Joseph occupation is listed as "bricklayer", other occupations of his neighbours are listed as "cloth weaver, cloth spinner, clothier and cloth draper".

Although I have a large collection of cookbooks form this period, these are for middle- to upper-class English households, ironically I know more about the food habits of total strangers then my own family. Poor families don't write cookbooks. Happily one of Joseph's interests on the voyage to Australia was with the ship's food. In fact he wrote a poem about how much he disliked it.

"...Then now comes Friday: What's the dish?

Why preserved potatoes and salt fish

Of which the first is very good

A pleasant article of food.

Sometimes the fish is very well

Sometimes it has an offensive smell

Sometimes its rotteness is such

That it will scarcely bide a touch…"

There are many similar verses on his views of the various meals on board the ship (beef and duff, pork and peas, beef and pudding, boiled rice, salt fish and preserved potatoes, ships biscuit and butter, tea and coffee). Joseph's preoccupation with his dislike of ships food resulted in his writing a list of "Useful things to bring with them" for his wife who was to travel to Australia a few years later with their young sons.

Useful things to bring with them

About 2 stone of parafin and about 6 stone of flour and about 1 stone of beef cut rendered and put in jars, and 6 pots of preserves and 1/2 stone of lump sugar and 2 lb of carbonate of soda and a few pounds of currents and about a pound of carryway seeds and a little ginger and a stone of oatmeal, and a little ham and a few pounds of bacon and a few nutmegs, and dont forget a little medicine and oatcake it is very good when it is well dryed before it is put in the box and kept airtight and a bit of common cheese that is well dryed. The best cheese will not keep at sea and a little fresh butter well salted in a jar and a thin cloth over and well covered with rough salt, and a few scores of potatoes. I should recommend you have a box lined with tin with a partition in to keep the things parted.

Although this list of items can only provide a rough sketch of the food that my English ancestors ate (there is no fresh food on a voyage for instance), it does offer some insights. Carbonate of soda seems to be in regular use as a raising agent and much to my surprise, a relatively expensive spices are being used (possible in boiled puddings or "duff" to be eaten with the meat). However one item that is of great interest is the Yorkshire "oatcakes".

The West Riding of Yorkshire, and neighbouring regions in Lancashire, have a long association with oatcakes. In part this is due to the fact that wheat was not a traditional grain grown in these regions and its introduction to the region occured relatively late (early-mid 19th century) compared to other parts of England.

"Riddle cakes, said to be thick sour cakes and is mostly eaten with tea, being preferred to wheaten bread. The Lancashire oat-bread is made both leavened and unleavened (in refutation of Adam Smith) says handsomer and more muscular men are not reared in any part of the British dominions, than in those countries where the oatmeal diet is predominant.
The 33rd regiment, which goes by the name of ' the Havercake Lads,' and which is usually recruited in those parts of the West Riding of Yorkshire where oat-bread is in common use."

Most people now are familar enough with small thin and crisp Scottish oatcakes, however there was a large variety of oatcakes or "haverbread" ("haver" is of Anglo-Saxon/germanic origin and means "oats", hence "Haversack" or oat bag) made throught the UK. The majority of these oatcakes are no longer made, however there is a large amount of information about the types historical oatcakes made in Yorkshire, Cumbria and Lancashire. In fact soft Staffordshire Oatcake are still made.

There are two main types of oatcake made, the first is made from a stiff dough rolled out and baked until stiff (like a modern Scottish oatcake), called clapbread, oatcake or haverbread/cake. The second type is made from a thin batter which is poured out onto a griddle or "bakstone" (bake stone) and cooked like a large crepe, also known as riddlebread, haverbread/cake or oatcakes. This latter type can eaten fresh when soft (like a modern Staffordshire oatcake) or they could be dried for future use - which is the form that Joseph refers to. This process of producing soft oatcakes and drying them is shown in this print from "The Costume of Yorkshire" by George Walker 1814, note oatcakes being hung from the ceiling to dry.

