The Art and Mystery of Food

Assorted Haggis

Diverse haggis recently tasted at home here in Edinburgh:

Above: Various haggis sourced from different regions of Scotland (including Stromness, Orkney;  Stornoway, Isle of Lewis; Nairn, Highlands; Aberfoyle, Trossachs; Edinburgh; Carluke, Lanarkshire). As you can see is there is great deal in variation in these haggis, indicating a wide range in preferences for a particular style of haggis in Scotland.

 

Above: Two different Haggis made from historic recipes. On the left is a 17th century English haggis:

"The Accomplish'd lady's delight in preserving, physick, beautifying, and cookery (1675)

To make a Haggess-Pudding 

Take a fat Haggess, par-boyl it well, take out the Kernels, shred it small, and temper it with a handful or two of grated Manchet; then take three or four Eggs well beaten, Rose-water, Sugar, Cloves, Nutmeg, Cinamon, and Mace finely beaten, Currans and Marrow good store; temper them all together with a quantity of Cream, being first moderately seasoned with salt."

Interestingly, in this recipe the haggis is used to make the stuffing, not as a container. I quite liked the taste of this but many people found it very challenging. It is quite sweet and perfumed, with a very light texture, but there is also the slight faecal aroma, much like an Andouillette. In fact as many similar recipe specific the use of "Calves Chaldron" (entrails), this type of haggis would qualify as an Andouillette.

The Haggis on the right is an based on an early 18th century Scottish recipe. Sheep lung, heart and kidney are boiled and mince. These are mixed with breadcrumbs, lots of herbs, spice, eggs, currants and cream. While quite difference to the extant haggis recipes, it was similar enough that many people really liked it. Its useful to recreate these recipes, due to the bread/eggs/cream the texture of this is completely different to a modern Scotish haggish made with oats and offal, like a very light textured meatloaf, rather then being crumbly or a moist hash.

 

"To Make A Snake" - An Early English Syringed Fritter

In a previous post, I discussed the origin of syringed fritters in English 18th century cookery books. These were almost certainly derived from French sources. However, in Robert May's 17th century "The Accomplisht Cook" the presence of a recipe titled "To fry Paste out of a Syringe or Butter-squirt" indicates that there may have been a tradition of making these fritters in England independently of fritters derived from the french sources. May's recipe is quite basic, but does include the important detail that these fritters, like the modern Churro, are not only squirted out of a syringe or butter squirt, but they use a hot water paste.

"To fry Paste out of a Syringe or Butter-squirt.

Take a quart of fine flower, & a litle leven, dissolve it in warm water, & put to it the flour, with some white wine, salt, saffron, a quarter of butter, and two ounces of sugar; boil the aforesaid things in a skillet as thick as a hasty pudding, and in the boiling stir it continually, being cold beat it in a mortar, fry it in clarified butter, and run it into the butter through a butter-squirt."

Recently I came across a much more detailed 17th century English recipe for a syringed fritter in the manuscript recipe collection of Elizabeth Jacob (MS.3009; Wellcome Trust Library).

"To Make A Snake

Take a pint of new milke, sett it on the fire till it boile, then put in fine wheaten flower, and stire it well together, till it be very stiffe, and it must boile soe long till it comes round like A ball, then take it out of the skillet, and put it into A mortar, then take 6 Egges, and break in one of them, and beate that Eggs with that round ball very well, then break another in, and beat that as before, thus break your 6 Egges; one After another, till they be all beaten in, then beat all well together you must beat Every Egge single soe long till you see it, and the Egge hanging on the pestle when you put him up, then season him with a little salt, Nutmegg, and rosewater and then beate it all together A little, then take your frying pan, and some Beasts lard that is fryed up with 2 or 3 cloves, and take neare about half A pound, and put in your Stuffe into your Spout, and when it is full, Spout it round About the frying pan, it must be done quick, and with great Strength, and it is in the frying pan; hold it on the fire and let it bake, then turn it with your knife, and let it bake on the Other side, Let it not be to browne, but look of a pale yellow, it will quickly be baked, and it will quickly burne, if you looke not to it, then take it up, and lay round, one another, in the dish you Intend to Serve it in then take A little Sweet butter and rosewater melted together, and with A feather, wash it all over, as it Lyes in the dish, then Scrape A pretty quantity of Sugar on it, and some round the dish sides, an soe serve it to the table, it must be done quick, or Else it will be cold before it comes to the table."

 

So it does seem that although it is not a common recipe, there is evidence of these fritters being made in english households from at least the 17th century.

Historical Sources of Early Scottish Haggis

A few years ago I wrote about an early manuscript source for Scottish haggis, making the point that this early 18th century Scottish recipe looked much the same as English recipes from the 16-17th century. Further research over the years has turned up very few other early Scottish haggis recipes. While we have references to the haggis in Scotland as early as the first half of the 16th century (about 100 years after the first mention in English sources), the first recipe published in Scotland was at the end of the 18th century. This was several centuries after the first published English haggis recipe. This has resulted in some difficulty for some modern Scots, the Haggis is a national treasure, a modern Scottish icon, so how can it be shared with England?

One point that is rarely made though is that by the time Scotlands first cookery book was published in the first half of the 18th century, many dozens of cookery books had been published in England. Simply due to the huge amount of cookery material produced in England from the 16th century onward, this will obviously have a large impact on the development of cookery in Scotland. Specifically, the haggis was a relatively common recipe in English cookery texts. Historical inventories of books from private households in Scotland list many English cookery books. Looking through the texts 18th century Scottish cookery books, it is actually rather hard to see much evidence of a purely Scottish cookery tradition. Least you should think that these books are not actually representative of the food cooked and eaten in Scotland, it is worth knowing that these cookery books were written by Scottish cookery teachers. They were not only producing cookery texts, they were teaching Scottish women how to cook, an by and large these women were being taught how to cook dishes that were common to England and Scotland.

This is reflected many of the Scottish cookery manscripts of the 18th century: 

The National Library of Scotland, Manuscript Ms.10281, Dumfries (1722-1764) 

 'A Large Collection of Choice Recipes for Cookrie, Pastrie. Milks, Sauces, Candying, Confectionating, and Preserving of Fruits. Flowers, etc'

.................................................

"Advertisement

That such Receipts as marked (E) are taken from an English Manuscript, wherefore Whatever Weights or Measures are mentioned  in any of these Receipts, must be understood to be of the weights and measures of England: And those marked (*) are such as are taught by one of the best Paistrie Mistrises in Edinburgh to her Schollars - Mrs Johnston"

So not only were Scottish cooks using printed English sources they were obtaining recipes from English manuscripts also. Interestingly, this 18th century Scottish cookery manuscript has a very rare mention of a recipe for a haggis:

The National Library of Scotland, Manuscript Ms.10281, Dumfries (1722) 

"A Haggish Pudding

Take a fat Haggish, parboil it very well, take out the Kernals, shred small, temper it it with a handful or two of grate Manchote; then take 3 or 4 eggs well beaten, Rosewater, sugar, cloves, Nutmegs, cinnamon & Mace, Currans & Marrow good store, temper them all together, with a quantity of Cream, being first moderately Seasoned with salt."

 

The lovely thing about this specific recipe is the original source can be traced. Although the recipe is not marked as coming from either an English manscript or Scottish cookery teacher, the recipe is near identical to a recipe published in England:

 

The Ladies Cabinet Opened (1639) Printed by M.P. for Richard Meighen, London.

"To make a Haggesse Pudding

Take a fat Haggesse; purboyle it well, take out the Kernels, shred it small, and temper it with a handfull or two of grated Manchet, then take three or foure Egges wel beaten, Rosewater and Sugar, Cloves, Nutmegs, Sinnamon, Mace, very finely beaten, Currants and Marrow good store, temper them altogether, with a fit quantity of Creame, being first moderately seasoned with Salt."

 

The Ladies Cabinet Enlarged and Opened by M.B. (1654), London.

"To make a Haggesse Pudding

Take a fat Haggesse; perboil it wel, take out the Kernels, shred it smal, and temper it with a handful or two of grated Manchet, then take three or four Eggs wel beaten, Rosewater and Sugar, Cloves, Nutmegs, Cinnamon, Mace, very finely beaten, Currans and Marrow good store, temper them all together, with a fit quantity of Cream, being first moderately seasoned with Salt."

 

Comparing the three copies of the recipe, it seems most likely that the 1654 recipe is the source of Scottish recipe, but even so these is a very large gap between 1654 and the date of the Scottish manuscript recipe collection. Was the Scottish recipe copied directly from the cookery book, or was it passed from person to person until it was written down in this Scottish collection? Irrespective of this, it worth noting just how much Scottish cookery in the 18th century was influenced by English sources, even for the iconic Haggis.  I don't think that this takes anything away from the modern Scottishness of the Haggis. Haggis isn't an English dish anymore, but it is very much part of modern Scottish culture. The Scots should be rightly proud that they still have a dish with such a long history of production and consumption. The vast majority of dishes have a relatively recent origin, to be able to trace the history of this dish that is now eaten on a daily basis, back to the 15th century is very very rare. Does it matter if most of the history was a shared history or do we have to re-brand our own history as well to feel comfortable in our own skins?

 

Finally I would like to thank the Trustees of the National Library of Scotland for permission to reproduce these recipes.

