29 January 2018 - Guid gear comes in sma’ bulk.

Finnan Haddie

"This is a dried, smoked haddock available from fish stores and in season during the winter months."

Mrs. Beeton makes a return in this Almanac post to explain the origin of this fish dish.

I'm sure you were eager for further explanation.

"This is the common haddock cured and dried, and takes its name from the fishing village of Findhorn, near Aberdeen, in Scotland, where the art has long attained to perfection. The haddocks are there hung up for a day or two in the smoke of peat, when they are ready for cooking, and are esteemed, by they Scotch, a great delicacy."

Now I am sure you all are wondering what is up with this Almanac post.

I am too!

Yesterday, today, and tomorrow seem to be a preparation for getting your family to eat some traditional Scottish foods. So there was no other information here about it and so I naturally turned to Google.

These entries might coincide with Burns' Night.

Burns' Night is typically celebrated on January 25th on the birthday of Scottish poet Robert Burns.

A typical Burns' Supper will consist of multiple courses with traditional Scottish foods and the Entree is always a Haggis Platter.

One of Burns' most famous poems was "Ode to a Haggis". One of his other famous poems is one we sing every new year "Auld Lang Syne".

Burns' Night is a formal affair. Formal dinner, attire, toasts, poetry reading, and dancing if ladies are present. Not to mention some Scottish Whiskey.

So if you should sit with friends and celebrate Robert Burns, don't forget to say the traditional grace:

Some hae meat an canna eat,

And some wad eat that want it;

But we hae meat, and we can eat,

And sae the Lord be thankit.