Haggis

An uncooked small haggis

Haggis is a traditional Scottish dish.

There are many recipes, most of which have in common 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 three hours.

Haggis somewhat resembles stuffed intestines (pig intestines otherwise known as chitterlings or the kokoretsi of traditional Balkan cuisine), sausages and savoury puddings of which it is among the largest types. As the 2001 English edition of the Larousse Gastronomique puts it, "Although its description is not immediately appealing, haggis has an excellent nutty texture and delicious savoury flavour."^[1]

Most modern commercial haggis is prepared in a casing rather than an actual stomach. There are also meat-free recipes for vegetarians.

Haggis is traditionally served with "neeps and tatties" (Scots: swede, yellow turnip or rutabaga and potatoes, boiled and mashed separately) and a "dram" (i.e. a glass of Scotch whisky), especially as the main course of a Burns supper. However it is also often eaten with other accompaniments, or served with a Whisky-based sauce.

History

The haggis is frequently assumed to be Scottish in origin though there is little evidence for this, and food writer Alan Davidson states that the Ancient Romans were the first people known to have made products of the haggis type.^[2] A kind of primitive haggis is referred to in Homer's Odyssey, in book 20, when Odysseus is compared to "a man before a great blazing fire turning swiftly this way and that a stomach full of fat and blood, very eager to have it roasted quickly." Haggis was "born of necessity, as a way to utilize the least expensive cuts of meat and the innards as well" (Andrew Zimmern). In times of famine people would eat whatever it was that they could get their hands on, which is how all those fascinating ingredients became a part of Scottish tradition.

Clarissa Dickson Wright repudiates the assumption of a Scottish origin for haggis, claiming that it "came to Scotland in a longship [ie. from Scandinavia] even before Scotland was a single nation."^[3] Dickson-Wright further cites etymologist Walter William Skeat as further suggestion of possible Scandinavian origins: Skeat claimed that the hag– part of the word is derived from the Old Norse hoggva or the Icelandic haggw, meaning 'to hew' or strike with a sharp weapon, relating to the chopped-up contents of the dish. One theory claims that the name "haggis" is derived from Norman French. Norman French was more guttural than normal French so that the "ch" of "hachis", i.e. "chopped", was pronounced as the "ch" in "loch", giving "haggis".

Dickson Wright suggests 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. ^[4]

'Haggis' is an uncommon surname and may come from Old English, meaning 'a woodsman's hut', and a Lord Haggis rode on the third crusade with Richard the Lionheart. One example is Paul Haggis, known for his work on Million Dollar Baby, Due South, Thirtysomething.

Folklore

In the absence of hard facts as to haggis' origins, popular folklore has provided more fanciful theories. One is that the dish originates 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. Other speculations have been based on Scottish slaughtering practices. When a Chieftain 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.

An oft told myth is that a "Haggis" is a small Scottish animal with one set of legs longer than the other so that it can stand on the steep Scottish Highlands without falling over.

Modern usage

Recitation of the poem Address to a Haggis by Robert Burns is an important part of the Burns supper.

Haggis is traditionally served with the Burns supper on the week of January 25, 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's 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 other parts of the world (and in some parts of England) all the year round, with cheaper brands normally packed in artificial casings, rather than stomachs, just as cheaper brands of sausages are no longer stuffed into animal intestines. Sometimes haggis is sold in tins, which can simply be microwaved or oven-baked. Some supermarket haggis is largely made from pig, rather than sheep, offal.

Haggis can be served in Scottish fast-food establishments deep fried in batter. Together with chips, this comprises a "haggis supper". A "haggis burger" is a patty of fried haggis served on a bun, and a "haggis bhaji" is another deep fried variant, available in some Indian restaurants in Glasgow. Higher class restaurants sometimes serve chicken breast stuffed with haggis which is often referred to as "Chicken Balmoral"; haggis can also be used as a substitute for minced beef in various recipes. In some Scottish butchers, Haggis is combined with Lorne sausage, colloquially known as "Braveheart" sausage.

Another modern haggis-based dish is 'Flying Scotsman', chicken stuffed with haggis ^[5]. This dish is also known as Balmoral Chicken when the chicken is stuffed with haggis and also wrapped in bacon.^[6]

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. Since both the offal-based and the vegetarian haggis have wide variations in flavour depending on the recipe used, it would be difficult to demonstrate that the two varieties do or do not taste alike.

Drinks with haggis

Scotch whisky is often asserted to be the traditional accompaniment for haggis, though this may simply be because both are traditionally served at a Burns supper. Warren Edwardes of Wine for Spice notes that haggis is spicy and therefore recommends refreshing semi-sparkling wines to drink with haggis with increasing level of sweetness depending in the spiciness of the haggis: whisky, with its high alcohol level, can exaggerate peppery spice (unlike the capsaicin in chili, which it dissolves) rather than complement it^[7]. Haggis-maker MacSween conducted a taste-test [1] which confirmed that whisky is a proper accompaniment, and adds that lighter-bodied, tannic red wines, such as those made from the Barbera grape, are also suitable, as are strong, powerfully flavoured Belgian beers, such as Duvel and Chimay Blue.

Use outside Scotland

Haggis spread with oat cakes in the U.S.

Haggis is a popular with expatriate American Scots due to the strong connotations it has with Scottish culture, especially for Burns Suppers. It can easily be made in any country, but is sometimes exported from Scotland.