The Evolution of the Yorkshire Pudding

Recently a consortium bid (including industrial manufacturers - Roberts, the Real Yorkshire Pudding Company, and Aunt Bessie's) failed to gain EU Protected Geographical Status (PGS) for the Yorkshire Pudding on the basis that it was "too generic" to be deemed regional.  In theory, PGS aims to protect the integrity of heritage foods while at the same time being a way to raise the profile of regional products and skills. This allows the consumer to distinguish "authentic" from a ubiquitous food products without all the bother of having to find anything out about the food in question. Although, one has to wonder how much profile raising a company that produces millions of Yorkshire puddings a week actually need. On the other hand, the decision to award a PGS or not to a particular product can have very large and expensive consequences, even for large food companies. There is now a rush in the UK to gain PGS for a whole range of food stuffs. This has been accompanied by a number articles published using terms like "heritage", "tradional", regional and even the occasional "terroir", which unfortunately have failed to show any understanding of what Protected Designation of Origin (PDO); Protected Geographical Indication (PGI); and Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) actually mean. According to the European Commission:

 

PDO- covers agricultural products and foodstuffs which are produced, processed and prepared in a given geographical area using recognised know-how.

PGI- covers agricultural products and foodstuffs closely linked to the geographical area. At least one of the stages of production, processing or preparation takes place in the area.

TSG- highlights traditional character, either in the composition or means of production

Amazingly, not mention of  "Nostagia food", "Comfort food" or "Emotional eating", which are clearly just as important marketing terms for the businesses involved, as gaining a PGS label for these products.  It will be interesting to see if the PGS labels will be perceived as maintaining its integrity in the future. One wonders how many times it will be reported that X product will "have the same status as champagne or Parma ham.", before people start to question the statement?

 

Central to the failed Yorshire Pudding bid was the claim that the term "Yorkshire Pudding" was first described by the 18th century cookery book author Hannah Glasse and that this pudding differed from other similar dishes which all suggests it is originally from Yorkshire. The recipe in question is as follows:

The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy by Hannah Glasse (1747)

"A Yorkshire Pudding.

Take a Quart of Milk, four Eggs, and a little Salt, make it up into a thick Batter with flour, like a Pancake Batter. You must have a good Piece of Meat at the fire, take a Stew-pan and put some Dripping in, set it on the Fire, when it boils, pour in your Pudding, let it bake on the Fire till you think it is high enough, then turn a plate upside-down in the Dripping-pan, that the Dripping may not be blacked; set your Stew-pan on it under your Meat, and let the Dripping drop on the Pudding, and the Heat of the Fire come to it, to make it of a fine brown. When your Meat is done and set to Table, drain all the Fat from your Pudding, and set it on the Fire again to dry a little; then slide it as dry as you can into a Dish, melt some butter, and pour into a Cup, and set in the Middle of the Pudding. It is an exceeding good pudding, the Gravy of the Meat eats well with it."

By 1755 the Glasse had sold the copyright of "The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy" due to bankruptcy and the text is outwith her control. While it was prehaps most popular and influencial English cookery book of the 18th century, most editions were not in fact the work of Hannah Glasse. If Glasse knew of a regional Yorkshire connection with the pudding, within a few years of  publishing the recipe, that direct link was lost. A later version of the recipe:

The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy by Hannah Glasse (1784)

"A Yorkshire Pudding.

TAKE a quart of milk, and five eggs, beat them up well together, and mix them with flour till it is of a good pancake batter, and very smooth; put in a little salt, some grated nutmeg and ginger; butter a dripping or frying pan, and put it under a piece of beef, mutton, or a loin of veal, that is roasting, and then put in your batter, and when the top-side is brown, cut it in square pieces, and turn it, and then let the under-side be brown; then put it in a hot dish as clean of fat as you can, and send it to table hot."

These recipes were extensively copied in other cookery books in the 18th and into the 19th century. By the early 19th century Yorkshire Puddings were being made in many locations throughout the UK. In fact there are early 19th century references to Yorshire Pudding being cooked in Anglo-Indian households.  If it was ever a regional dish, it became widely produced throughout the country within a generation of its publication by Glasse. So is there any case for the Yorkshire Pudding being a regional dish historically?

One thing that is worth mentioning the technique used to make the 18th century Yorkshire Pudding is different to how Yorkshire Puddings are made now. Domestic technology has changed a great deat since the 18th century, Yorkshire Puddings are no longer cooked in front of a fire using radiant heat, even in Yorkshire. This is a major change from the original recipe. The second point, that has often been made, is that although Hannah Glasse may be the first person to publish a recipe using the term "Yorkshire Pudding", the pudding was published in an earlier work under a different name.

 The Whole Duty of a Woman (1737)

"Dripping Pudding

Make a good Batter as for Pancakes, put it in a hot Toss-pan over the Fire with a Bit of Butter to fry the Bottom a little, then put the Pan and Batter under a Shoulder of Mutton instead of a Dripping-pan, keeping frequent1y shaking it by the Handle and it will be light and savoury, - and fit to take up when your Mutton is enough; then turn it in a Dish, and serve it hot."

In fact, as discussed by Jennifer Stead in the introduction to Prospect Books facsimilie edition of the first edition of Glasse's "The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy", "The Whole Duty of a Woman" was the source of many of Glasses recipes.  Given that Glasse re-published so many recipes without a change to the original name, why did she use the term "Yorkshire Pudding" and why is her recipe so much more detailed? Given the specific changes made to the recipe it does seem that she had some personal experience, did she also know of a specific Yorkshire regional connection?

It is unlikely that we will ever have an answer to this question. While it is the case that Glasse lived in northern England for the early part of her life, this was Northumberland, not Yorkshire. It is possible that Glasse encountered this pudding in Yorkshire, but it is equally the case that the name of the pudding could be her own creation. Regionally named dishes tend to be quite rare in early English cookery texts. Glasse gives recipes for "Yorkshire Pudding" and "Welsh Rabbit", fine, but she also gives recipes for "English Rabbit" and "Scotch Rabbit". It does seem more likely that Glasse created some of these names, rather then finding a specific regional recipe for "cheese on toast" in each corner of the kingdom so why not coin "Yorkshire Pudding" too?

 

However it is worth while asking if these types of puddings had any obvious regional distribution early in their recorded history. In terms of ingedients and cooking techniques that define this pudding we have: 

1) Composition: a batter

2) Techniques: upper surface cooked in front of a fire by radiant heat, lower surface cooked on top of the fire by direct heat. Positioned underneath a  roating meat joint to catch the juices.

Given how simple it is in composition, it will come as no surprise that historically batter is a common base for a wide range of food stuffs in the British kitchen. Batter was boiled in a cloth to produce puddings, used to produce various fritter or made into pancakes. It is this latter batter that is essentially the basis of the Yorkshire Pudding. Many early historical recipes produce products that are very similar to the Yorkshire Pudding:

The Wellcome Library Western Manuscripts; MS. 3009, pg. 178

(1654-1685)

"To make a Pan Pudding

Take 2 or 3 spoonfulls of malt flower, put itt into some milk and soe much salt, pepper, cloves, and mace as will season it, then strew in some wheaten flower, stiring it together till it be About the Thickness of batter, soe you may poure it out of a ladle or spoon, then butter an Earthern pan, round About the sides, and bottom, then poure in your pudding, and bake it with brown bread, but you may draw it out, before your bread. After it halth stood in the Oven something aboue an houre."

 

The Wellcome Library Western Manuscripts; MS.4054, pg. 127

(1690-1710)

"A Fraze or Pan-Pudding

Beate 6 or 7 eggs & putt to them a pinte of creame & thicken it with flower, not all together so thick as pan-cakes batter season it with salt & a little pepper, fry it with butter; when one side is enough, turne it with a plate, and fry the other, you may putt in Corrints & shread suet with rose-water, nutmeg & sugar for seasoning."

A collection of above three Hundred Receipts in Cookery, Physick, and Surgery by several hands (1717)

"A very good Tansie.

TAKE a pint of Milk, and a pint of Cream, about a pint of Juice of Spinnage, which must be well dried, after washing, before you stamp it; strain it and pour it in; beat fifteen Eggs with a little Salt, leave out eight. Whites, strain them into the other things, put in near a pint of grated Bread or Bisket, grate in a whole large Nutmeg, and as much Sugar as will make it very sweet, thicken it over the Fire as thick as a Hasty-Pudding; put it into a butter'd Dish, and a cool Oven: Half an Hour bakes it"

So the use of a batter to produce a baked pudding is not specific to the Yorkshire Pudding. These recipes are not cooked under a roasting joint of meat by radiant heat, but then again neither are modern Yorkshire Puddings. MS. 3009's "Pan Pudding" will be a dish similar to a modern Yorkshire Pudding, and for that matter it is similar to many European recipes such as Le Far, Flan du Perigord, Clafoutis and Flognarde. But, none of these batter puddings, historic or extant, are cooked underneath a roasting joint. In fact this seems to be a relatively uncommon technique over all, although William Ellis writes in 1744 that for potatoes  "a very common Way [is] to boil them first, then peel them and lay them in the Dripping-pan under roasting Meat". It is the uncommon nature of technique that may indicate where these types of recipes originated. The majority of  examples of recipes using the technique of cooking a pudding by radiant heat in front of a fire originate in the northern part of the UK. Very north.

