Haggis and Hosting: Celebrating Burns Night

The Food Programme

BBC

Arts, Food

4.4 • 943 Ratings

🗓️ 21 January 2024

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the dark nights of January, celebrating the work of poet Robert Burns by feasting, toasting and speaking poetry has become a much-loved tradition in Scotland and around the world. Sheila Dillon joins Scottish-Malaysian chef Julie Lin in Glasgow as she hosts friends for Burns Night 2024 to share food and ways of celebrating. She also visits the Centre for Robert Burns Studies at the University of Glasgow to hear more about Rabbie Burns himself. Who was he? And where do the Burns' food traditions come from? After hearing Burns' famous 'address to a haggis', we call in on the recently-crowned world's best haggis maker, Simon Broadribb, at his butcher's shop in Southampton, to see his award-winning recipe in action. Time for a wee dram? Finally, we hear from whisky expert and 'Master of the Quaich' Ann Miller on what to drink alongside your Burns supper, and discover Burns' own links with the whisky industry.

Presented by Sheila Dillon. Produced by Nina Pullman for BBC Audio in Bristol.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You don't need us to tell you there's a general election coming.
0:04.7	So what does it mean for you?
0:06.7	Every day on newscast we dissect the big talking points, the ones that you want to know more about.
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0:23.0	Join me, Laura Kunsberg, Adam Fleming, Chris Mason and Patty O'Connell for our daily
0:28.4	podcast.
0:29.4	Newscast, listen on BBC Sounds. Every January, Burns Suppers are held all over the world, whether it's in Calcutta or La Paz.
0:39.0	It's a meal in memory of Robert, Robbie Burns. Scotland's Bard, its Shakespeare, a songwriter up there
0:46.8	with Lennon and McCartney, and many would say the key to understanding what it is to be Scottish. His fans are Legion, Bob Dylan, Maya
0:55.8	Angelou, Michael Jackson, Wordsworth. Why does his memories still live and are those
1:01.6	suppers worthy of his genius. I'm Sheila
1:05.0	Dylan and in this edition of the food program we try to find out and where else
1:09.3	would you begin but in the kitchen? Here you can hear bubbling away pretty quickly actually is that brown butter
1:16.0	so it's not good. Just waiting until that becomes nice and nutty and then I will toss the lovely meeps in that as well.
1:25.0	It's a cold January night and we're with restaurateur and chef Julie Lynn in her tenement flat in Glasgow.
1:32.0	It's candle lit, warm, stylish, and full of the thank God I'm
1:36.8	hungry smells of food being baked and boiled, all in preparation for a burn supper,
1:43.0	one of thousands taking place all over the world this January.
1:48.0	I've got the veggie hag is ready here as well.
1:50.0	So just take that out of the key sign.
	...

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