The modernisation of a Burns Club’s historical archives has uncovered menus going back almost a century which reveal how the traditional supper held to celebrate Scotland’s national poet has changed.
The documents also detail how the group, based in Alloa, evolved from a local ‘Tripe Club’, established in 1827, into an organisation devoted to recognising the work of Robert Burns in 1912.
The earliest menu, from Alloa Burns Club’s 1927 supper, includes mixty-maxties (hors d’oeuvres); nowt’s tail (oxtail) soup; irsled bubbly-jock (turkey); kebbuck straes (crumbly cheese); and trimlin’ tam (a wobbly, trembling table jelly), none of which are now served at today’s traditional suppers.