The technique of cooking a pudding using the radiant heat of a fire is found in several recipe manuscript collections from Scotland:

 

The National Library of Scotland, Manuscript Acc. 12242, pg. 10

Mrs Janet Maule hir Book of Receipts, (1701)

"A Baken pudding before a fire

Take a Chopin of sweat milk or creame and boile it with a little sweat butter, taike six eggs and three whyts beat them wel with a spoonful of cold cream and when the milk is preffic cold, put in the milk eggs sweattened with sugar then thicken it with a little grated wheat bread and seasoned it with a little nutmeg and sinamon then mix al wel togither and butter the dish ye mind to bake it in before ye putt in the mixture, then put the dish after the mixture is in on top of a pot ful of boiling water before a fire and serve it up with forsed sauces for ye may taike the same ingredients for a quaking pudding.

A Baken pudding in a Frying-pan

Take a Chopin of milk and twelfe eggs wel beatt and mix them togither then with flour thicken it and shred Sewat and season with shugar and sinamone beatt, butter the sydes and bottome of the frying-pan before ye putt in the mixture then sit it before a fire and when it is hardened sett it on a fire stil shifting it til it be baken then serve it up with a sauce of beat butter, Ginger and sugar.

 

The National Library of Scotland, Manuscript Ms.10281, pg 172

Dumfries (1722) 

"A Baken pudding in a frying-pan

Take a Chopin of sweet milk & 12 eggs well beat, & mix them together; then thicken it with flower &  shred Sewat, season it with Sugar & beat Cinnamon; butter the sides & bottom of ye Frying-pan before you put in ye Mixture; then set it before a Fire, & when it is hardened set it on a Fire, still shifting it till it be baken. Then serve it up with a sauce of beat Butter, Sugar & Ginger."

Another

Take a Mutchkine of sweet milk, 8 eggs & some grated bread, mix all together, & when well beat thicken them with flower; put in a little Ginger, Flower & Salt; butter the Frying-pan about the sides & Bottom; put all in and set before the Fire till well hardened; shift it sometimes and when well baken butter or sugar it."

The " Baken pudding in a frying-pan" recipes are the same near identical in both manuscripts. While there does not appear to be a direct relationship between Ms.10281and the  earlier Manuscript Acc. 12242, the majority of recipes from the  former work are repeated in the latter. This suggests that there is an earlier (17th century) source for these "Baken" puddings. While, it is not stated that these puddings are baked under roasting joints of meat, this is mentioned as an alternative cooking technique in several mid to late 18th century Scottish cookery books and one cookery book from the very north of England.

 A New and Easy Method of Cookery by Elizabeth Cleland (1755)

"To make a Plain Tansy. 

TAKE a fine stale Penny Loaf, and cut the Crumb in thin Shaves; put it in a Bowl, then boil a Mutchkin of Cream, and when boiled, pour it over the Bread, then cover the Bowl with a Plate, and let it ly a Quarter of an Hour ; then mix it with eight Eggs well beaten, two Gills of the Juice of Spinage, two Spoonfuls of the Juice of Tansy, and sweeten it with Sugar, Nutmeg, and a little Brandy ; rub your Pan with Butter, and put it in it; then keep it stirring on the Fire till it is pretty thick; then put it in a buttered Dish ,you may either bake it, or do it in the Dripping-Pan under roasted Meat."

 

The Lady's, housewife's, and cookmaid's Assistant by E. Taylor (1769), published at Berwick on Tweed.

"A Pudding to bake under meat.

A Quart of milk, six eggs, a little salt, make it into a batter with flour, as thick as for pancakes; put some dripping or butter into a stewpan or frying-pan, boil it upon the fire, pour in the batter, and hold it upon the fire two or three minutes to harden the bottom, then set it under the meat before the fire. Give it a heat upon the fire several times, shifting it in the pan when it is stiff enough to bear it. Make the pudding of such a size as to be baked enough when the meat is ready. Slide it upon a dish, and send it to table, with melted butter"

 

Cookery and Pastry by Susanna MacIver (1789)

"To make a Tansy Cake.

Beat fix eggs with four or five spoonfuls of flour; mix with them a mutchkin of sweet cream or new milk; sweeten it to your taste ; season it with some nutmeg and a little salt; put in as much of the juice of tansy as bitter it to your taste, and make it green with the juice of spinage; mix some oiled butter in it, and cast them all well together; you may fire it in a frying-pan on the top of the fire, but take care not to burn it. You may fire it below meat that is roasting, or in an oven; but be sure to butter the plate very well that it goes in. In case it is fired below meat, pour off all the fat from it before you send it to the table; strew sugar over it.

 A common Potatoe Pudding to be fired below roasted meat.

 Boil and skin as many potatoes as will fill the dish; beat them, and mix in some sweet milk; put them on the fire with a good piece of butter; season them properly with salt and spices. Some choose an onion shred small, and put in it. Put it in the dish and fire it below the meat, until it is of a fine brown on the top cast three eggs well, and mix in with the potatoes before you put them in the dish; it makes it rise, and eat -light; pour off all the fat that drops from the meat, before you send it to the table : it eats very well with roasted beef or mutton.

 A Bread Pudding to be Fired below meat.

Take a chopin of milk, and slice down as much of the. heart of a fine loaf as make it very thick; put it on the fire and boil it. If you see it too thin of ,bread, put in a little more; let it boil until it is pretty thick, stirring it from the bottom of the pan to keep it from burning; put in a handful of suet; if you have none, put in a piece of fresh butter; take it off the fire and sweeten it to your taste; season it with what spices you choose ; beat six eggs, and let the pudding be a little cold before you put them in; mix all well together, and put it into a dish, and fire it below the meat; turn the dish often, to make it of an equal brown; pour off all the fat before you send it to the table"

These recipes are also found in 19th century Scottish cookery books, although the domination of the Yorkshire pudding was becoming firmly established.

The new practice of cookery, pastry, baking, and preserving by Mrs Hudson and Donat (1804)

Lancashire Pancake Pudding.

"Two eggs, three spoonfuls of fine flour and a little salt, beat these together, and add to them near an English pint of water; take of the drippings of roasting mutton one or two spoonfuls, and put them into the frying pan, set it over the fire, when hot, pour in the above mixture, then set the pan over a chaffing dish of red hot coals, and set it before the fire; bake it as^quick as you can about ten or fifteen minutes : It must not be turned."

The Cook and Housewife's Manual by Meg Dods (Christian Isobel Johnstone; published in Edinburgh, 1826)

 

"Yorkshire Pudding to bake under a Roast. — Mix four ounces of flour very smoothly with a pint and a half of milk, four beat eggs, and a little salt, and also ginger, if liked. Butter a shallow tin pan; pour the batter into it, and place it below the roast. When settling, stir up the batter; and when browned on the upper side, turn over the pudding,* first drawing a knife round the edges to loosen it. Brown the other side. It should be about an inch thick when done. This is the favourite English accompaniment to a sirloin of beef, or a loin of veal or mutton; finely-minced parsley, eschalot, onion, and also suet well-beat, may be added."

Interestingly, while these published recipes post-date "The Whole Duty of a Woman" and "The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy", they are sufficently different to these recipes to suggest that either they are up-dated versions of earlier recipes. It seems incredible that the technique for cooking batter type puddings would be confined to a particular region. Compared to English texts, Scottish cookery texts either in published or in manscript form are much less common. The relative over representation of original recipes for batter puddings 'baked in before the fire" in far north of the UK does suggests that this is there historic heartland. However, while these puddings were relatively common in 18th century Scottish sources, by the early 19th century only Yorkshire and Potato pudding were found in Scottish texts, and by the end of the 19th century, only the Yorkshire pudding remained in Scotland. So it seems that the Yorkshire Pudding wasn't created in Yorkshire, it was created in British cookery books.

 

Finally I would like to thank the Trustees of the National Library of Scotland for permission to reproduce these manuscript recipes.

Moorish Origin of Churros?

Recently I had a very interesting comment made in regard to the origins of the Churros from Michael Krondl:

"I stumbled here quite by accident but a fortuitous one it seems since I know both Ken and Gary. Though as Ji says just because it happens to be made the same way doesn't necessarily prove anything but there are plenty of medieval Arab recipes that have you drizzle dough into hot fat. A pierced coconut is the favored utensil. The origin is likely Persian because of the name "zulabiya." Indian jalebi probably has the same origin. There's lots of Italian versions of this too. And for what it's worth the Acadamie Française dictionary traces pets de nonnes to the fourteenth century "pets d'Espagne." I'd put my money on the Arabic origin."

In response to this I originally replied that "...while I wouldn't discount the possibility of Moorish origins, but there is no proof. As I mentioned and as you expanded upon, there are Arabic batter fritters that are drizzled through holes into hot oil. These only superficially resemble churro et al, specifically they are not made from a hot water dough, which is important. Hot water dough doesn't drizzle well. Pushing a dough through a syringe is a different process to drizzling it though a sieve or pierced coconut..." I believe that this remains important point, churro and European syringed fritters are made using a very specific dough type that differentiates them from the very many other types of fritter, historical and extant.

When I originally wrote the article the earliest source I had found was 16th century Europe. During the period of the 16th to 17th century these fritters appear in many European countries, the early modern period was a fritter crazy time. On the other hand I could never find an Arabic version of this hot-water dough fritter.

However, I have recently read Nawal Nasrallah's translation of Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq's Tenth-century Baghdadi Cookbook, published as "Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens". In this text while there are recipes for Zalabiya Mushabbaka (Latticed Fritters)  that Michael mentions above, there is also one recipe for "Zalabiya Ghayr Mushabbaka" (un-latticed fritters). This recipe is for a hot-water dough fritter, albeit an unusual version. In this recipe the instruction is to cook flour in oil (make a Roux) and then add milk until it thickens. It you have made Béchamel sauce before then you will recognise this process. When the dough has cooled you form them into rings and fry them. Pets de nonnes with a hole.

