Love it or hate it on Burns Night it’s all about Haggis!
Normally anything to do with the word ‘burn’ inspires fear and panic into the hearts of all ye valiant chefs.
January 25 is the one day where Burns- Robert Burns to be exact – is to be celebrated and championed.
My mother hails from a long line of stalwart Glaswegian battle axes and Burns night has always been a big thing in our house.
If you’re unsure of what it is -leaving out all the historical hoohah- it is simply a night of food and drink with a heavy Scottish twist. Och aye!
Rather like Jesus, whose birthday we celebrate every 25th of December, we celebrate Rabbie Burn’s birthday on the 25th of January- he is Scottish Jesus.
Strangely, customers who have no idea who Burns was are happy to drop £50 for whiskey-tinged food on that one night of the year. The important questions however are what to serve?
You’ve got two options really, you can either go traditional or you can give it a wee twist.
Traditionally it goes cock-a-leekie soup (leeks, chicken stock, rice/barley), haggis with neeps and tatties (potato and swede) and Clootie Dumpling or Typsy Laird (sherry triffle).
This is the classic option and recipes are two a penny on line.
For a contemporary twist let’s take advice from some of Scotland’s top chefs.
Tom Kitchin went for Haggis cannelloni. Derek Johnstone went for Haggis bon bons with Arran mustard and Glenkinchie whisky mayonnaise. Hardeep Singh Kholi went for Haggis Baba ganoush. And Richard Massey went for Cranachan Soufflé with Raspberry Sorbet.
Perhaps the most important thing – and this can’t be stressed enough – is to have a good and long supply of proper Scotch Whiskey!
And secondly to indulge your guests with the proper traditional performances by hiring entertainers to sing, dance and rambunctiously recite the Burns poems at various stages of the meal.
Remember it’s Scotland. It’s not refined, sophisticated dining- it’s not the Robert Brulé night. It’s loud. It’s messy. It’s fun.
If you stick to this mentality and serve some half-decent food you can’t go far wrong.
For inspiration and menus’ in London take a look at these venues: The York & Albany, Browns Hotel and the Narrowboat.
