Pan Haggerty, Panhaggerty, Pan Hag or White Stovies

 

'Why aye it's Pan Haggerty'. My Geordie friend said, putting the tray down, 'A Northumbrian recipe, and I think it dates from the waar, ya naaw when yer had to make do lyke, if ya put milk in it ya knaa it's Homity pie, similar like, but no the same... He continued. 'Apparently Pan Hag waz shared by all the family from a large pan. In fear o' famine and a beatin' wives would be stood in front of the pubs, waiting fur their man when the bell went, 'fraid the housekeeping wuld be all spent on pit's wages day. Shocking really, and not so long ago. aye traditional like, tuck in lads'.

So this dish has an unusual way of cooking spuds, but believe me as a potatoaholic I'm there for a regular fix. 

So finely chop an onion, thinly slice potatoes and rinse them, grate as much cheese, Cheddar, Lancashire, Wensleydale as you have, put a very large lump of butter in a large pan then layer onions, spuds, cheese, season with white pepper and salt, repeat. Do not add more than a few drops of water, and on a low heat cook gently, as the potatoes soften move about a bit, keep covered, simmer, enjoy the aroma, sticky bits on the bottom of the pan just add to the flavour. You will be surprised by how much liquid there is cooking in the pan. Anyway when pots are cooked though, brown the tops under the grill.

Being a fan of etymology - words that is. Not entomology (that's insects, and they won't appear on this blog) This dish and recipe has taken some figuring out.

Pan Haggerty

The dish is 'hached' like 'hash' meaning 'chopped'; like 'haggis', hence, 'hagg' it goes by various names including, Pan Haggerty, Panhaggerty, Pan Hag or White Stovies (Scotland). The tattie scran is also frequently confused online with 'Panaculty', a recipe with sausages, corned beef, bisto, spuds and onions; again popular in the North East and also described in Scotland as corned beef 'Stovies', or just 'Stovies'. They are different recipes.

I put this recipe and the question on it's various names on a Scottish cooking facebook page, since the dish appears also in Ireland I thought it may have Scottish similarities, and someone answered, that it was called, 'White Stovies', another replied, 'We'd have bacon in it, if we could afford it'...  Others mixed it up with rumpletethumps (turnips and swedes - that I must make) and scallops (another potato dish) and dauphinoise.

However dear reader, I did check wiki and the first mention of 'Pan Haggerty' was a radio play by the same name in 1936, err maybe things were bleak then, but I can't find it or similar in any of my ancient W.I books from that era. Pan Haggerty may be as my friend said, a wartime staple. Then stretching the meagre food allowance became an art.

This is what you got:-

'The weekly food ration in WW2 for a typical person was 1 egg, 2 ounces each of tea and butter, an ounce of cheese, eight ounces of sugar, four ounces of bacon and four ounces of margarine.'

Pan Hag, whatever it's origins, they are in poverty, and like all peasant food, I believe all the better for that.