So there is at least one early Arabic version of this fritter. However this still doesn't mean that this is the origin of Churros. This tenth century recipe doesn't appear in other medieval Arabic sources that I have access to (not an exhaustive list I must say), including the 13th century Anonymous Andalusian recipe collection . In short there is no continuity from this 10th century Arabic source to the hot-water dough fritters of the early European texts. There is also another issue in that the Roman recipe collection generally known as "Apicius" was a popular text in Medieval and Early Modern Europe also gives directions for making a hot-water dough fritter. In this instance flour/semolina is put into hot water until thickened (pultem), the cooled dough is then cut into suitable shapes and fried in oil.

Although the text of Apicius is from before the 10th century and thus has precedence to the Arabic source, it was also copies were made and traveled throughout Europe from the Medieval period onwards. In this respect the Apicius is the earliest European source, potentially, if highly speculative,  even the source for later European recipes.

At this point I believe that while there is now evidence for very early production of hot-water fritters, there is still not enough evidence to connect these isolated recipes to the early modern hot-water fritters or the later developed Churro. It will be interesting to see how this research develops.

p.s. A further update, I recently came across the Turkish fried hotwater dough fritter "tulumba tatisi" ("pump sweet"), these are piped put of star nozzle, just like churro, and just like syringe fritters are named after the devise used to do this. In some instances "Tulumba" can also mean "syringe". Found throughout the Balkans. Although not Moorish this does shift the very specific cooking technique to the Eastern Med. and the Islamic sphere of influence. It will be very interesting to find out their origin in this part of the world.

Still more Haggis

In previous posts (Ode to a haggis part I and II) I have discussed the history of the haggis in great detail. The main point was that these puddings were originally found in both Scotland and England, before becoming known as the national dish Scotland. A secondary point was that even during the period that the haggis was becoming known as a purely Scottish dish, not all Scots were over-joyed with the prospect of eating it.

In part, this is  likely to account  for the lack of a recipe for haggis in early Scottish printed cookbooks. A recipe for a haggis only appeared at the end of the 18th century in Mrs Maciver's cookery book. The recipe in is essentially identical to the modern recipe. However, I recently came across a haggis recipe in a Scottish recipe collection manuscript. This collection of over three hundred recipes is in a leather-bound volume originally belonging to Martha Lockhart, Lady Castlehill and was written 1712-13. It is now kept in the Mitchell Library in Glasgow. A selection of these recipes was published in 1976 by Hamish White.

The obvious recipe of interest is titled: To make a Haggas Pudding

The ingredients for this haggis are:

Lights (lungs), heart and kidney (no liver) of a sheep or lamb, beef suet, currants, nutmeg, salt, grated bread, sweet herbs, egg yolks and cream.

These items are stuffed into a sheep paunch as per normal, and boiled for 4 hours, with the final instruction to "gash it carelesly, then it will rune out green". Hopefully due to the sweet herbs.

This is a very different recipe then given by Mrs Maciver in 1773:

A Good Scotch Haggies

Make the haggis-bag perfectly clean, parboil the draught ; boil the liver very well, so as it will grate ; dry the meal before the fire ; mince the draught and a pretty large piece of beef very small ; grate about half of the liver ; mince plenty of the suet and some onions small ; mix all these materials very well together, with a handful or two of the dried meal ; spread them on the table, and season them properly with salt and mixed spices ; take any of the scraps of beef that are left from mincing, and some of the water that boiled the draught, and make about a choppin of good stock of it ; then put all the haggis meat into the bag, and that broth in it ; then sew up the bag : but be sure to put out all the wind before you sew it quite close. If you think the bag is thin, you may put it in a cloth. If it is a large haggis, it will take at least two hours' boiling.

However is near identical to a whole bunch of recipes published in the 16th and 17th century. For instance:

The Second Part of a good Huswifes Jewel by Thomas Dawson 1597

To make a Haggas pudding

Take a peece of a Calves Chaldron and parboile it, shred it so small as you can, then take as much Beefe Sewet as your meat, ten shred likewise, and a good deale more of grated bread, put this together, and to then seven or eight yolkes of egs and two or three whites, a little creame, three or four spoonfuls of rosewater, a little Pepper, Mace and nutmegs, and a good deale of sugar, fill them and let them be sodden with a very soft fire, and shred also with a little Winter savoury, parsely and Time, and a little Pennyroyal with your meat.

The Compleat Cook or, The Whole Art of Cookery, 1694

Take a Calves Chaldron, boil it, and when it is cold mince it very small, then take the yolks of four eggs, and the whites of two, some cream, grated bread, sugar, salt, currans, rosewater, some beef-suet or marrow, sweet herbs, marjoram, thyme, parsley, and mingle together; then having a sheep-maw ready dressed, put it in the aforesaid materials and boil it. .

Others take a good store of Parsely, savoury, tyme, onions and oatmeal groats chopped together; and mingled with some minced beef suet, with cloves, mace, pepper and salt, fill the paunch, so it up and boil it: when boiled, cut a hole in it and put in some beaten butter, with yolks of three eggs.

Another very good way.

Take a Calves chaldron or muggets, boil it tender and mince small, put to it grated bread, the yolks of six eggs, with as many whites, some cream, sweet herbs, spinage, succory, sorrel, strawberry-leaves minced small, a little butter, pepper, cloves, mace, cinamon, ginger, currans, sugar, salt dates, and boil it in a napkin or calves-panch; being boiled, dish it and trim with scraped sugar, stick it with sliced almonds, and run over with beaten butter

In fact it is quite likely that the Castlehill recipe has been copied from one of the many such examples as given above. Interestingly these recipes are from English cookbooks, so does this mean that the Scottish haggis is English? Not possible to say I'm afraid. It is a possible that the origin is English and the "modern" haggis of Mrs Maciver represents a local adaption, but it is equally possible that Lady Castlehill simply copied a recipe from an English cookbook because it was an upmarket version of a familiar, pre-existing dish.

Certainly we know that haggis type puddings existed in Scotland before Lady Castlehill's time, what we don't know is what these haggis were like. It would be interesting to know of other haggis recipes contained in early recipe collections and if so, what these recipes were like.

Frumenty

Apologies for the lack of recent posts. A new job means that I have a little less time for food history. One quick post then in the way of illustrating how recreating even simple historic recipes isn't plain sailing.

One recipe group that I have been interested in for a while are the frumenty (various spellings based on the Latin frumentum meaing grain). They are of interest to me as the dish has been made in England since at least the Medival period, until the mid-20th century. The dish itself has remained did not change all that much during this time span, but the social context did. Basically, the recipe is wheat pounded and seperated from its hulls, then boiled in cow or almond milk until it forms a gel, this mixture was then sweetened, spiced or coloured as appropriate to the the period. During the Medieval period it most often served without sugar with boiled venison as a type of pottage or in non-meat days with porpoise or beaver tail. Despite being mammals the entire of the former and the tail of the latter were counted as "fish". Having eaten beaver tail I can tell you that it tastes completely unlike fish, which why it was popular on fish dominant days I imagine.

By the modern period frumenty had become associated with Christmas eve, as the following 19th century description indicates:

Christmas-eve is celebrated in almost every family by
a supper of frumenty, made of steeped wheat boiled
with milk, apple-pie, cheese, and yule-cake. It is
accounted very unlucky to cut into the cheese before
supper. At the commencement of supper a large fire
is made, on which is placed the yule-log, and atall mould-
candle, called the yule-candle, which is not to be snuffed,
is lighted and placed on the table; a piece of the log
is preserved until the following Christmas by each
prudent housewife, to secure the house from fire during
the year.

The popularity if frumenty in 19th rural England is rather interesting as for the most part wheat was a recent addition to the diet, especially in the North.  It is possible that this was viewed as a high status dish and was eaten only on festivals where rarities like wheat were more freely available. So popular was frumenty at this period that it was possible to buy the wheat pre-boiled and set into a jelly from vendors. This jelly was called "Creed Wheat" ( to cree grain is to soften it by soaking or boiling) and it is the creed wheat I had a problem with . Buying whole wheat is not a great problem and instructions for preparing the grain where essentially the same since the Medieval period: Beat grain to loosen the hull, then gently boil. Remove the hulls and you will get a wheat gel that will set solid like well made oat porridge. Try as a might I could not get this process to work with the wheat I used. Back to the drawing board. I managed to find another source of wheat, this time with partial removal of the hull ("pearled wheat"). Problem solved, gel formed in roughly 40 minutes of gently boiling. Clearly the important part of all the recipes I looked at was the removal of the hull, however I failed to note this initially. This illustrates part of the difficulty with historical recipes; if I can get this simple process wrong, what hope would I have with a more complicated dish? And in addition, in this instance I had a very good idea what the dish should be like at several stages, often this is not the case with historical recipes.

Above: Wheat in earthenware pot being gently simmered for 8 hours. When this failed to produce a wheat gel, I removed the wheat to a modern saucepan and boiled it hard for about 2 hours - still no gel.

Above: Top right, whole wheat before boiling, and Top left, after ten hours of treatment. Bottom left, wheat with partial removal of hull, and bottom right, after 20 minutes of gently boiling.

Above: Christmas eve frumenty. The creed wheat was mixed with milk, egg yolk, spice and sugar and gently heated to give an indulgent but comforting porridge type dish. I can see why it was popular.

