Celebrating Scotland’s famous poet with haggis and oatmeal

Burns Supper, a Scottish celebration to commemorate the life of Scottish poet Robert Burns, is coming up Jan. 25. 

Burns is best known in America as the author of “Auld Lang Syne.” Our close Scottish friends Aileen and Gordon Dickinson often invite us to join their Burns Supper via Zoom, along with their best friends Elaine and Kenneth Douglas. Meanwhile, January is National Oatmeal Month. For those with an affinity for Scotland, our cold and snowy month of January is the best time of the year to eat oatmeal.

Aileen, Gordon, Elaine and Kenneth follow what’s considered the standard order for Burns Supper. The centerpiece of the meal is haggis, which is shaped like an American (or rugby) football. Kenneth stands over the haggis and recites — in Scots — Burns’ “Address to a Haggis” from memory. Here are the last two lines of the eight-stanza poem:

Auld Scotland wants nae skinkin ware, that jaups in luggies;

But, if ye wish her gratefu’ prayer, Gie her a haggis!

For those of us who don’t know Gaelic, here’s the translation:

Old Scotland wants no watery stuff, that splashes in small wooden dishes;

But if you wish her grateful prayer, give her a Haggis!

Wearing a kilt, Kenneth uses a long knife to cut through the haggis. A Scotch whisky toast is proposed, and the company sits.

Haggis is most definitely not watery, wimpy stuff. The traditional recipe calls for cooking the heart, lungs, liver and other chunks of lamb in suet, adding coarse oatmeal, and stuffing the mix into an ox bung — the cleaned appendix used for sausage casing.

The first course is cock-a-leekie soup, as the name implies, made with chicken and leeks. Accompanying the haggis are neeps (mashed turnips) and tatties (mashed potatoes). The meal ends with either cranachan (oats with raspberries soaked in whisky and cream) or tipsy laird (sponge cake with raspberries soaked in whisky).

If haggis is not your acquired taste, honor Burns and Scotland more simply with a bowl of oatmeal. MOON Co-op Grocery sells four varieties of organic oats in bulk: steel cut groats, rolled, thick and quick. The varieties differ in handling, texture and flavor, but they have comparable nutritional profiles.

Steel cut groats are made by chopping into pieces the whole grains. Rolled oats are groats that are steamed then pressed flat. They are softer and more pliable than steel-cut, so they cook faster. Thick oats are similar to rolled but not pressed as flat. Quick oats are rolled and pressed even flatter.

Steel cut groats take a much longer time to cook than the other varieties, but they have an especially pleasing chewy texture and nutty flavor. Bring to a boil 1 cup of oats with 3 cups of water and a pinch of salt, reduce to simmer, cover and cook for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Rolled oats can be soaked overnight without cooking; mix 1 cup of rolled oats with 1 cup of warm water and 2 tablespoons of thin yogurt (don’t use thick sugary Greek yogurt). The next morning, whether steel cut or rolled, transfer a single serving to a bowl, add 1 tablespoon of milk or cream, cover and microwave for 1 or 2 minutes.

Here’s to Robbie Burns and Zoom friendships.

James Rubenstein is president of the Board of Directors for the Oxford Free Press and professor emeritus of geography at Miami University.