Haggis is a traditional Scottish dish. Although there are many recipes, it is normally made with the following ingredients: sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver, and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally boiled in the animal's stomach for approximately an hour. It somewhat resembles stuffed intestines (pig intestines otherwise known as chitterlings), sausages and savoury puddings of which it is among the largest types. Most modern commercial haggis is prepared in a casing rather than an actual stomach. There are also meat-free recipes specifically for vegetarians which supposedly taste similar to the meat-based recipes.
Some Scots joke that the haggis is a small animal - native to Scotland.
Haggis is traditionally served with "neeps and tatties" (Template:Lang-sco), each of these being mashed, separately. (The "neep" is the yellow vegetable - Brassica napobrassica, or Brassica napus var. napobrassica - called 'swede' in southern England and 'rutabaga' in North America.)
History and popularity
It's unknown who discovered and prepared this for the first time. The most likely origin of the dish is from the days of the old Scottish cattle drovers. When the men left the highlands to drive their cattle to market in Edinburgh the women would prepare rations for them to eat during the long journey down through the glens. They used the ingredients that were most readily available in their homes and conveniently packaged them in a sheep's stomach allowing for easy transportation during the journey.
Another theory, put forward by food historian Clarissa Dickson-Wright, is that haggis was invented as a way of cooking quick-spoiling offal near the site of a hunt, without the need to carry along an additional cooking vessel. The liver and kidneys could be grilled directly over a fire, but this treatment was unsuitable for the stomach, intestines, or lungs. Chopping up the lungs and stuffing the stomach with them and whatever fillers might have been on hand, then boiling the assembly — likely in a vessel made from the animal's hide — was one way to make sure these parts did not go to waste. (Dickson-Wright 12).
Other theories are based on Scottish slaughtering practices. When a Chieftan or Laird required an animal to be slaughtered for meat (whether sheep or cattle) the workmen were allowed to keep the offal as their share.
Modern usage
Haggis is traditionally served with the Burns supper on January 25th, when Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns, is commemorated. He wrote the poem Address to a Haggis, which starts "Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face, Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!" During Burns' lifetime haggis was a popular dish for the poor, as it was very cheap, being made from leftover, otherwise thrown away, parts of a sheep (the most common livestock in Scotland), yet nourishing.
Haggis is widely available in supermarkets in Scotland (and in some parts of England) all the year round, and the cheaper brands are normally packed in artificial casings, rather than stomachs, just as the cheaper brands of sausages are no longer stuffed into animal intestines. Sometimes it is sold in tins and you can simply microwave it or oven-bake it. Some supermarket haggis is largely made from pig's, rather than sheep's, offal. In addition, practically all Scottish fish and chip shops will sell their customers a 'haggis supper'. This consists of a small single portion haggis dipped in batter and deep fried, with chips; it provides a hot, filling, high-energy meal for a cold winter's day. There are also fast-food shops that sell haggis burgers, with a patty of fried haggis on a bun. In addition some Glaswegian curry houses have also reportedly created the 'haggis baji' as a blend of Indian cuisine and local Scottish foods. Enterprising chefs also find some success with using haggis as a substitute for minced beef in various recipes.
Since the 1960s various Scottish shops and manufacturers have created vegetarian haggis for those who do not eat meat. These substitute various pulses and vegetables for the meat in the dish, with a large number of consumers reporting a result said to be pleasant but sometimes more akin to stuffing than traditional haggis. However since both the traditional and vegetarian haggis have wide variations in flavour depending on the recipe used, it is true to say that some variations of vegetarian haggis taste very similar to some variations of traditional haggis.
Odd facts and pop culture
Since many countries' food safety laws outlaw some of the ingredients in haggis (for example, United States law forbids the sale of any animal's lungs for human consumption), expatriate Scots and Scots descendants overseas have been known to engage in 'haggis smuggling' to obtain true Scottish haggis. At least one American company produces haggis for the U.S. market. The Caledonian Kitchen, a Dallas, Texas based gourmet business, began producing both a Highland beef and vegetarian haggis commercially in 1999. Its haggis is in wide distribution throughout the US.
Entertainment
Haggis is an amusing subject for many people. Those who ask a Scotsman about it rarely get a straight answer. A common reply to the question "What is a haggis?" often goes along the following lines. "A haggis is a small three-legged Scottish Highland creature, which has the limbs on one side shorter than the other side. This means that it is well adapted to run around the hills at a steady altitude, without either ascending or descending. However a haggis can easily be caught by running around the hill in the opposite direction." (see Wild Haggis) Surprisingly, this humorous myth is believed by many tourists, and thus they are shocked — and possibly disappointed — to hear the truth. See also sidehill gouger.