If you are interested in making this dish you could look for pearl wheat (very hard to find) or substitute pearl barley. Least you think this inauthentic, here is a recipe from the end of the 17th century.

Address to a Haggis; Part II

As the history of haggis and also peoples reaction to this pudding is so interesting I thought it was well worth adding some additional information about this national dish. As I discussed previously the haggis hasn't always been a purely Scottish dish, nor has it been universally loved even in Scotland. One factor in this is that by the end of the 18th century haggis was firmly associated with Scotland and this was a great problem for many people as Scotland had been part of Britain since 1707. Another issue is that a haggis is a great big lump of steaming offal and then as now this is a difficult thing for many people as the following description of meals served in a mid-18th century Scottish nobles household indicates:

"There was a very long table loaded with a great variety of dishes, some of the most luxurious, others of the plainest—nay, coarsest kind : these were very oddly arranged; at the head were all the dainties of the season, well dressed and neatly sent in ; about the middle appeared good substantial dishes, roasted mutton, plain pudding and such like. At the bottom coarse pieces of beef, sheeps' heads, haggiss, and other national but inelegant dishes, were served in a slovenly manner in great pewter platters; at the head of the table were placed guests of distinction, to whom alone the dainties were offered ; the middle was occupied by gentlemen of his own tribe, who well knew their allotment, and were satisfied with the share assigned to them. At the foot of the table sat hungry retainers, the younger sons of younger brothers, who had at some remote period branched out from the family ; for which reason he always addressed them by the title of “cousin”. This, and a place, however low, at his table, so flattered these hopeless hangers-on, that they were as ready to do Lovat's bidding " in the earth or in the air" as the spirits are to obey the command of Prospero"

We should also keep in mind that the haggis of this period were in fact quite different to those of today. If we look at archetypal haggis recipe from the 18th century, this difference isn't at first obvious; in fact the ingredients are still quite typical of a "modern" haggis.

A Good Scotch Haggies

Make the haggis-bag perfectly clean, parboil the draught ; boil the liver very well, so as it will grate ; dry the meal before the fire ; mince the draught and a pretty large piece of beef very small ; grate about half of the liver ; mince plenty of the suet and some onions small ; mix all these materials very well together, with a handful or two of the dried meal ; spread them on the table, and season them properly with salt and mixed spices ; take any of the scraps of beef that are left from mincing, and some of the water that boiled the draught, and make about a choppin of good stock of it ; then put all the haggis meat into the bag, and that broth in it ; then sew up the bag : but be sure to put out all the wind before you sew it quite close. If you think the bag is thin, you may put it in a cloth. If it is a large haggis, it will take at least two hours' boiling.

In fact the only real difference is the "haggis" itself. Confused? Well I guess it is very confusing unless you realise that "haggis" originally refered to both the sheeps rumen which was used as a casing for the pudding and to the finished pudding itself. Now that haggis are rarely made in a sheep's rumen, we only retain the latter sense of the word. Modern haggis are usually stuffed into bovine caecum or artificial casings. Part of the reason for this is that a rumen from an adult sheep is quite large with a total volume of 5-7 litres. This makes a huge pudding, something to feed a very large group of people with. Another reason is that the rumen has quite a distictive aroma, a cleaned bovine caecum or artifical casing doesn't. Part of the irony of this is that many, many of these modern haggis are eaten specifically for Burns Night suppers in which a poem describing the old syle and quite different type of haggis is read. In fact much of the poem doesn't make sense unless you are familar with the old style, offal boiled in a rumen, haggis. Before I move on to the poem, let me just make it quite clear that I do in fact love the modern style haggis, be it deconstructed, sanitized and reformed into a ziggurat on white bistro plates or battered and deep-fried from a chip shop.

The poem in question is obviously Robert Burns' "Address to a Haggis". Writing at the end of the 18th century in a period when Scots were creating a modern national identity, Burns was able to provide a robust, yet romantic ideal of Scottishness which was accessible to most Scots. So popular was Burns as poet, that shortly after his death "Burns Clubs" were formed. To this day the his birthday (25th of January) is celebrated as a national day in Scotland. On this "Burns Night" haggis are consumed in great numbers and his famous "Address to a Haggis"'is read.

As I was interested in how these 18th century haggis which where so associated with Scottish identity tasted, I made one based on the recipe shown above*. Making this haggis made the Burns poem much more clear

Above: The cleaned sheep rumen.

Above: The ingredients for the haggis stuffing. Offal, suet, beef, oats, onions and spice.

Above: The image that helped make the first part of the poem make sense.

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy o' a grace
As lang's my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o' need,
While thro' your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

Obviously a lot of this part of the poem is about the size of the haggis, as discussed above a haggis from a full grown sheep is going to be huge, absolutely as long as an arm and about to fill a trencher to over-flowing. "Hurdies" can be translated as "buttocks" and as you can see, due to the bi-lobed nature of the rumen, with a bit of imagination you can see some "hurdies like a distant hill". Difficult to see in this image, but some of the melted suet does indeed seep through to the surface of the rumen and has absorbed pigments from offal, these are the "amber beads".

Above: Another view of the haggis, showing the bulging, bi-lobed rumen.

Above: The haggis cut open to show the interior (the "gushing entrails bright").

His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An' cut you up wi' ready sleight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like ony ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin, rich!

Then, horn for horn,
they stretch an' strive:
Deil tak the hindmost! on they drive,
Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve,
Are bent lyke drums;
Then auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
"Bethankit!" 'hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad mak her spew
Wi' perfect sconner,
Looks down wi' sneering, scornfu' view
On sic a dinner?

At this point in British history the French ragout and fricassee, and the Olio (derived from the Spanish Olla Podrida) were firmly established as popular (if foreign) dishes in Britain. However, many people considered them effete and foreign.

Poor devil! see him ower his trash,
As feckless as a wither'd rash,
His spindle shank, a guid whip-lash,
His nieve a nit;
Thro' bloody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread.
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He'll mak it whissle;
An' legs an' arms, an' heads will sned,
Like taps o' thrissle.

Ye Pow'rs wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o' fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies;
But, if ye wish her gratefu' prayer,
Gie her a haggis!

* Note that as I was unable to obtain an adult sheep rumen, I used a rumen from a smaller animal that held about 1.5 litres.

Syringed Fritters, Nun's Farts and Churros

I tend to cook a lot of dishes that are never tasted by anybody other then myself. When researching historical recipes, often the only way to develop a sense of the people who wrote the recipes and the food they were eating is to attempt to make their food itself. While this process is quite a fun and relaxing pass time, quite often the food just isn't to modern tastes - other then my own.

Very occasionally I come across a recipe that is both of intellectual interest and produces an absolutely delicious result. In this case the recipe(s) in question are "Syringed Fritters". Recipes for these types of fritters occurs at least as early as the 16th century, with the German cookbook written by Sabina Welserin 1553 desribing how to make fritters called Strauben and Spritzgebackenes out of hot water dough (similar to a modern Choux pastry) with special funnels or a pastry bag and in his "Ouverture de Cuisine" (1604), Lancelot de Casteau describes the production of similar hot water doughs which can be dropped from a spoon or pushed through a speriche or sering (Syringe). In 17th century England Robert May's "The Accomplisht Cook" has a recipe titled "To fry Paste out of a Syringe or Butter-squirt". So it seems that by the 17th century large syringe type devises were used as kitchen utensils in large, well stocked kitchen in many European countries. These were mainly used to squeeze out butter into decorative ribbons or threads (hence "butter squirt") and to pipe out marzipan for baking, but they were obviously also used for making fritters.

The fritters made in this manner were almost always made from a Choux type pastry or other hot water type pastry, most likely because this dough is quite plastic in nature and therefore able to be piped/syringed into hot oil without falling apart. Most recipes for fried choux pastry from the late 17th to early 18th century consisted of small balls of pastry, rather then syringed sticks of pastry. As these small choux pastry fritters were hollow and very light in texture they were often known as "Pets" (farts) in French cooking texts In some cases they were known as "Whore's Farts" or "Nun's Farts" depending on the humour of the author. In the more straight-laced 19th century the nun's "Farts" were often turned into a "Sighs".

In the 18th century "Syringed Fritters" occur in many English cookbooks. Curiously, these recipes are all very similar and are obviously copied from each other, rather then being original creations. The earliest example I have been able to find is from the anonymous  "The Whole Duty of a Woman" 1737.

Syringed Fritters (From "The Whole Duty of a Woman" 1737)

Take about a Pint of water, and a Bit of Butter, the Bigness of an Egg, with some green Lemon-Peel rasp'd, preserved Lemon Peel, and crisped Orange-flowers; put all together in a Stew-pan over the fire, and when boiling throw in fome fine Flour, & keep it stirring, put in by Degrees more flour 'till your batter be thick enough: Then put it in a Mortar with Almonds pounded or Bitter Almonds, biskets , two Eggs, Yolk and White. Temper it with Eggs farther, 'till your Batter be thin enough to be syringed ; Fill your Syringe and your Hogs Lard being hot, syringe your Fritters in it, to make of it a true Lovers Knot; and being well coloured, strew them Sugar: Serve them up hot for a dainty Dish....

This recipe was then published by Hannah Glasse, and later Charlotte Mason, with some re-wording. Richard Briggs re-writes the recipe with more detail.

To make Syringed fritters (From "The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy" 1747, Hannah Glasse).

