Hot News Journal

posted by hot news on Mar 24

Haggis is our national dish but one which a lot of Scots will not eat. Reason they don’t like the idea of the foods that go to make up its bulk and taste.

It is said and I believe it that most people would not have even heard of the Haggis if it had not been for our national poet Robert Burns. He referred to it as the Chieftain of the Pudding Race in his poem “Address To The Haggis. Even although Rabbie Burns died in 1796 the toast to the Haggis is still said throughout the world particularly on Burns Night 25th January of each year. There is also a sample format for those wanting to hold a Burns Night Dinner. The menu template includes the Selkirk Grace our famous Scottish Grace.

The haggis can also be eaten as a Haggis Supper at local take-away shops. This is simply deep fried haggis with chipped potatoes (French fries outside of Scotland). So what is that makes our Scottish Haggis special?

If you ask a Scot many of them will say that the haggis is a small beaver sized animal that lives wild on the sides of our Scottish highland hills. They have adapted to the steep sided slopes by having shorter legs on one side of its body than the other. Charles Darwin would have been able to point to this survival of the fittest theory and show scientifically that the shorter legs on one side allows them to run faster round the sides of steep hills in order to escape larger animals like man. Some travel agents will still try to sell tourists tickets for haggis hunting tours and then take them to the local butchers shop.

But joking apart this food is traditionally made up of mainly the cheapest parts of a sheep so it was always particularly popular amongst the poorer people of the land.By tradition the ingredients are mixed from several different meats including the heart, liver and lungs (the latter is often called lights) together with some mutton, onion, suet fat and arrange of spices and herbs to local taste and custom. This mix is then mixed with stock before being stuffed inside a sheep’s stomach then boiled and served.

Today you will also find the sheep’s stomach has been replaced with an artificial cellulose casing and several vegetarian versions of the haggis are being made available in supermarkets.

Note it will be almost impossible to get the true traditional haggis in some countries for example the USA it is not possible to sell lung for human consumption. If you want to know more about this traditional Scottish dish please come to our Scottish culture website ScottishJerk.com