Haggis may not be imported into the USA from the UK since the BSE crisis of 1989. This is due to haggis' offal ingredients such as sheep lungs. The British Food Standards Agency disputes these concerns, and states that there is no reason for the import of haggis to be restricted.^[8]

Entertainment

A haggis on a Robert Burns plate.

A fictional Wild Haggis, Haggis scoticus, next to a prepared specimen, as displayed at the Glasgow Kelvingrove Gallery.

Haggis is an amusing subject for many people. Along with some other foods associated with a specific country or region (such as Australia's Vegemite, Norway's lutefisk, or Finland's salmiakki), it's perceived to be loved in its home country and loathed by the rest of the world.

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 ^[9].

Haggis is also used in a sport called haggis hurling, throwing a haggis as far as possible. The present Guinness World Record for Haggis Hurling has been held by Alan Pettigrew for over 22 years. He threw a 1.5 lb Haggis an astonishing 180 feet, 10 inches on the island of Inchmurrin, Loch Lomond, in August 1984.^[10]

On October 8th, 2008, competitive eater Eric "Steakbellie" Livingston set a world record by consuming 3 pounds of haggis in 8 minutes on WMMR radio in Philadelphia.^[11]

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.^[12]

Similar dishes

In some ways, the northeastern United States 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.

Other similar dishes include:

• Asheh, Tartous, Syria Stuffed Sheep Intestines
• Bahur, Bulgarian sausage made from rice and pork liver and heart
• Balkenbrij from the Netherlands
• Bopis from the Philippines, made from pork minus the casing
• Boudin, an Acadian/Cajun sausage made with pork offal and rice
• Buchada (or dobradinha) from northeast of Brazil, in which goat's intestines are filled with pieces of liver, heart, blood, etc... cooked then served with white rice.
• Camaïot, a Balearic Islands sausage related to sobrassada made from pork offal, coarsely minced, and boiled into pork skin from the leg
• 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
• Drob from Romania, made from sheep's organs, mixed with spices and herbs and wrapped in the sheep's stomach (or rarely, in a thin dough), prepared especially for Easter
• Garnatálg, an intestine and fat dish from the northern Faroe Islands.
• Ghammeh (aka kroush), from Lebanon, sheep stomach stuffed with rice, garlic, onions, pine nuts, minced lamb meat and spices, usually served with a soup that has similar ingredients to the fillings.
• Goetta
• Hogs Pudding or Groats Pudding from Devon & Cornwall containing oats and spiced pork offal
• Jaternica or hurka, from Slovakia. Very similar to Bulgarian Bahur, made with rice and mixed pork bowels. Known as hurka in Hungary.
• Jelito, Czech & Moravian dark black-brown non-smoked sausage made of minced pork (second-rate parts - head, fatback, liver) with blood, spices (garlic, black pepper, all-spice, cumin, marjoram, mace, garlic), salt and peeled barley or unsweetened white bun. Other and similar sausage produced during hog killing is greyish-brown jitrnice made of minced offal (liver, kidney, lung) and fat with pork broth, same assortment of spices, and bun. Filled casings (approx. 20 cm long and 3 cm thick) are skewered and boiled in broth.
• JUG-JUG from Barbados, reputed to be a corruption of haggis with the corn flour substituted for the oatmeal.
• Kaszanka from Poland, closely resembling haggis despite its very different ingredients of buckwheat and pig's blood
• Kepeninė from Lithuania made from animal's (most frequently pig's) liver, lungs and some fat, all that stuffed into pig's large intestines.
• Kishka, a traditional Ashkenazi Jewish kosher dish consisting of a mixture of meal,meat and spices stuffed in a beef intestine or a sewn pocket made of poultry neck skin
• Knipp (Speise) from Bremen and Lower Saxony, north Germany. Made with any animal leftovers, spiced with salt, pepper and thickened with cereal. Served in either a sausage or in slices usually with fried potatoes and bacon. Tastes exactly the same as Scottish haggis.
• Kraujiniai vėdarai from Lithuania, Samogitia made from pig's blood and wheet grains, stuffed into pig's large intestines.
• Lungemos (Lungmush) Norway. Similar to haggis. Pork, Beef meat, Lung and Heart. Eaten with Lefse or potatoes, mashed or boiled
• Montalayo from Mexico, which is prepared from sheep or goat offal in a manner very similar to haggis
• 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
• Stippgrütze from Westphalia, Germany, made from barley soup, pork or beef meat and entrails, fat, spiced with salt, piment, pepper, stuffed into a glass jar or into synthetic sausage skin. Pan-fried before served and eaten together with bread or pan-fried potatoes.
• Švargl in Croatia and Serbia, made from pork
• Tlačenka, from the Czech Republic. Similar to haggis, but from pork.
• Tripas from Portugal made from animal's entrails and served with beans and rice.
• Véres hurka from Hungary made from animal's entrails, blood, pork, and rice or soaked bread rolls, fried and served with some mustard or pickles and a slice of bread. Another version known as májas hurka is made without blood and so is white in colour. Both types contain a lot of herbs and spices, especially marjoram and black pepper, so they smell fragrant but are not excessively heavy on the stomach.
• Mazzit from Malta made from animal's entrails

References

External links

• Video Documentary of History of Haggis in America
• Haggis Recipe
• Alton Brown's Haggis Recipe
• Belief in the Wild Haggis
• Haggis Hurl