TAKE about a pint of water, and a bit of butter the bigness of an egg, with some lemon-peel, green if you can get it, rasped preserved lemon-peel, and crisped orange-flowers ; put all together in a stew pan over the fire, and when boiling throw in some fine flour; keep it stirring, put in by degrees more flour till your batter be thick enough, take it off the fire, then take an ounce of sweet almonds, four bitter ones, pound them in a mortar, stir in two Naples biscuits crumbled, two eggs beat; stir all together, and more eggs till your batter be thin enough to be syringed. Fill your syringe, your butter being hot, syringe your fritters in it, to make it of a true lovers-knot, and being well coloured, serve them up for a side-dish.

Syringed Fritters (From "The Ladies Assistant" 1787 by Charlotte Mason).

TO a pint of water, add a piece of butter the size of a large egg, some preferved lemon-peel, crisped orange-flowers, and some green lemon-peel grated ; put them in a stew-pan over the fire, and when they boil throw in fome fine flour ; keep it stirring, and by degrees put in as much flour as will make the batter thick enough ; take it off the fire, stir in two Naples biscuits crumbled, an ounce of sweet almonds, three or four bitter ones, pound them in a mortar, mix it with eggs well beat, till the batter is thin enough to be syringed; let the butter be boiling hot in the frying-pan, and syringe the fritters into it; fry them of a good colour. They make a pretty side dish.

Syringed Fritters (From "The Art of Cookery" 1788 by Richard Briggs).

PUT a pint of water into a stew-pan, with a piece of butter as big as an egg -, grate in the rind of a lemon, a preferved lemon peel rasped, a few orange flowers crisped and rubbed fine-, put all over the fire, and when it boils stir in fome flour, which continue to do till it is as thick as batter; then take it off the fire: take an ounce of sweet almonds and
four bitter ones, blanch and beat them fine in a mortar, rub two Naples biscuits through a fine cullender, and beat two eggs; mix all well together, and put in eggs till your batter is thin enough to syringe; then fill your syringe, have a pan of hogs lard boiling hot, syringe in your fritters as quick as you can, in any form you please -, have a slice ready to take them out in a moment, .....lay them on a sieve to drain, dish
them, and sprinkle powder sugar over them.

Hannah Glasse re-interpreted and re-wrote the recipe from "The Whole Duty of a Woman", as butter is used to shallow fry the fritters, rather then the original method of deep frying in lard, this method is copied by Charlotte Mason. In fact some later authors copy the recipe given by Hannah Glasse word for word (for example John Farley in 1783). Richard Brigg's recipe is interesting as it seems not to have been copied from Hannah Glasse. Finally recipes for these types of syringed fritters disappear from English cookbooks at the end of the 18th century, although they occasionally turn up in cooks "Dictionaries" or other similar large recipe collections, for example in Richard Dolby's "The Cook's Dictionary and Housekeeper's Directory" (1833).

Clearly the later recipes owe a great deal to the "The Whole Duty of a Woman" (especially the Glasse version), but is this an original recipe and if so, what is the source material used? In looking for the origin of these english recipes, it is important to define what is important about the recipe. Clearly they are fritters, but there are thousands of different types of fritters, independently derived in multiple cultures. A more precise definition of these fritters is that they are made from a hot water pastry (flour is added to a hot liquid), specifically a form of Choux pastry and that they are formed by squirting out of a syringe. A syringe is a very specific tool, so it is relatively easy to look for references to it in cooking texts. A good place to look is in the books index, glossary of culinary terms or in the Batterie de Cuisine and ideed in Menon's "La Cuisiniere bourgeoise" there is the following description of a syringe as used as a culinary item.

"SERINGUE. Est un ustensile d'office dans lequel on seringue la pâte des massepains pour la friser, ou lui donner une autre figure : on s'en sert aussi à la cuisine pour les beignets de pâte."

This indicates that in French kitchens of the period, syringes were used to pipe marzipan and fritters (beignets). If we look at Menon's recipes for beignets (not syringed) we see one recipe in particular that is very interesting:

"Beignets soufflés, ou pets & petits choux

Mettrez dans une casserole gros comme un oeuf de beurre, deux citron verds rapes, de la eau de fleurs d’orange une pleine cuillere a café...."

An even closer match to the English recipe is found in François Marin's "Les Dons de Comus":

"Beignets seringues

Mettez dans une casserole une chopine d'eau, de la farine, & gros comme un oeuf de beurre. Formez en une pate royale bien ferme. Mettez le dans le mortier avec du citron rapé, un peu de fleur d'orange, amandes pilées, ou quelques biscuits d'amandes ameres. Mettez-v des oeufs a mesure que vous pilez, mettez-en jusqu'a ce qu'elle soit au soit de pouvoir la mettre dans la seringue. Alors vous l'emplirez & pousserez vos beignets dans la friture. Il saut qu'au bout de la seringue il y ait une petite plaque de fer qui bouche les trous, qu'ils soient dessines en las d'amour ou autre chissre. Vous les faites frire de cote & d'autre & les servez avec du sucre en poudre"

As you can see these recipes starts off almost exactly as the English recipes for "Syringe Fritters", an "egg of butter", "green citron rind" and "orange flower" (not "crisped orange flowers"). Unfortunately Menon's work, although hugely influencial in French and English cookery wasn't published until 1746 and Marin's in 1750, nearly a decade after the "The Whole Duty of a Woman" recipe. Clearly we are looking for a recipe which is the source of both the early english and french recipes. Although the English published a great deal more cookbooks then the French in the 17th century, late in this century several hugely influencial French works were produced. One of the most influencial French cookbook authors of this period was François Massialot. In 1702 "The Court and Country Cook" was published in English, this is a translation of the third edition of "Le Cuisinier royal et bourgeois" and the second edition of "Nouvelle Instruction pour les Confitures. les Liqueurs, et les Fruits". Unfortunately, I don't have access to the english translation, but in "Le Cuisinier royal et bourgeois", the following recipe appears.

"Beignets a l’eau por entremets

Prenez une casserole, & y mettez de l’eau, avec gros comme une noix de beurre, & un peu de sel, avec de l’ecorce de citron vert & confit, hache bien menu. Faites bouillir cela sur ub sournean;  y ayant mis deux bonnes poignees de farine, tournez-le a force de bras jusqu’a ce que cela se detrache de la casserole. Alors vous le tirerez en arriere; & y metteant deau jaunes d’oeufs vous les melerez bien ensemble, continuant d’y mettre d’eux oeufs a deux oeufs jusqu’a dix ou douze, que votre pate soit delicate. Il saut ensuite fariner sur son tour, tremper la maon dans la farine, & tirer votre pate par morceaux sur le tour. Quand elle aura reose, il saut la rouler & couper par petits morceaux, empechant qu’ils ne s’attachent l’un a l’autre: & quand on sera prêt a server, vous les frirez dans du bon saindoux; & les ayant tirez , vous jetterez du sucre dessus & de l’eau de fleur dórange, % vous servirez promtement por Hor-d’oeuvres. ON en peut aussi garner des Tourtes de crème. Les Beignets au Bouillon se sont de meme: au lieu d’eau, vous servez de bouillion."

So here I think is the explanation for the confusing "some green Lemon-Peel rasp'd, preserved Lemon Peel" that we see in "The Whole Duty of a Woman", this is simply a poor translation of "de l’ecorce de citron vert & confit". Basically the French recipe is talking about the preserved/candied rind of citron (Citrus medica), not a green lemon (Citrus limon). It is a very odd confusion to have made in light of the fact that preserved citron peel was a very common ingredient in English and French cookery of this period. Another thing to note is that there is no mention of a syringe in this french recipe. The recipe is a close, but not an exact match. An explanation of this is that this type of pasty can be used in a number of different ways and that in many recipes the option to syringe the batter is is left up to the user. Another angle is that there is another recipe that is a more exact match for the "The Whole Duty of a Woman" recipe and indeed, this is what turns out to be the case.

Quite by chance when researching these recipes I read in the excellent introductory material written by Jennifer Stead and Priscilla Bain to the Prospect Books facsimile edition of Hannah Glasse's "The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy", that while Glasse sourced a great deal of material from "The Whole Duty of a Woman", the author(s) of this work copied their recipes wordfor word from several other earlier books. The most copied source for these books was Vincent La Chapelle's "The Modern Cook". While working in London, La Chapelle published his text first in three English volumes in 1733 and then in four French volumes in 1735 as "Le Cuisiner Moderne", it was from the english text that the "Whole Duty of a Woman" recipe is a direct copy. The French text for this recipe is also very interesting.

