Rabbie Burns would have been proud. Each January, the Barr family, owners of Cazenovia's Brae Loch Inn, host a Robert Burns Dinner to celebrate the life and works of the famed 18th century Scottish poet laureate. Last month's dinner, the Brae Loch's 57th annual, combined a traditional Scottish feast with enough pomp and ceremony to make any bard blush.

Grey Barr, the Brae Loch's founder and patriarch, addresses the haggis and prepares to plunge a knife into it before serving it to the waiting crowd.

Burns, a "ploughman poet" whose words have been published for centuries and recorded in musical form for as long as there have been recordings, wrote mostly in a Scottish dialect that makes even Shakespeare's oddest phrases look modern, but the one-time farmer wrote with such vivid imagery that his works have lived on.

At the Brae Loch, a family-run restaurant and bed & breakfast with a year-round Scottish flavor, the annual dinner draws dozens upon dozens, Scots and non-Scots alike, for an evening of celebration and food. Many were in traditional Scottish garb, including an impressive variety of kilts and tartan sashes, and the evening's entertainment included "Bells & Motley," performers John and Sondra Bromka, playing delightful pre-dinner music during the cocktail hour; and several bagpipers from the Syracuse Scottish Pipe Band.

The Scottish feast

After 57 years, the Barrs not only have the atmosphere down pat, they've also gotten pretty good at the traditional fare. The prix-fixe meal began with cock-a-leekie soup, a fairly straightforward but flavorful chicken and leek soup.

Following the soup were dishes of finnan haddie (haddock in a light cream sauce) and steak & kidney pie. The latter was the first dish that extended beyond the realm of "normal food" for a typical American palate; the shift from butcher shops to pre-packaged meats in supermarkets has brought with it a nearly complete elimination of kidney and liver from the American diet. Nevertheless, this hot meat pot-pie dish was hearty and delicious, with a rich gravy that I'm planning to try to emulate. There were plenty of robust chunks of tender steak and kidney, and a tasty, flaky piece of puff pastry sitting atop the casserole dish.

Between courses, Brae Loch founder Grey Barr paraded into the room with a large haggis, alight with flame, and delivered a rousing rendition of the Robert Burns poem "To a Haggis," written by the bard after he had the experience of watching a haggis prepared. Burns called the haggis "great chieftain o' the puddin' race," and Barr's performance was in a fine Scottish accent that reminded me of Professor Bob Kaske's recitations of Chaucer in my student days.

When our waitress served our salads next, and we were already just about full, we realized we were in trouble. Then they brought out the main course.

To call the cut of prime rib on each plate "generous" would miss the point. It was a thick slab of beef, perfectly done for prime rib, i.e. juicy and rare. Alongside the meat were peas and pearl onions, and tatties-an'-neeps, mashed potatoes and turnips.

What's a haggis?

At the same time, bowls of the haggis were delivered to each table, ready to be shared. Haggis is one of those fine dishes that more people would enjoy if they didn't think too much about it. It's actually not so different from sausage, which features ground meat and fillers stuffed into a casing made from an animal's innards (or, these days, sometimes plastic) and then cooked.

Haggis consists basically of ground lamb, oatmeal or rice, and lots of spices, but what often gives one pause is that haggis is cooked in a sheep's stomach.

The Brae Loch's haggis, which they only prepare once a year, was beautifully spiced to bring out the flavor of the lamb, moist without being oily, and a rare treat for those of us who love the dish, but live on the opposite side of the Atlantic from most of the world's cooks trained in its preparation.

Postscript

No one could have admitted to needing dessert following this meal ("thorough" seems an inadequate word to describe the feast), but the delivered delicacy was so appetizing that we felt obligated to try it. It was a rum-soaked shortcake spread with raspberry glaze, a half peach perched atop, with whipped cream and a pirouette cookie for good measure. Also served were the Brae Loch's rich coffee, and a small plate of shortbread cookies.

Fortunately, there's lots of leftover haggis at the end of a Robert Burns Dinner, so those who asked were presented a "doggie-bag" container full to take home. Frozen and enjoyed sparingly, it might just hold us until next January's Burns Dinner. But I wouldn't count on it.