Burns Supper

January always seems a bit of an anti-climax after December, but today is an excuse to celebrate! The same inventive Scots who gave you Hogmanay and the first hangover of the year gave us Burns night - Rabbie Burns (1759-1796) came from a family of small to middling Ayrshire farmers who, although far from wealthy, made sure he got a good education.

In 1801, the first Burns club was founded and Burns night was held on January 29th 1802. The date was subsequently changed to today but the format of a proper Burns supper has remained pretty much the same.

So if you feel like celebrating, here's how to do it:
First, you have to have a whisky as an aperitif, then you sit down and say the Selkirk grace:

Some hae meat and canna eat,
and some wad eat that want it,
but we hae meat and we can eat it,
and sae the Lord be thankit
(Traditional Scots poem, often wrongly attributed to Robert Burns)

Then, tuck into a traditional Scottish soup; Cock-a-leekie or Scotch broth accompanied by whisky. Then the piper pipes, whilst the haggis is brought in, after reciting the appropriate poem, then you toast with whisky. The haggis is eaten, accompanied by mashed potatoes, mashed parsnips, and whisky.
Dessert should be something like cranachan, a mixture of oatmeal, raspberries (which are optional) and cream, eaten with whisky! Then, you toast the Queen, the poet, the host, and the lassies, in whisky.
Finally, you each read out a Burns poem, fortified beforehand with whisky!
You're getting the idea, aren't you?! There's an awful lot of whisky involved, more whisky infact than Burns himself probably saw in his lifetime!
The spirit was only legalised in 1784 and remained a highland specialty for many years after; as a lowlander Burns would have seen far more brandy than whisky.

Hopefully, this will get you through to the end of January where the days are quite glum, and the supply of parties seems to have dried up!

Anyway, if it's all too much whisky for you, you could always substitute Irn Bru!

Happy Burns Night!