If You Wear a Kilt, You Gotta' Have Haggis!

[thescot]

As said before, just because you've eaten "haggis" doesn't mean you've eaten haggis. I happen to like haggis. And I like lamb, beef liver, chicken liver, and other types of meat that some do not. I also like collard greens and rudagaba.

But I don't like every bite of haggis I've ever had any more than I like every "kilt" I've ever seen. Putting something on a bag or skin and calling it haggis is like sewing some bright, cheap material together and calling it a kilt.

I suspect that the only way the canned stuff can be (forgive me) stomached is by doing a lot of extra work. I think Pour1Malt has the right idea, though I've not tried it yet.

I make my own haggis, and I think it avoids the pitfalls mentioned above. Last year, the guys who "tried" it, often came back for seconds, and the shepherd's pie was only eaten by a couple of guys after they ate a healthy portion of haggis. (Our rather large haggs was all gone, so if you were still young enough to eat another meal, it was shepherd's pie of nothing.)

BTW, the stomach adds little or nothing to the flavor of the haggis any more than the intestine it's stuffed in adds flavor to the sausage you fry up for breakfast. I use a Reynolds boiling bag available in any grocery store, and it does fine, looks good, and serves the purpose.



Looks like that was one big sheep with that size stomach!

The point of all this is that haggis is really good is properly made and served, but everyone will not like it. I don't particularly care for strawberries, but most folks do. So there you are.

[escherblacksmith]

I couldn't agree more, I had my first haggis as part of a scottish reenactment encampment. oats, barley, ginger, garlic, various organs, slowly boiled in a stitched stomach.

It was fabulous, granted I was hungry, wet and getting cold, but that haggis hit the spot.

I have had samples since, and no two have ever tasted the same. I like to equate it with Meatloaf. I am something of a meatloaf fiend. Doesn't matter the restaurant or what I initially went there for, if it has meatloaf on the menu, I will have to try it. And, invariably, they are different.

One of these years I will have to try to make it myself . . .

[Macman]

if it tasted like liverwurst it wasnae made richt.... if it tastes bland- it wasnae made richt!

REAL Haggis is terrific stuff... it is very spicy...very oaty... wunnerfool!


the tinned stuff ai'm afeart o' an have no tried it....

Exactly! I've eaten dry, dusty haggis; I've had peppery, spicey haggis (Rolaids material); and I've had meaty, livery haggis. There is a big range of personal choice that goes into making haggis (the meatloaf is a good analogy), but I prefer haggis that combines all the flavours well and doesn't overdo any one flavour.

[northernsky]

I eat haggis several times a year. We are lucky here in Vancouver as we have a selection of at least 3 different butchers that will prepare a haggis for us on short notice. My Dragon Boat team--Gung Haggis Fat Choy (a kilted multicultural team that emphasises food, friendship, and fitness) serves it at several of our events. We had a scotch tasting at my home last year that was filmed by ZDF TV from Germany, and the Haggis was the centrepiece. And of course at our Robbie Burns/Chinese New Years event (this coming Sunday--only $65 a ticket) we serve our world famous haggis won ton; I believe we have done haggis dim sum and haggis spring roles in the past as well.

Any way you serve it, it is d e l i c i o u s!

[CactusJack]

hare ya gae!

6 o' the 9 haggii ai wuz fryin oop this mornin'....


mmmmm.... tasty!

Sir, would you mind if I borrowed that picture I would love to show it to some friends of mine.

[thomaschisholm]

Going to a Burns Night supper this weekend,will then be having haggis for only the second time. Some British supermarkets sold a mild version last January (could get some in the freezer).

[JakobT]

Other than Burns night, anyone eat Haggis?

I've had haggis only once, at a Glasgow restaurant, and I have to say it's very good, though it might be a bit of an aquired taste for some. Many people think it sounds disgusting, mainly because of the stomach thing I think, but the same sort of dish exists in many cultures. If you think about it, it's constructed in more or less the same way as a hot dog (but many people think that's disgusting too).

[string]

I had tinned haggis once, but I was very sick at the time so it mostly just tasted like grease to me. It was about 3 months into a 4 month forced diet of pretty much just rice and other items like that.

[Tommie]

[Graywolf]

Let's get this correct. There appear to be a number of individuals, mostly Americans, who are turned off by the sweat meats that make up haggis. For them:

1) Ever wonder what is in a hot dog; a sausage; a slim jim -
2) Haggis ingredients far surpass the make up of the above.

Have you ever:

1) Killed, skinned and gutted your own game?
2) Thought about where an egg comes from?

GET OVER IT. Only those who are unable to appreciate reality - see my statement regarding public relations and Richard Feynman would reject haggis, or

those who do not like the taste.

I like haggis, if you do not, good for you. I will try to convince you however. I am a firm believer in you don't get any dessert, for those 21 and over read as a single malt, unless you finish your haggis.