I have produced these soft oatcakes from a recipe given in Elizabeth David's "English Bread and Yeast Cookery", based on the recipe given for Staffordshire oatcakes. Essentially equal amounts of oatmeal and wheat flour are added together, a thin batter is made using a warm water and milk and a little yeast is added. Historically, no wheat flour would have been used and the yeast would have been replaced by the leaven produced by allowing oatmeal mixture to sour. Nevertheless, I found the modern version to be delicious an much appreciated by my young son. They are equally good spread with butter and honey or filled with egg and bacon.

Above": Recruiting for the "Haverbread Lads" (33rd Regiment). Note the recruiting officer hold aloft a haverbread, decked with ribbons.

Shortbread and Bonnie Prince Charlie

2008-01-08T19:51:46-08:00

This year I recieved numerous tins of shortbread for Christmas (I feel that this ia a sign of age, like presents of socks and jars of nuts), which is fine as I quite like shortbread. One brand of Scottish shortbread that I really like is Walkers of Aberlour. While I like their style of slightly salty, not too sweet and butter shortbread, another thing that I really love about Walkers shortbread is the tins themselves. In a period where the theme seems to be a jaded and cynical world-weariness, there is just something innocent, simple and non-ironic about a shiney tartan clad tin of Scottish shortbread. Prehaps the most famous design for Walkers is their "Flora Macdonald" range which depicts the late 19th century painting "Prince Charles Edward Stuart Bids Farewell to Flora Macdonald Who Aided His Escape" by George William Joy. This historical and romantic style of artwork depicting Scottish (or at least Highland) history on shortbread tins is so well known that any overly sentimental views on Scotland are often described as "Shortbread tin Scotland".

In this particular case the image shows "Bonnie Prince Charlie" (Charles Edward Stuart, grandson of the deposed James II & VII) taking his leave from Flora MacDonald, who aided his escape from Scotland after the Battle of Culloden, the final confrontation in the failed Jacobite Raising of 1745-46. After 1746 Bonnie Prince Charlie spent the rest of his life in exile in Europe, finally dying in 1788. During this exile period he became shunned by the courts of Europe and was known as a wife-beater and drunkard. However, such was the interest in period of Scottish and English history, that the image of the young, handsome and charismatic "Bonnie Prince Charlie" has become an icon overly-sentimental Scottishness and many, if not most people, know him as "that chap on the Shortbread tin".

Given the fact that the Prince spent the vast majority of his life outwith Scotland, did he actually have anything to do with shortbread in his life time? As there is a record of his household accounts, during the period in which he stayed in Inverness and Culloden House immediately prior to the Battle of Culloden (16th April, 1746), we can see that in fact the household was ordering quite a bit of "Short bread" from the local pastry shop in Inverness:

From the household account book of James Gib, Master of the Household/Butler of Charles Edward Stuart, as recored by Bishop Robert Forbes (publised as "Jacobite Memoirs of the Rebellion of 1745" in the 19th century).

Merch ye 1st (1746)

To on Herin Passtie

Merch ye 3d.

To 2 Cakes Short Bread .
To on Sallmon Pastie . .
To 13 Tairts of Severall Sorts

Merch ye 5th.

To on Plain Custard .
To Short Bread . .
To on Custard . . .
To on Side Cake . .
To on Custard . .
To Short Bread . .

Merch 11th.

To on Orange Pudine

Merch 13th.

To Short Bread
To on Rice Pudine

Merch 14th.

To 7 Minched Pyes of Mutton
To on Cusstard
To Short Bread

Merch ye 18th, 1746.

To Short Bread .
To Short Bread, on Caike, & 2 Westells
To on Weilldfoull Passtie .
To on Side Caick
To on Venison Pesstie of Hairs Bonned

March ye 30th, To 2 Kaiks short Bread .