Many tourists are also duped (or nearly duped) by Scottish pranksters attempting to lead them on a 'Wild Haggis Hunt'. The Scotsman newspaper's web site runs an annual Haggis Hunt [1].
Haggis is also used in a sport called haggis hurling, throwing a haggis as far as possible. The present World Record for Haggis Hurling has been held by Alan Pettigrew for over 21 years. He threw a 1.5 lb Haggis an astonishing 180 feet, 10 inches on the island of Inchmurrin, Loch Lomond, in August 1984.
Haggis juggling is an unusual competition that takes place at the Scottish Juggling Convention each year, with competitors competing for how long they can juggle three, four, or five large haggis.
'Haggis' is an uncommon surname, such as for the screen writer Paul Haggis, known for his work on Million Dollar Baby, Due South, Thirtysomething, and other film and television series. In names it may come from Old English, meaning 'a woodsman's hut', and a Lord Haggis rode on the third crusade with Richard the Lionheart.
A popular internet Joke about haggis marketing discusses some failed attempts to make Haggis more popular. Other fun failed haggis marketing sites have since sprung up.
Following his victory in The Masters golf tournament in 1988, Scottish golfer Sandy Lyle chose to serve Haggis at the annual Champions Dinner before the 1989 Masters. It is widely considered amongst Masters champions to be one of the most unpopular selections ever served at the event.
Haggis is also the stage name of comedian Tom Downs. Tom Downs was born in Norwich, England in 1985. Two years ago he won many local competitions and has since been elevated into more national fame.
Haggis has also been made fun of many times in film and television. In So I Married an Axe Murderer, Mike Myers' character says he believes that "most Scottish cuisine is based on a dare."
In Armageddon, during the NASA space readiness exam, one of the minor characters names haggis as his favorite type of food. He then proceeds to list all of the ingredients and how they are arranged. In closing, he turns to the NASA examiner and says, "That'll put some hair on your ass."
In an episode of The Simpsons, Groundskeeper Willie is seen selling haggis at a completely empty booth.
The Ren & Stimpy Show featured a Scottish character named Haggis McHaggis, voiced by Alan Young.
In an episode of Earthworm Jim, when Jim's suit malfunctions from a loss of power, Jim and Peter Puppy hide in a restaurant that serves haggis. Peter is eating haggis and likes it. However, when he asks why no one ever comes to the restaurant, Jim tells him "because haggis is made from the heart, lungs and liver of a sheep boiled in its own stomach," and he is immediately disgusted. As a result, Peter's greatest fear is a Scottish chef and he now cannot eat haggis without getting sick, though he has been tricked into eating it on numerous occasions.
Similar dishes
In some ways, the northeastern U.S. dish scrapple resembles haggis, however scrapple differs in the following ways: it uses pig offal instead of sheep offal and cornmeal instead of oatmeal; it is a meatloaf rather than a sausage; and it is baked instead of being boiled. As a result, the appearance and the flavour vary significantly. So the resemblance lies more in the fact that it is a combination of offal, grain and vegetables than in any specific ingredient or cooking style.
In Romania, drob is a traditional dish very similar to haggis, prepared usually around Easter day, from sheep's organs, mixed with spices and herbs and wrapped in the sheep's stomach or, rarely, in a thin dough.
Other similar dishes include:
- Balkenbrij from the Netherlands
- Pölsa from Sweden, made from beef.
- Saumagen from Western Germany, made with pork.
- Slátur, an Icelandic cooked sheep's stomachs filled with blood, fat, and liver .
- Švargl in Croatia and Serbia, made from pork.
- Boudin, an Acadian/Cajun sausage made with pork offal and rice.
- Bopis from the Philippines, made from pork minus the casing.
- Montalayo from Mexico, which is prepared from sheep or goat offal in a manner very similar to haggis.
- Chireta from Aragonese valleys of Sobrarbe and Ribagorza, and Girella from Catalan valley of Pallars, both made by boiling inside sheep intestines a mixture of rice and sheep offal, mainly lungs and heart.
- Bahur, Bulgarian sausage made from rice and pork liver and heart.
- Drob, Romanian dish made from lamb stomach, liver, heart and lungs mixed with spices and garlic.
References
- Dickson Wright, Clarissa (1998). The Haggis: A Little History. Pelican Publishing Company. ISBN 1-56554-364-5.
See also
- Saumagen
- Haggis McLeod
- Haggis is the name of the witch that conjures the demon "Pumpkinhead" in the 1988 horror movie Pumpkinhead
External links
