Traditional Burns Night menu (2024)

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Traditional Burns Night menu? ›

Haggis, Neeps And Tatties

If following the standard running order of Burns Night, a haggis will be ceremoniously brought to the dining table before being addressed in a poem and cut open with a knife. Haggis is a savoury pudding consisting of sheep's pluck, minced onion, oats, spices, and stock.

Haggis, Neeps And Tatties

If following the standard running order of Burns Night, a haggis will be ceremoniously brought to the dining table before being addressed in a poem and cut open with a knife. Haggis is a savoury pudding consisting of sheep's pluck, minced onion, oats, spices, and stock.

Let everyone warm up with a bowl of cullen skink. This traditional soup originates from the Scottish town of Cullen and combines haddock, potatoes, milk, onion and parsley to make a comforting, yet relatively light, starter. Top with chopped chives and serve with crusty bread, if you like.

It's Burns' Night tonight, 25 January, and the celebration of the great Scottish poet's birth in 1759.

To start – everyone gathers, the host says a few words, everyone sits and the Selkirk Grace is said. The meal – the starter is served, the haggis is piped in, the host performs the famous Burns Night haggis poem Address to a Haggis, everyone toasts the haggis and the main meal is served, followed by dessert.

Serve up a Scottish supper to remember with a classic smoked fish soup and the essential haggis, neeps and tatties - all rounded off with a traditional clootie dumpling. Delicious!

Speaking of drinks, it wouldn't be a proper Scottish celebration or Burns Night without the mention of whisky. A staple part of Scottish culture, having a glass or two of whisky to celebrate is a must.

A cooked haggis Haggis, neeps and tatties on a plate. At the end of the poem, a whisky toast will be proposed to the haggis, and the company will sit down to the meal. The haggis is traditionally served with mashed potatoes (tatties) and mashed swede turnip (neeps).

Traditionally guests of a formal Burns Supper would wear Scottish Highland Dress, but these days anything goes. To save on buying new, kilts can be rented. Or, for a more affordable option, check out what's being sold on sites like Vinted or Facebook Marketplace as you can often find barely worn options.

What is Burns Night special menu? ›

After the meal, the speeches and entertainment begin in earnest, starting with a toast to the monarch, known as the Loyal Toast. This is followed by the main toast of the night, to the Immortal Memory of Robert Burns. The Immortal Memory should be a heartfelt toast to his life and works.

Burns Night

Traditionally these celebrations involve eating haggis (a traditional savoury pudding, a bit like a big round sausage), neeps and tatties (turnips and potatoes), lots of singing, dancing, bagpipe music, and sharing poems and stories late into the night.

While there is no formal greeting for Burns Night, people generally say “Sláinte Mhath” to one another. This is pronounced “slanj'-uh va” and translates as “Good Health!”. You can also say “Oidhche Bhlas Burns”, which means “Happy Burns Night”. These could be fun messages to include in your designs.

Well, “neeps” is just the Scots word for swede – that hard winter vegetable that people also use in soups and stews. You might also hear Scottish people saying “nips”, which is much more obviously short for “turnips”. It's a hard job to peel and chop the neeps, and then we boil and mash, then add a bit of seasoning.

Haggis (Scottish Gaelic: taigeis) is a savoury pudding containing sheep's pluck (heart, liver, and lungs), minced with chopped onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and cooked while traditionally encased in the animal's stomach though now an artificial casing is often used instead.

What does haggis taste like? Haggis is like a crumbly sausage, with a coarse oaty texture and a warming peppery flavour. It's most commonly served with neeps (mashed turnip) and tatties (mashed potato) and washed down with a wee dram of your favourite whisky.

While it is eaten all year round, haggis is particularly associated with Burns Night, when it is traditionally served with "neeps and tatties" (Scots: swede, yellow turnip or rutabaga and potatoes, boiled and mashed separately) and a "dram" (i.e. a glass of Scotch whisky).