The Cowper Arms presents a wee specials menu of Scottish dishes to celebrate the birthday of the renowned Scottish Poet Robbie Burns – author of There Was A Young Woman From Kilmarnock and Burn Rabbie Burn, Disco Inferno – Celebrate Burns’ Night itself on Thursday 25th January, but specials are available from Wednesday – Saturday (subject to availability).
Haggis, Neeps and Tatties are the order of the day, and of course we’ll provide a wee dram of whisky to wash it down and keep the winter cold from getting up your kilt.
Starter: Cullen Skink Soup – with leek, smoked haddock and cream
Hot, warming soup for those dark, cold, invariably raining Scottish Nights
Main Course: Chicken Supreme stuffed with Haggis
Served with the classic neeps and tatties, steamed greens and a Whisky Pepper Sauce
Dessert: Cranachin (Not the sound of a cough – A Scottish Style Eton Mess)
Cream, raspberries, toasted oats and honey
And a wee dram of Single Malt Whisky to wash it down
Proper whisky – without an E – not that Tennessee nonsense that you mix with Pepsi so you don’t have to taste it – Single Malt finest from the Scottish Highland Distilleries
Robert Burns 25 January 1756 – 21 July 1796
Burns, sometimes known as the ‘ploughman poet’, was the eldest son of a poverty-stricken farmer. Though his father had moved to Ayrshire, where Burns was born, in order to attempt to improve his fortunes, he eventually died as a bankrupt – after taking on first one farm and then, unsuccessful, moving to another – in 1784. Robert, who had been to school since the age of six, and was also educated at home by a teacher, had, by the age of fifteen, already become the farm’s chief labourer. He had also acquired a reading knowledge of French and Latin and had read Shakespeare, Dryden, Milton and the Bible. After his father’s death, he and his brother continued farming together, working now at Mossigiel.
The poverty of Burns’ early life, though far from being overcome, had produced in him a supporter of the French Revolution and a rebel against both Calvinism and the social order of his time. His rebellious nature soon became evident in his acts. Burns’ first illegitimate child was borne to him by Elizabeth Paton in 1785. Two sets of twins later followed, and various amorous intrigues, from Jean Amour, whom he afterward married.
After 1787 Burns, married in 1788 and having moved to Ellisland with his bride, worked chiefly for James Johnson, whom he met in Edinburgh, and, later, for George Thomson. This allowed him to give up farming and move to the Dumfries. He died from rheumatic fever just five years later
Burns, sometimes known as the ‘ploughman poet’, was the eldest son of a poverty-stricken farmer. Though his father had moved to Ayrshire, where Burns was born, in order to attempt to improve his fortunes, he eventually died as a bankrupt – after taking on first one farm and then, unsuccessful, moving to another – in 1784. Robert, who had been to school since the age of six, and was also educated at home by a teacher, had, by the age of fifteen, already become the farm’s chief labourer. He had also acquired a reading knowledge of French and Latin and had read Shakespeare, Dryden, Milton and the Bible. After his father’s death, he and his brother continued farming together, working now at Mossigiel.
The poverty of Burns’ early life, though far from being overcome, had produced in him a supporter of the French Revolution and a rebel against both Calvinism and the social order of his time. His rebellious nature soon became evident in his acts. Burns’ first illegitimate child was borne to him by Elizabeth Paton in 1785. Two sets of twins later followed, and various amorous intrigues, from Jean Amour, whom he afterward married.
After 1787 Burns, married in 1788 and having moved to Ellisland with his bride, worked chiefly for James Johnson, whom he met in Edinburgh, and, later, for George Thomson. This allowed him to give up farming and move to the Dumfries. He died from rheumatic fever just five years later.