Apprill 1st,

To on Sidekaick
To on Mourffoull Passtie

15th,

To 2 Sidkaicks
To ffyring, and attending 80 Dishes

Given that the Jacobite forces had not eaten for two days before the battle of Culloden, it seems that the Princes household in contrast was eating quite well. Certainly there was plenty of "Short bread" being consumed. But what was this short bread like? From the first published Scottish cookbook (Mrs. McLintock’s Receipts for Cookery and Pastry-Work”, 1736) we have the following recipe:

To make Short Bread.

Take a peck of Flour, put three lb of Butter in amoung a little water, and let it melt, pout it in amoung your Flour, put in a Mutchkin of good Barm; when it is wrought divide it in three parts, roll out you cakes longer then broad, and gather from the sides with your Finger, cut down the Middle and job it on Top, then send it to the oven.

Above: 18th century Scottish Shortbread, based the recipes posted here, whisky and a thistle - very shortbread tin Scottish!.

The second published Scottish cookbook (Elizabeth Cleland's "A New and Easy Method of Cookery", 1755) gives a very similar recipe:

To make Short Bread.

Take a Peck of Flour, make a Hole in the Middle, melt three pounds of good Butter in a Mutchkin of Barm, put Carraway or what dry Sweet-meats you please in the Flour; then pour in your Butter and Barm, work it well with your Hands, and if too dry, put in a little warm Water; when it is well worked, roll it out in Cakes of what Shape you please. Prick with a Fork, and bake it on floured Papers.

Again the third published Scottish cookbook (Susanna MacIver's "Cookery and Pastry, 1773) gives a very similar recipe:

To make Short Bread.

Take a Peck of flour, and four pounds of butter English, or three pounds Scots weight; put the butter on to come a-boil; make a hole in the flour, and pour the boiling butter in it; work the flour and butter a little while together; pour in a mutchkin of good yeast amongst the paste; work it together, but not too much; divide the paste, and roll it out oval; then cut through the middle, and plait it at the ends; keep out a little of the flour to work out the bread; flour gray paper, and fire the bread on it: if you make it sweet, allow a pound of sugar to the peck of flour at least; if you want it very rich, put in citron, orange-peel, and almonds, strew white carvy on the top; be sure to mix the sugar and the fruit with the flour before you wet it; remember to prick it well on top.

After Mrs MacIver's death here business partner, Mrs Fraser published the following recipe (in "The practice of Cookery: Pastry, Confectionary, Pickling, Presering &C", 1795) in the 1820 edition of her work.

Rich Short-Bread.
Take a peck of flour, keeping out about a pound to work it up; beat and sift a pound of sugar; take orange-peel, citron, and blanched almonds, of each half a pound, cut in pretty long thin pieces: mix these well in the flour; then make a hole in the middle of the flour, put in three pounds of melted butter, with a table-spoonful of good yeast; then work it up, but not too much; divide it into eight cakes, and roll them Out; prickle them on the top, pinch them neatly round the edges, and strew sugar, carraways, peel, and citron, on the top.— Fire it on paper, dusted with flour, in a moderate oven.

As you can see all of these recipe are very similar to each other (in fact it is likely that the latter recipes are based on the original McLintock recipe). This is very likely to be the type of "Short bread" that was being eaten by the Prince's household. In one major way this 18th century "Short bread"' differs a great deal from todays modern style of "shortbread" - the former style is a yeast raised bread, enriched with butter. These types of breads or cakes were common throughout British Isles, in Scotland they where called "Short bread" as they were literally "short" (friable) due to the large amount of butter they contained. So important was the butter content to the character of the short bread that in Aryshire in 1597, it was enacted that "short-bread should not have less than half ano pund of butter to tho peck". While the term "Short bread" is associated with Scotland, at the period very similar enriched breads were being made in England during this period:

Seed Cake.
TAKE half a peck of flour, a pound and a half of fresh butter, put the butter into a saucepan, with
a pint of new milk, and set it on the fire; take a pound of sugar pounded, half an ounce of all-
spice pounded, and mix them with the flour; when the butter is melted pour the milk and butter in the middle of the flour, and work it up like paste; pour in with the milk and butter half a pint of good ale yeast, let it before the fire to rise before it goes to the oven; put in two ounces of carraway-seeds, put it in a hoop, and bake it in a quick oven.

