Have to smile, it upset Salmond no end. Catherine Brown caused consternation by citing the first printed reference to haggis as being in a book called The English Hus-Wife, from 1615 – well before the first Scottish mention, in 1747, and 171 years ahead of Robert Burnss paean to the great chieftain o the puddin race. Brown said the book, by Gervase Markham, indicated haggis was first eaten in England before being popularised in Scotland. Robert Patrick, from the butchers Patricks of Camelon, in Falkirk, said: I find it hard to believe. I think we can still call it Scottish. There could well be some recipe in England thats similar. But the things that go in it are Scottish. Theres a lot of mutton and oatmeal in the product. Patrick, who was world champion haggis maker in 2003/4 and runner-up in 2007/8, said: I am sure the customers will be as upset as me to think that England will steal our recipe. Brown is standing firm, however. It was originally an English dish. In 1615, Gervase Markham says 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. The dispute is not the first over the origins of haggis, which is traditionally made using sheeps heart, liver and lungs cooked in a sheeps stomach with oatmeal and onions, and served with neeps and tatties (turnips and potatoes). The chef Clarissa Dickson Wright has suggested the dish may have had Scandinavian origins, while other theories have pointed to Homeric antiquity, the Romans and the Norman French.
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 23:23:17 +0000