Haggis
The National Dish of Scotland
The Haggis is a uniquely Scottish meat dish that, as far as I know, is found nowhere else in the world. Personally I adore haggis, however I quite understand why some people refuse to eat it once they know the traditional recipe.What Is Haggis?
The first thing to do here is (unfortunately) to put to rest the old stories about haggis hunting and one-legged furry creatures running around mountain tops before being caught in a trap. Sorry to be a spoilsport but there's no such creature as "a haggis". This story was probably invented to have fun at the expense of visiting tourists. And, perhaps, to avoid having to discuss with them what really goes into the recipe.OK, I can't put it off any longer. The traditional recipe for haggis involves the heart, liver and lungs of a sheep mixed with onions and oatmeal then sewn into the sheep's stomach casing and boiled. Yeuch. It was, in effect, a way of using up all the gooey bits of sheep that would otherwise have gone to waste. The amazing this is how great it tastes!
Modern haggis you can buy today has to meet all sorts of food safety standards. However the "standard" haggis is still basically an offal based dish. That said, you can also buy premium haggis made with ingredients such as venison and there's even such a thing as vegetarian haggis. You don't even need to go to the effort of boiling sheep lungs, shops up here also sell very tasty canned haggis.
The haggis was traditionally eaten with Neeps and Tatties - turnips and potatoes.
Enter the Haggis
Tourists hear so many false tales about the mythical haggis that they might be forgiven for no believing that any country could formally "pipe in" with full honours a dish made from offal! However that's what happens every year at traditional Burns Night suppers around Scotland.Burns Night, the 25th of January, celebrates the
presumed birthday of Scotland's greatest poet, Robert
"Robbie" Burns. This is the date of the annual Burns Night
supper - essentially an excuse for a great social
gathering. The highlight of the feast is the arrival of the
haggis which should be accompanied by bagpipes. The guests
are then treated to a recital of Burns' poem To A Haggis.
