Burns Night Supper

The guest of honor - the haggis

Few events celebrate both a famous poet and a national dish quite like the Scottish celebration that is the Burns Supper. The event is traditionally held on the birthday of “Scotland’s favorite son” and national poet, Robert Burns. Burns was born on January 25 in 1759 and on that night it is not uncommon throughout Scotland and other parts of the United Kingdom to gather to memorialize not only Burns, but also haggis, the national dish of Scotland he made famous. The annual Burns Supper generally follows a particular structure, with the dish immortalized in Burns’ “Address to a Haggis” being the guest of honor. A true Scotsman would either be touched by Burbank’s Buchanan Arms holding a Burns Supper, or recoil in horror of having Americans give it a go for olde Rabbie Burns.

The oddly named cocky leeky soup

The event appeared to be advertised primarily by word of mouth – it was nearly impossible to get in. Buchanan Arms have been staging the event for years, and the proprietor mentioned that they get the same people in attendance year after year. It was difficult finding a Scottish accent in the place, but many of the men in attendance favored a kilt over pants. Friend and fellow blogger Eddie Lin wondered if a Catholic school uniform skirt could pass for a kilt, but I believe it would only give the impression that one was planning a night out in San Francisco’s Castro District. I opted for a green plaid scarf, hoping I wasn’t going to start a brawl for wearing a tartan pattern from a disgraced clan, figuring I could excuse my ignorance by stating I was cold. The event was standing room only, and I had negotiated seats at the bar, which actually gave me a good vantage point for the festivities. Traditionally a grace is given (usually the Selkirk Grace), but at this shindig the food was served without fanfare. The meal started with either a salad or cocky leeky soup. There was no way I was about to turn down a dish with a name like that, so I requested the soup. Cocky leeky (alternately cocka-a-leekie) is a simple soup made with chicken, leeks and rice. The rice was cooked down to a porridge-like consistency, which made it hard to identify, but the soup was flavorful and satisfying.

My second go at haggis

For the main course, guests could choose from five options: fish and chips, chicken, bangers and mash, roast supper with Yorkshire pudding or haggis. Being a party in celebration of said haggis, this was my obvious choice, although Claudia selected the fish and chips. She stated that it held up to the standard of what she had in England, but I noticed it was served with whole peas rather than mushy peas (which she preferred since she likened mushy peas to baby food). At a true Burns Supper, the haggis is served as the main course after the address, but since everyone else was eating, I wasn’t complaining. The haggis was served in traditional style, with tatties and neeps (mashed potato and parsnips respectively). It was quite a departure from the store-bought haggis I wrote about in a previous blog article – since haggis still cannot be imported into the United States, Buchanan Arms made their own from sheep offal and cooked it in a synthetic substitute for the lamb stomach. The taste was remarkably different than Macweens – the sheep parts outnumbered the oats, imparting a very strong, earthy flavor with less of the sweetness. Claudia compared her small bite to a cross between ground beef and liver. The strong taste was cut considerably when mixing forkfuls with the potatoes and turnips, but the trio perfectly complemented each other.

After the plates were cleared away, the pomp and circumstance began (actually “Scotland the Brave”) as a bagpiper lead the procession in true form, a massive two foot-long haggis on a silver tray taking up the rear (wow, that sounds wrong). The mini-parade wound its way through the pub to the stage, where the thick-brogued Moira Stewart addressed the haggis to a hushed crowd. In dramatic fashion, she read Burns’ “Address to a Haggis” aloud, slicing the behemoth open on queue like a Scottish Jason Vorhees. The traditional toast of Scotch whiskey followed the address; for the toast I had the barkeep supply me with a wee dram of Glenmoranie Original (which she “guessed” was 12 years old). She initially suggested Crown Royal, but it didn’t have the appropriate ring to it. Dessert (trifle) was brought out; there are an endless variety of ingredients and methods to make it. Buchanan Arms had prepared theirs with Jell-O, blancmange and some sort of crumbly cake, topped with whipped cream and a cherry. It was every bit as sweet as it sounds. The band (The Ploughboys) continued to play Irish and Scottish songs for the remainder of the evening until the revelers began to filter out.

I believe you should accept every opportunity to try a new dish coinciding with a celebration, and a Burns Supper is a good way to do both and participate in age-old tradition at the same time. Just don’t do imitations of Star Trek’s Scotty or you’re likely to end up in the haggis.

