The Many Ways to Enjoy Haggis

Today we head to the dinner tables of Bonny Scotland to find out the many ways to enjoy one of the countries favourite dishes Haggis.
The Scottish have developed a bit of a culture around the dish, as we are here to discover.

Haggis displayed for sale (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For those of you that don’t know, haggis is a savoury type pudding, made from the left over parts of the sheep after dissecting all the other good meat from the body. Hearts, liver and lungs aren’t always the first things considered to serve up on somebody’s plate, but the thought of it is less appealing than the actual flavour. While these parts of the sheep’s body form the bulk of the dish, the meat is minced and then combined with onion, oatmeal, body fats of the sheep called suet, and finally herbs, spices and stock added. It is then encased in a sheep in the sheep’s stomach and cooked slowly. The result is a dish that is more appetising than it sounds.

Don’t knock the haggis before you consider what actually goes into a sausage, salami or even black pudding

While haggis is not entirely a purely Scottish invention, they are one of the few countries that have kept it in the gastronomy repertoire to this day. The dish is claimed to have been prepared back as far as Roman times, and it seems even the name seems to have come from afar, some claiming that the word is Scandinavian in origin. The Scandinavians were also noted to make a similar dish which doesn’t seem so unlikely given that many of them settled in Scotland over time.

Haggis neeps and tatties (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Dishes like haggis and sausage came about to consume every part of the animal when food was scarce and also to preserve what they had because food was not readily available during the long winter months. The people of the times, would just invent ways to make something not so appetising more appetising.

These days haggis is traditionally served with “neeps and tatties”, Scottish slang for potatoes and turnips, and it wouldn’t be Scottish without enjoy a nip of fine Scotch whiskey to wash it down.

Well I did say the many ways to enjoy haggis, so while in Scotland you might be able to see a haggis hurling competition, just be careful not to get hit in the head by one, it could be messy. Also, while in Scotland you could enjoy a haggis burger or a haggis pakhora.

Taken in the Original Lolly Store, of all places. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Just remember don’t knock the haggis until you have tried it.

The only way to get rid of that hunger is a tasty haggis