Haggis: yay or nay?

[rousseau]

Being of Scottish ancestry on both sides I was raised in a family where Haggis was a thing. I never had much if it when I was a kid, but have acquired a taste for it lately. And just this past week found surprise
Haggis that had gotten lost in my freezer, hence the thread.

Ingredients of the stuff I have on hand:

- Pork Liver
- Beef Suet
- Water
- Oatmeal
- Pork Heart
- Pork Tongue
- Onion
- Spices
- Salt

Funny how a dish that kept hungry people eating somehow became a Scottish staple.

Have you had it? If so, do you like it? If not, would you eat it?

 

[spikepipsqueak]

Yay. I'll eat practically anything - once.

 

[Horatio Parker]

Nay.

Total prejudice: sounds nasty.

 

[Keith&Co.]

When i tranferred to a command that did refits out of Holy Loch, my supportive and welcoming shipmates found i had never done a patrol out of Scotland and took me out to find haggis.
They never asked if i had been to Scotland before, or i would have mentioned two years on the Tender.
Might have mentioned being fourth generation Scottish American. They bought me haggis and giggled as i wolfed it down.
Then tried to tell me what was in it.
And i had to correct them.
'Sheep's pluck an' innards. Boil the lungs in brine fer 24 hours, wit' th'win'pipe draining o'er the side oh the stove.'

Then i bought two more as they all gagged. Great stuff.

 

[IanSYK]

I've had it a few times, find it a bit boring.

 

[hurtinbuckaroo]

Had it. Not interesting enough to repeat.

 

[ronburgundy]

Had some great versions of it in Scotland, all with sheep parts rather than pork (since there are way more sheep than pigs in Scotland).

You also see it sold as "white pudding". The best versions were made so it could be sliced and pan fried, and seasoned with some sage so that it had a thanksgiving stuffing quality to it.

In London, I had a "scotch egg" that was wrapped in haggis instead of the usual sausage and it was excellent.

 

[TSwizzle]

Pork ? That's not a common ingredient for traditional haggis. Haggis is quite tasty when made properly by a quality butcher. Most of the retail haggis is just so-so. I've never eaten it in years, it may still be banned from the USA, I'm sure it was at some point.

 

[southernhybrid]

I don't like any organ meats, and I hate oatmeal, even when it's disguised. My GI tract doesn't like oatmeal either, so I think I'll pass.

 

[bilby]

I quite like Haggis, but not enough to seek it out. When on holiday in Scotland, it's nice to see it on the menu, and I will likely eat it at least once or twice while I am there.

(Last time we were in Scotland was for Hogmanay; We stayed at a guest house in Aviemore, and the owner organised a piper for the celebrations. When he found out that there were Australians present, he played Waltzing Mathilda for us, on the bagpipes. Thankfully there was plenty of excellent whiskey).

 

[C_Mucius_Scaevola]

Very yay. Of course, I would say that, being Scottish ...

Not sure about your pork version, though. I think the traditional sheep's innards would beat that every time.

I once made a haggis for 16 people, mostly French, some English and American. A lot of work, and very messy for the kitchen if you're not careful. They mostly loved it; there was just one guy from Colorado who thought it was great until he learned what was in it.

 

[Worldtraveller]

Love it, if it's well made. I've only had it once that I thought was really good, as it's hard to find in the US generally.

The well made version used sheep innards, and it was cooked in a traditional wood burning stove. It was literally made the old fashioned way, as the ladies making it were ren fair re-enactors that were using a cook book translated from about the mid 15th-16th centuries.

The mass produced stuff I've had at other fairs and a couple of pubs weren't nearly as good.

 

[ideologyhunter]

Is vegan haggis available?

 

[bilby]

Is vegan haggis available?

No. While wild haggis are typically vegetarian, and subsist mainly on heather, they do supplement their diet with milk from highland cattle (although these days some of the farmed haggis are fed on powdered milk, which is why the mass produced stuff doesn't taste as good).

 

[laughing dog]

I once worked with a Scot who when asked about haggis said "Scotland is the only country where throwing the national food is a national sport. That should tell you all you need to know about haggis."