Buchanan Arms
2013 W. Burbank Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91506
GPS coordinates: 34°10’49.83″N 118°19’59.96″W

See more images of Val attending a Burns Supper

Val attends a Burns Supper and enjoys haggis after the address:

The Address to the Haggis:

A delicious Macsween haggis from Waitrose supermarket

Although I had been to the UK many times before, I had never tried haggis; I seriously felt I was missing out on something. I was in Slough, UK to interview a candidate for an open position in the company I worked for at the time, and mentioned the omission in my list of unusual food after offering him the job. To get to the Slough office, I boarded the Number 81 bus, passing through the Brunel Bus Station (just like on the opening of the British version of “The Office”). For anyone who has not been to Slough, it is a city just east of London that has been appropriately replaced in the NBC version of “The Office” with Scranton, Pennsylvania. William Herschel, the astronomer who discovered Uranus was not born there, but he did die there. It was deemed such a miserable city that the BBC did a mini-series as a social experiment called “Making Slough Happy.” Slough is like a small Midwest industrial city trapped in the 1970s – there’s a Slough Museum on High Street that could take up a tidy little 10 minutes on your lunch break. It is probably best known for the bleak John Betjeman poem, “Slough.”

The infamous bus station from "The Office"

On one particular day I encountered a gentleman wearing full kilt and regalia while boarding the bus. Looking like an expert in all things Scottish, I asked if he knew a good place in the area to get haggis. Unfortunately he was from Scotland, on his way to Windsor Castle to be honored by Queen Elizabeth on St. George’s Day, and was unaware of where to get haggis locally. I wondered silently why someone on his way to Windsor Castle to be honored by Queen Elizabeth would be taking the Number 81 bus, but I assumed there was a valid reason. We discussed the taste treat on our ride; haggis is traditionally made by mixing ground sheep organs (lungs, liver, heart, etc.) with oatmeal, onions and light spices (particularly black pepper) and then steaming it in a lamb’s stomach (possibly the same lamb who donated the organs). It is designated as the national dish of Scotland (immortalized by the famous Robert Burns poem, “Address to a Haggis”); however, it can be found all over the UK. It is eaten in mass quantities during the Burns Night supper celebrations on January 25 annually. The traveling Scotsman suggested that if I truly wanted to have haggis in traditional style, it should be eaten with “neeps and tatties” (turnip and potatoes, although I won’t even tell you what I was thinking that meant). He also suggested I “take a wee dram” (a small glass of fine Scotch) alongside, but the trick at hand seemed to be finding the elusive haggis. I don’t recall if he suggested wearing a kilt while eating it, but I left mine in my other suitcase.

Haggis - a taste from the pastures of heaven

By the end of the week I was convinced that my search for haggis was not going to bear fruit (or meat). On Thursday I planned lunch with the UK staff, and the new hire joined us. Nigel (what a great British name) arrived at the office with a bag from the Waitrose supermarket and handed it to me; inside were two haggis (haggi? hagisses?) that were pre-cooked and ready to microwave and enjoy. The company that makes the haggis (Macsween) cooks it traditionally, but in a non-organic skin rather than a sheep stomach. Although a haggis in an artificial skin heated in the microwave sounds like the farthest thing from traditional, it was a close as I had the opportunity to try. The taste was amazing, rich, earthy and flavorful. It was like a stout liver meatloaf, and I mean that in the best way. The strong flavor of the sheep organs were slightly subdued by the sweetness imparted by the oatmeal; the onions, pepper and spices gave it just the right amount of zest. It was a meal that brought to mind images of home and hearth, eating by the fire in a windswept Scottish cottage. I wanted to stand on the roof of the office tower and yell, “Freedom!” for all to hear (ala William Wallace), but I thought the citizens of Slough might think I was leading a helicopter exodus.

Just the name “haggis” conjures up images of some creature emanating from the murky depths of some Scottish loch, and the description doesn’t do the taste justice. If you have the opportunity to try it, overcome your fear and scoop up a rich forkful of Scotland’s favorite. If you like dirty rice, picture that flavor with four legs and multiply by 10, and you get somewhat of the idea of how haggis tastes. An old Scottish saying states, “He was a bold man who first ate a Haggis” – be the bold man (or woman) that gives it a try.

Waitrose Supermarket
37 King Edward Court
Windsor, Berkshire, SL4 1TF, UK
GPS coordinates: 51°28’54.87″N  0°36’38.75″W

See more images of Slough, UK and haggis

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