However, during the early part of the 19th century they use of yeast in Scottish shortbread was abandoned. During this period we find interesting transition recipe which are identical the the earlier yeast raised "Short bread" in all details apart from the use of yeast! From Mrs Margaret Dods' (Isobel Christian Johnston) "The Cook and Housewife's Manual" 1826.

Scottish Shortbread, or Short-cake
To the fourth of a peck of flour, take six ounces of sifted sugar, and of candied citron, orange-peel, and blanched almonds, two ounces each. Cut these in rather long slices, and mix them with the flour. Rub down among the flour a pound of butter in very small bits, melt a half-pound more, and with this work up the flour, &c. The less kneading it gets the more short and crisp the cakes will be. Roll out the paste lightly into a large well-shaped oval cake, about an inch thick, and divide this the narrow way, so as to have two cakes somewhat the shape of a Gothic arch. Pinch the cakes neatly at the edges, and dab them on the top with the instrument, the dabber, used for the purpose, or with a fork. Strew caraway-comfits over the top, and a few strips of citron-peel. Bake on paper, rubbed with flour. The cakes may be squares, or oblong figures.—Ob. Plainer shortbread may be made by using less butter and no candied peel. The whole of the butter may be melted, which makes the process easier. Chopped almonds, and butter, are used in larger quantity for very rich shortbread.

By the mid-19th century, the use of yeast in shortbread recipes had been abandoned and the use of candied fruits, comfits and almonds had also been reduced or abandoned and essentially we have recipes for modern shortbread. It was during this period and the decades shortly after that many of the now well know shortbread producers were founded (Walkers was established in 1898). Bonnie Prince Charlie may now be linked with shortbread, but he more then likely would not have recognised the product that we know see as being typically Scottish.

Address to a Haggis; Part II

2008-01-04T03:43:24-08:00

As the history of haggis and also peoples reaction to this pudding is so interesting I thought it was well worth adding some additional information about this national dish. As I discussed previously the haggis hasn't always been a purely Scottish dish, nor has it been universally loved even in Scotland. One factor in this is that by the end of the 18th century haggis was firmly associated with Scotland and this was a great problem for many people as Scotland had been part of Britain since 1707. Another issue is that a haggis is a great big lump of steaming offal and then as now this is a difficult thing for many people as the following description of meals served in a mid-18th century Scottish nobles household indicates:

"There was a very long table loaded with a great variety of dishes, some of the most luxurious, others of the plainest—nay, coarsest kind : these were very oddly arranged; at the head were all the dainties of the season, well dressed and neatly sent in ; about the middle appeared good substantial dishes, roasted mutton, plain pudding and such like. At the bottom coarse pieces of beef, sheeps' heads, haggiss, and other national but inelegant dishes, were served in a slovenly manner in great pewter platters; at the head of the table were placed guests of distinction, to whom alone the dainties were offered ; the middle was occupied by gentlemen of his own tribe, who well knew their allotment, and were satisfied with the share assigned to them. At the foot of the table sat hungry retainers, the younger sons of younger brothers, who had at some remote period branched out from the family ; for which reason he always addressed them by the title of “cousin”. This, and a place, however low, at his table, so flattered these hopeless hangers-on, that they were as ready to do Lovat's bidding " in the earth or in the air" as the spirits are to obey the command of Prospero"

We should also keep in mind that the haggis of this period were in fact quite different to those of today. If we look at archetypal haggis recipe from the 18th century, this difference isn't at first obvious; in fact the ingredients are still quite typical of a "modern" haggis.

A Good Scotch Haggies

Make the haggis-bag perfectly clean, parboil the draught ; boil the liver very well, so as it will grate ; dry the meal before the fire ; mince the draught and a pretty large piece of beef very small ; grate about half of the liver ; mince plenty of the suet and some onions small ; mix all these materials very well together, with a handful or two of the dried meal ; spread them on the table, and season them properly with salt and mixed spices ; take any of the scraps of beef that are left from mincing, and some of the water that boiled the draught, and make about a choppin of good stock of it ; then put all the haggis meat into the bag, and that broth in it ; then sew up the bag : but be sure to put out all the wind before you sew it quite close. If you think the bag is thin, you may put it in a cloth. If it is a large haggis, it will take at least two hours' boiling.