"Entremis des Bignets Seringuez

Mettez dans une casserole environ une chopine d'eau, gros comme la moitié d'un œuf de bon beurre, de l'écorces de citron verds râpé, de l'écorces de citron confit, de la fleurs-d'orange pralinée;mettez-là dessus un fourneau,& quand elle bouillira, mettez-y, de,la farine,en remuant sanscesse avec une cuillere de bois , en continuant d'y mettre de la farine, jusqu'à ce que vôtre pâte devienne ferme, & qu'elle quitte la casserole, ensuite,mettez-la dans un mortier, avec un peu d'amandes pilées,ou de biscuit d'amande amère ; & vous y mettrez deuy œufs à la fois, blancs & jaunes, & bien pillés; vous continuerez à y mettre des œufs, jufqu'ài ce que vous voyez que vôtre pâte ne foit pas trop claire, & que vous puissiez la manier, pour la mettre, dans la Seringue: observez cependant qu'elle soit fermer car si elle étoit trop délicate, vos Bignets ne pourroient pas se soûtenir ; remplissez-en vôtre Seringue, & mettez du sain-doux dans une casserole sur le feu, & vôtre friture étant chaude, poussez-y vôtre Bignêt, qu'il sorte fort fin, & lassé comme un las d'amour, sans confusion: étant frit d'un côté, vous le tournerez de l'autre côté: étant frit d'une belle couleur, tirez-le, & le poudrez de fucre, & le servez chaudement pour Entremêts... "

It can be seen by comparing this recipe with the earlier beignets recipe from Massialot, that La Chapelle has not so much as copied Massialot as reinterpreted and expanded his recipes. In fact this process of reinterpretation and expansion of Massialot's work characterises many of La Chapelle's recipes. In Massialot's recipe for Beignets a l’eau por entremets, "l’ecorce de citron vert; confit, hache bien menu" which in La Chapelle's Entremis des Bignets Seringuez becomes "l'écorces de citron verds râpé, de l'écorces de citron confit". In other words Massialot's "candied green citron rind, chopped small" becomes La Chapelles "The rasped rind of a green lemon and candied lemon peel" and eventually Hannah Glasse's "some lemon-peel, green if you can get it, rasped preserved lemon-peel"

So we have a French recipe which though a process of poor translation and reinterpretation has been transformed into a new English recipe. I previously mentioned that I often don't serve my re-created historic recipes to other people, but in this case I am happy to say that these recipes produce delicious results. Which is very odd considering the manner in which these recipes were derived. This is my "reinterpretation and expansion of the recipe.

English Syringed Fritters

Ingredients:

Oil to fry
600 ml water
50 gm butter
275 gm flour (the more gluten the tougher the fritter)
25 gm of almond meal
4 medium eggs
1 tspn orange flower water, zest of one lemon.
2 crushed sponge fingers or 5 crushed amaretti (optional)

Method:

Place water and butter in a saucepan, bring to boil and when butter is melted, add flour. Stir until a smooth dough is produced. Off the heat add lemon zest and orange flour water, almond meal and sponge fingers. Incorporate eggs one at a time. Place in piping bag (using a 1 - 1.5 cm star nozzle). Heat oil in deep frying pan until 160.C. Pipe in fritters, do not over crowd pan. Cook until fritters are golden brown and bubbling as subsided (about 5-10 minutes). Place fritters on absorbant paper, sprinkle with sugar.

These produce a fritter which while superficially resembling a Spanish or Mexican "Churro" are much lighter in texture. This is due to the use of a egg enriched Choux pastry type dough for the English recipe, compared to the plainer hot water dough used for Churros.

Does the resemblance to Churros go beyond the superficial? As I have previously mentioned these type of piped hot water dough fritters where known from many European countries from the 16th century onwards, but it seems that only in Spain and former colonies was the dish retained. In terms of the history of Churros, there are two popular theories.

1). "Churros" are named after a Spanish breed of sheep with the same name, or specifically the horns of these sheep. Spanish shepherds made Churros as a type of primative "bread".

2). They are derived from "Moorish" cuisine.

There is no doubt that many Spanish and world dishes owe their origin to the Moors of the Iberian peninsula. However in many modern theories of the origin of modern Spanish dishes, all too often it is attributed to "The Moors" with out any further need for proof. This isn't good enough. I have looked though what Medieval Arabic recipes sources I have access to and while I can find recipes for piped fritters, I have yet to find a recipe for piped hot water dough. I would not completely discount the possibility of Moorish origins, but without proof I counldn't say any more.

There is also an issue of continuity. If modern recipe has ancient origins then we would expect some continuity in the production of the recipe. The first references in Spanish I can find to Churros are actually from the later half of the 19th century. In Spanish dictionaries from this period, "Churro/Churros" is given as the name of a breed of sheep only, no mention of the pastry. Potentially this is because fritters were not a popular item of polite conversation at the time, in fact one popualr saying from the period is:

"No diga nadie d nadie bunolero".- Let no man call another a fritter-maker.

Fritter making was a lowly occupation it seems. Another possability is that "Churro" is a regional or class specific name for a widely distributed product. From one dialect dictionary (1908) of the Aragona region we have the following definition.

Churro/Chorro = golpe de agua. || Pasta de harina y huevos

A Churro or Chorro is either a "spurt of water" or a specfic name for a type of pastry (unfortunately no more information is given about the form of this pastry). The modern name for the "Churro" fritter being derived from the Spanish for "spurt/squirt" ("Chorro") fits very well with the nature of these fritters and I believe that at this point this is the best explanation for the origin of the name.

There are older forms of these fritters from the  Iberian peninsula, in at least two 18th century cookbooks from this region, recipes for "Syringed Fritters" occur. A recipe for "Fruta de siringa/ciringa" (Syringed Fritters) appears in the 1758 edition of the Portuguese cookbook "Arte de Cozinha" by Domingos Rodrigues and the 1763 edition of the Spanish "Arte de Cocina" (first published in 1611 by Francisco Martinez Montiño, head chef to King Felipe IV of Spain) contains a recipe for "Otros bunuelos de viento" this recipe is describes the production of a choux type pastry fritters doughnuts and finishes with the phrase "Esta masa sirve ...., y para fruta de geringa" ("This dough is used for syringed fritters"). This latter book was hugely popular in Spain and it's colonies, being printed well into the 19th century. In later texts "Fruta de geringa" becomes "buñuelos de jeringa". In this form it appears in both Spanish and Mexican cookbooks of the 19th century.

Is it possible that the modern "Churro" is simply a re-naming of the old Spanish "buñuelos de jeringa"? What is the relationship between the Spanish "Fruta de geringa" and the French "Bignets Seringuez", are the 18th century Spanish and Portuguese recipes derived from the earlier French works, are the Spanish/Mexican Churros actually French in origin? Without access to earlier editions of the Spanish text I can't answer these questions, but hopefully somebody may be able to. What ever their origin, syringed fritters are delicious.

p.s. Since writing this I have thought about AlyxL's original comment in regards to the identification of "citron vert" etc. I really don't like being wrong, but I dislike the idea of disseminating incorrect information even more. As my French language skills are poor I contacted French food writer and expert Sophie Bisssaud on this identification problem. This is what she has to say:

"Concerning citron: at no period in history would a French cookbook writer have used the term "citron" instead of "cédrat". The primitive spelling seems to be cedrac (which reminds me of the hebrew etrog), later in the 18th c. cedra is quite common. So when you read in a 17th c. French recipe book the word citron, that really means lemon, not citron....

..The words l'écorce de citron verd & confit can be grammatically misleading for a non-French speaker. I think there may be an ellipsis here, which was quite common in writing at that time. It could actually mean "de l'écorce de citron verd et de l'écorce de citron confit", meaning that both grated fresh (green) lemon peel and preserved lemon peel were used. Only a guess, for that is not clear. However if we are dealing with only one ingredient here, it is most probably lime - or unripe lemon peel, which I doubt - and not citron. The mystery remains as whether it could mean candied green (i.e. unripe) lemon peel or candied lime peel. Now, since I have never heard of the use of preserving unripe lemon peel in sugar, and I am pretty sure that preserved lime peel was known, I do tend to think that the "green lemon" in question could perhaps be lime."

Thank you very much Alyx and Sophie and helping to identify the citrus fruit in question. Not something that I could have done on my own.

Address to a haggis or is that hagws/haggies/hakkys.....

Above: Haggis and black puddings hanging in a Scottish Butcher

Above: Haggis and trimmings for a Burns Night Supper.

Above: The form in which the vast sum of haggis is consumed in Scotland - deep-fried as part of a "Haggis Supper".

Above: A close up of the interior of a haggis. Shockingly it isn't very horrific at all and is mainly plumped grains of oats.

Of all the traditional foods in Britain, the one dish that everybody has an opinion on is the haggis*. To a large degree these views are largely in the negative and curiously it is those individuals that have never tried a haggis that are likely to be the most vocal. So what it is about the haggis that drives the formation such opinions? Is it simply that it's composition of offal is universally recognised and therefore it is to be shunned? In a large part this is likely to be true, the consumption of offal in for many people is a repulsive act of utmost horror. While there is a growing trend to produce and consume food in a more environmentally aware and humane manner, this has made little impact on the amount of offal that is consumed. The idea of eating more of an animal other then muscle tissue may in fact be an obvious way to address this issue simply has not occured to most people.

Even those with masochistic eating habits tend to consume offal in the relatively safe environment of a restaurant - there is also a hierarchy of offal acceptance. Calf liver is classy, lamb liver is common, beef cheeks at a restaurant are simply wonderful, sweetbreads ditto, but it's not somthing you prepare at home and who on earth would want to eat lungs? Perhaps this is part of the issue with haggis, it's popular image makes no appologies for its contents, and in fact it is it's in your face love-me-for-what-I-am-or-piss-off offally contents are the well emphasized point of the pudding. Another factor is that it has been promoted as the symbol of Scottish identity for the last 250 years and for many people the consumption of icons is just as difficult to stomach. In the Scotland the haggis perfectly suited the original intention to project an image of uncomplicated rustic virtue in contrast to the effete foods of the overrefined society south of the border. Most haggis is eaten for what it is, a tasty meal, but in many cases the original image of rustic simplicity has been erroded to the point that eating haggis it is seen simply as an act of Scottish masochistic bravado and shallow cultural identity. The worse example I have seen of this was during a convention dinner at a Scottish themed New Zealand city, where the "haggis" was piped in with great pomp, The Poem as read and the dirk stuck in, but no haggis was offered for consumption. It later transpired that there was none to offer, as the "haggis" was actually a prop of sponge rubber filled with water and microwaved to produce a steaming effect.

