Posted on 08/02/2009 2:02:52 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Before being hijacked by Scottish nationalists
Catherine Brown has discovered references to the dish in a recipe book dated 1615, The English Hus-wife by Gervase Markham.
This was published at least 171 years before Robert Burns penned his poem Address to a Haggis, which made the delicacy famous.
The first mention she could find of Scottish haggis was in 1747, indicating that the dish originated south of the Border and was later copied from English books.
Ms Brown, whose findings feature in a TV documentary broadcast this week, said: "It was originally an English dish. In 1615, Gervase Markham says that it is very popular among all people in England.
"By the middle of the 18th century another English cookery writer, Hannah Glasse, has a recipe that she calls Scotch haggis, the haggis that we know today."
But reference to haggis in a 1771 novel by Tobias Smollett, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, showed it was considered a Scottish dish by the late 18th century.
The English hero of the story says: "I am not yet Scotchman enough to relish their singed sheep's head and haggis."
Haggis, which is made from a mixture of oatmeal, liver, heart and lungs, is not the first Scottish icon said to originate from England.
In his last book before his death, Hugh Trevor-Roper, the eminent historian, wrote that the kilt's inventor was a Quaker from Lancashire.
Ms Brown believes that Scottish nationalists may have appropriated haggis as a symbol of their nationhood in the decades following the Act of Union with England in 1707.
"It seems to be that there's an identity thing there. We'd lost our monarchy, we'd lost our parliament and we gained our haggis," she said.
"There was a latching onto everything that was distinctive about Scotland,
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Dated an Icelandic woman for a couple of years. They have a similar culinary treat whose name I’ve forgotten. Had to pretend to like it. She was gorgeous.
GGG worthy?
THAT BE HERESY!
Address To A Haggis
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.
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?
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!
yitbos
What? You canna read Robert Burns, Poet?
Well, dinna fash yourself, laddie, here be the recipe:
“Take the liver, lungs & heart of a sheep and boil them. Mince the meats and mix with chopped onions, toasted oatmeal, salt, pepper, and spices. Take one properly cleaned sheep’s stomach. Stuff the cleaned stomach with the prepared contents. Sew up the stomach (leaving enough room for expansion to avoid a large messy explosion) and boil. Serve and eat. Lovely !”
They all are!
Regards,
GtG
|
|||
Gods |
"Haggis" I'd better ping this! |
||
· Discover · Nat Geographic · Texas AM Anthro News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · Google · · The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists · |
Whoops! Missed ya. Thanks Fractal Trader! Pinged it.
I always suspected it was a dirty Sassenach plot!
Thanks, Civ,
Gastronomic History is always fascinating!
Pipes and Drums of FreeRepublic ping!
This is an ultra-low-volume ping list (typically weeks to months between pings, for matters related to Highland bagpipes and Scotland).
FReepmail sionnsar if you want on or off this list.
Going to the Games? Organize a Clan FReeper get-together!
This does not surprise me I discovered that the Irish actually invented the bag pipe and sent one to Scotland telling them it was a MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.The Scotch responded by sending a ball and clubs to ireland and said this was GOLF and it was a game...
Proof of more abuse of the Scots by the Sassenachs.
Invented a poisonous dish and made them eat it til they liked it.
Or perhaps the Scots took to it out of perverse humor to show the Sassenachs they could eat it.
Haggis, British? Why didn't Shakespeare write a poem about it then, as Burns did later?( It was a Scottish workman's meal, they couldn't afford to buy real meat in Scotland, occasionally rustling it on the hoof, which is why the Blackwatch came into existence. That rustlinng also gave the Brits fits, by scourging the Brit beef markets).)
Its more bullshite from the colonial historians.
The Brits still haven't learned to roll their own oats.
Eeew.
I roll my own oats (rye, spelt, wheat) with a flattener-thingie that came with my high-end mixer-blender-processor. Another reason to look forward to winter - all those good hot cereals!
Amusing though, the thought that a native English dish disappeared from England to live on in Scotland. Unchanged. (For counter-example, lookup the fishy history of ketchup/catsup.)
I don’t like liver. On the other hand, I’ve never been *that* hungry.
The fact that English written sources have an earlier mention than Scottish written sources doesn’t prove anything, anyway. With literacy so spotty, they could have had stargates and we wouldn’t have a record!
I must admit I’m unfamiliar with this, so I looked it up and have decided I will pass on eating haggis, lol.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haggis
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.