In fact the only real difference is the "haggis" itself. Confused? Well I guess it is very confusing unless you realise that "haggis" originally refered to both the sheeps rumen which was used as a casing for the pudding and to the finished pudding itself. Now that haggis are rarely made in a sheep's rumen, we only retain the latter sense of the word. Modern haggis are usually stuffed into bovine caecum or artificial casings. Part of the reason for this is that a rumen from an adult sheep is quite large with a total volume of 5-7 litres. This makes a huge pudding, something to feed a very large group of people with. Another reason is that the rumen has quite a distictive aroma, a cleaned bovine caecum or artifical casing doesn't. Part of the irony of this is that many, many of these modern haggis are eaten specifically for Burns Night suppers in which a poem describing the old syle and quite different type of haggis is read. In fact much of the poem doesn't make sense unless you are familar with the old style, offal boiled in a rumen, haggis. Before I move on to the poem, let me just make it quite clear that I do in fact love the modern style haggis, be it deconstructed, sanitized and reformed into a ziggurat on white bistro plates or battered and deep-fried from a chip shop.

The poem in question is obviously Robert Burns' "Address to a Haggis". Writing at the end of the 18th century in a period when Scots were creating a modern national identity, Burns was able to provide a robust, yet romantic ideal of Scottishness which was accessible to most Scots. So popular was Burns as poet, that shortly after his death "Burns Clubs" were formed. To this day the his birthday (25th of January) is celebrated as a national day in Scotland. On this "Burns Night" haggis are consumed in great numbers and his famous "Address to a Haggis"'is read.

As I was interested in how these 18th century haggis which where so associated with Scottish identity tasted, I made one based on the recipe shown above*. Making this haggis made the Burns poem much more clear

Above: The cleaned sheep rumen.

Above: The ingredients for the haggis stuffing. Offal, suet, beef, oats, onions and spice.

Above: The image that helped make the first part of the poem make sense.

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.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o' need,
While thro' your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

Obviously a lot of this part of the poem is about the size of the haggis, as discussed above a haggis from a full grown sheep is going to be huge, absolutely as long as an arm and about to fill a trencher to over-flowing. "Hurdies" can be translated as "buttocks" and as you can see, due to the bi-lobed nature of the rumen, with a bit of imagination you can see some "hurdies like a distant hill". Difficult to see in this image, but some of the melted suet does indeed seep through to the surface of the rumen and has absorbed pigments from offal, these are the "amber beads".

Above: Another view of the haggis, showing the bulging, bi-lobed rumen.

Above: The haggis cut open to show the interior (the "gushing entrails bright").

His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An' cut you up wi' ready sleight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like ony ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin, rich!

Then, horn for horn,
they stretch an' strive:
Deil tak the hindmost! on they drive,
Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve,
Are bent lyke drums;
Then auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
"Bethankit!" 'hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad mak her spew
Wi' perfect sconner,
Looks down wi' sneering, scornfu' view
On sic a dinner?

At this point in British history the French ragout and fricassee, and the Olio (derived from the Spanish Olla Podrida) were firmly established as popular (if foreign) dishes in Britain. However, many people considered them effete and foreign.

Poor devil! see him ower his trash,
As feckless as a wither'd rash,
His spindle shank, a guid whip-lash,
His nieve a nit;
Thro' bloody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread.
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He'll mak it whissle;
An' legs an' arms, an' heads will sned,
Like taps o' thrissle.

Ye Pow'rs wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o' fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies;
But, if ye wish her gratefu' prayer,
Gie her a haggis!

* Note that as I was unable to obtain an adult sheep rumen, I used a rumen from a smaller animal that held about 1.5 litres.