Stephen Jardine: A celebration for the darkest days

JUST a month after the greatest celebration in our calendar, it’s time for Scotland’s annual feast. Burns Night falls neatly at the dark end of January when we’ve had enough of frugality and abstinence.

After three weeks of denial, January 25 is far enough away from the mince pies and turkey for us to feel we deserve a treat. And what better than the meal created to honour our national bard.

The tradition started five years after his death, when nine men who had known Robert Burns gathered in Alloway to celebrate his life and work. The evening consisted of songs and verse and the consumption of a fine fat haggis, which was at that time a staple food in Scotland. Accompanied by a dram or three, the event was judged to be a huge success and those involved vowed to make it an annual celebration on the day of his birth.

More than two centuries on, very little has changed. The basic framework of the evening remains the same and the haggis is still at the centre of the feast. The only difference is that more people are celebrating Burns Night than ever before. Alongside great international gatherings in New York, Moscow and Paris, it has spread as a celebration here at home. From works canteens to pubs, schools to kitchens, across the land, the haggis will be much in evidence on Wednesday.

In my experience, the fancier the Burns Supper, the less haggis you get to eat. I’ve been to gatherings in top hotels where a dolls house portion has almost been an afterthought in a cavalcade of courses running from cock-a-leekie soup to Scotch beef with whisky sauce and ending up with Cranachan. That’s a shame. A well-made, correctly seasoned haggis should be good enough to play the starring role at any Burns Supper.

I love the ceremony that surrounds the presentation. The procession with the chef and piper. The drama of the address to the haggis and the swish of the knife “trenching the gushing entrails bright”. Then a dram for the chef and it’s time to serve.

The Burns Supper is something a chef changes at his peril. I’ve had the haggis served in filo pastry parcels and even in a lasagne. Both are very tasty but not right for this most traditional night of the year. All good haggis needs is creamy mash with lots of butter and turnip spiced with plenty of pepper. The very adventurous can add a dash of whisky cream sauce but I don’t think a proper haggis needs anything that will overwhelm the flavour.

We are lucky to have such a wonderful national celebration and such a fine dish as its centrepiece. There are no Betjeman Breakfasts and no Dostoevsky Dinners. The Burns Supper is a unique occasion mixing literary celebration with good food and convivial company. So don’t miss out. Serve a haggis, enjoy a dram and be grateful that in the darkest days of winter, our wee nation has something to celebrate.