This hasn't always been the case, for most of it's history haggis hasn't been specifically Scottish and even in Scotland the esteem in which it has been held has waxed and waned with contempory trends and local requirements. The Scottish poet William Dunbar (circ. 1460 -1520) in his vitriolic Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedie shows a very negative view of haggis eaters and in his To the Merchants of Edinburgh rather then been a symbol of national pride is a painted as an embarrassing and shameful dish of rustics.

Pansches, pudingis of Jok and Jame.
Think ye not schame,
Sen as the world sayis that ilk,
In hurt and sclander of your name?

Dunbar's views are repeated in other sources enough to suspect that the haggis wasn't seen by all Scots as being a dish to be proud of, let alone the national dish. However, by the 18th century there is a change in attitude in part influenced by perceived or real losses of Scottish identity and growing English influence North of the Border. The reception and honouring of Samuel Johnson (never one to compliment a Scot) at St. Andrew's University provoked an outraged response from Robert Fergusson in his poem To the PRINCIPAL and PROFESSORS of the University of St. Andrew's on their superb treat to Dr. SAMUEL JOHNSON in which he suggest presenting Johnson with real Scottish meal and in this case a real Scottish meal means haggis for first course (second course was boiled sheep's head).

Imprimis, then, a haggis fat,
Wed tottl'd in a seything pat,
Wi' spice and ingans weel ca'd thro',
Had help'd to guft tlie stirrah's mow,
An' plac'd itfell in truncher clean
Before the gilpy's.' glowrin een.

Fergusson's poems, pro-Jacobite songs and more contempory influences like the poems of Allan Ramsay where the haggis is held up as the prime example honest rugged Scottishness inflenced the Robert Burns in production of the most famous haggis poem of all time, his Address to a Haggis. After this watershed there was no going back, there was so much momentum generated around the haggis as an icon of Scottish identity that all opposition was swept aside. From this point on, if you heard the word "haggis" then you thought of Scotland. So what were these Scottish Haggis like? As it happens there is at least one haggis recipe that is contempory with Burns, published in 1773 by Mrs MacIver in Edinburgh.

A Good Scotch Haggies

Make the haggis-bag perfectly clean, parboil the draught ; boil the liver very well, so as it will grate ; dry the meal before the fire ; mince the draught and a pretty large piece of beef very small ; grate about half of the liver ; mince plenty of the suet and some onions small ; mix all these materials very well together, with a handful or two of the dried meal ; spread them on the table, and season them properly with salt and mixed spices ; take any of the scraps of beef that are left from mincing, and some of the water that boiled the draught, and make about a choppin of good stock of it ; then put all the haggis meat into the bag, and that broth in it ; then sew up the bag : but be sure to put out all the wind before you sew it quite close. If you think the bag is thin, you may put it in a cloth. If it is a large haggis, it will take at least two hours' boiling.

At almost the same time another recipe for a Scottish haggis was published in England by Charlotte Mason in The Ladies’ Assistant for Regulating and Supplying the Table (from the 6th edition of 1787, first published in 1773).

A Scotch Haggas.

CHOP the heart, lights, and chitterlings of a calf, with a pound of suet cut very fine, seasoned with pepper and salt; mix it with a pound of the best Scotch oatmeal; roll it up, and put it into a calf's bag; a pint of good cream, with a little allspice and beaten mace mixed with it is very good, but some like it better without.

To make it sweet.

TAKE the chitterlings, heart, lights, and suet, with some grated nutmeg, a pound of currants washed and picked, a pound of raisins stoned and chopped, and half a pint of mountain, mixed well together, let it boil in the calf's bag two hours it must be sent to table in the bag.

Contrasting MacIver and Mason's recipes is of particular interest. MacIver's recipe is what most people would now recognise as a "Scottish Haggis", Mason's recipe is called "Scotch" but is actually a fairly common variation on an English haggis. It is also possible that these "English style haggis" were also made in Scotland, however we simply don't know if this is true as there are no other examples of early Scottish haggis to compare with MacIver's recipe and her version was to influence all published recipes that came after her. I mention that Mason's recipe appears to be more English, so what were these English haggis like before they were lost to the jugganaut of growing Scottish identity in the 18th century?

While it may come as a surprise to many people, the haggis has quite a long history in English cookery. The first recognisable recipe is found in the 15th century, from Harlein MSS 279** we have the following (modernised form).

Hagws of a schepe (Haggis of a sheep)

Take the ropes [entrails] with the tallow and parboil them; then hack them small; grind pepper, and Saffron, and bread, and yolks of Eggs, and Raw cream or sweet Milk: mix all together, and put in the great wombe of the Sheep, that is, the stomach; and then boil it and serve forth.

A similar recipe written in a rhyming verse of a Northern English dialect under the name of "hagese" is also found in the 15th century Liber cure Cocorum. By the 16th and into the 17th century these English recipes had changed very little, with the exception that the animal of choice was no longer a sheep, but a calf (as is seen in Mason's recipe) as can been seen in the following examples

The Second Part of a good Huswifes Jewel by Thomas Dawson 1597

To make a Haggas pudding

Take a peece of a Calves Chaldron and parboile it, shred it so small as you can, then take as much Beefe Sewet as your meat, ten shred likewise, and a good deale more of grated bread, put this together, and to then seven or eight yolkes of egs and two or three whites, a little creame, three or four spoonfuls of rosewater, a little Pepper, Mace and nutmegs, and a good deale of sugar, fill them and let them be sodden with a very soft fire, and shred also with a little Winter savoury, parsely and Time, and a little Pennyroyal with your meat.

The Compleat Cook or, The Whole Art of Cookery, 1694

Take a Calves Chaldron, boil it, and when it is cold mince it very small, then take the yolks of four eggs, and the whites of two, some cream, grated bread, sugar, salt, currans, rosewater, some beef-suet or marrow, sweet herbs, marjoram, thyme, parsley, and mingle together; then having a sheep-maw ready dressed, put it in the aforesaid materials and boil it.

Others take a good store of Parsely, savoury, tyme, onions and oatmeal groats chopped together; and mingled with some minced beef suet, with cloves, mace, pepper and salt, fill the paunch, so it up and boil it: when boiled, cut a hole in it and put in some beaten butter, with yolks of three eggs.

Another very good way.

Take a Calves chaldron or muggets, boil it tender and mince small, put to it grated bread, the yolks of six eggs, with as many whites, some cream, sweet herbs, spinage, succory, sorrel, strawberry-leaves minced small, a little butter, pepper, cloves, mace, cinamon, ginger, currans, sugar, salt dates, and boil it in a napkin or calves-panch; being boiled, dish it and trim with scraped sugar, stick it with sliced almonds, and run over with beaten butter.

There are numerous other similar recipes published during the 17th century. One thing that characterised many of the is repetion. For the most part they are very similar to the 15th century recipe and several instances where "Hogges Pudding" as been mis-printed as "Hagges Pudding" raises the question of if these haggis were ever actually made at all. However there is additional evidence that these puddings were made, one class of haggis pudding is actually stuffed in sausage casings, not the paunch, the latter refered to as the "haggis" is actually minced fine and mixed with other ingredients in a similar way described in the calf chaldron recipes previously mentioned. There are also some non-cook book references to the consumption of haggis in England:

The trial of Willaim New Bolt and Edward Buttler, Printers, for Hige Teason, in compassing and imagining the death of there most sacred majesties King William and Queen Mary (from Harleian MSS Brit. Mus No 6846, art. 104, fol. 385) circ 1692-5.

Then the evidence for the king and queen were called and sworn, the first of which stood and gave account, that about the 30th of May last past, he was in company of the prisoners, at the Ship, in Charles-street, in Covent-garden, where they had an haggas to dinner.

It is most likely only a coincidence that these pro-Stuart printers being tried for treason where mentioned to have been eating haggis. what is clear is that haggis in one form or another was being served in at least one London tavern until at least the end of the 17th century. During the 18th century the focus of haggis consumption moves dramatically north and is associated with Scotland, as previously discussed. However, there still remained pockets of English haggis eaters (especially in the North of England) and most provincial or dialect English dictionaries of the period have a variation on haggis. It is known from early 19th century collections of traditional songs that haggis (pronounced "haggish") was consumed by pit workers around Tyne-side and that it was actually sold in the Newcastle market. This was also true of the North-West of England, with one song describing the food typical of rustic feasts in Cumberland/Westmoreland as consisting of:

For dinner, we'd stew'd geuse and haggish, Cow-leady, and het bacon pye, Boil'd fluiks, tatey-hash, beastin' puddin', Saut sal mi m. and cabbish ; forby Pork, pancakes, black puddin's, sheep trotters, And custert, and mustert, and veal, Grey-pez keale, and lang apple dumplin's

This part of the country also had a specific type of sweet Christmas haggis known as Hack or Hackin Pudding.

What is clear from these descriptions of historic haggis recipes is that when Charlotte Mason wrote her recipe for haggis, although her recipe is clearly part of a wider tradition of haggis making in England and Scotland, she responded to the increasing recognition of the haggis as a Scottish national dish and labeled the dish as "A Scotch Haggas".