On January 25 , Scots and the great unwashed of Scottish descent all over the worldly concern celebrate the life and work of the swell 18th century bard Robert Burns . At “ Burns supper ” from Nairn to Nashville to Nizhny Novgorod , they ’ll make speeches , recite poem , crack joke , and raise a dram or three of whiskey to the immortal retentivity of Rabbie . And , of course , no Burns Night supper would be complete without the centerpiece smasher : a “ moan trencher ” ( large plate ) filled with steaming haggis . Despite the fact that this dish is actually the humble stuff of various part of sheep physique , it has become the material of legend — and more than a little puzzlement . To clear up any misconceptions , here are a few facts about haggis .
1. HAGGIS IS A SAUSAGE.
Despite its shape and girth , haggis is a blimp . Like many other types of sausage balloon , an forbidden case of intestine holds it together . Traditionally , that casing is a sheep ’s tummy or a “ bitch bung chapiter ” from the ending of a cow ’s large bowel , but today many haggis manufacturers utilize synthetical casings made of plastic or cellulose . Into that casing , the intrepid haggis maker stuffs minced - up sheep ’s liver , lung , and heart . In with that offal lot goes oatmeal , beef suet ( fat ) , onion , and seasonings including nutmeg , Chemical Mace , and chilli pepper .
2. TO MAKE HAGGIS “GUSH,” YOU HAVE TO COOK IT RIGHT.
To get the best out of your haggis during the traditional Burns supper indication of “ Address to a Haggis , ” you need to wangle it cautiously . Ideally , its “ entrails”—as they are colorfully name in the poem — should “ gush ” out when you stick the knife into it . For a quick , tasty , satisfying repast , many Scots and haggis fans now cook their haggis in a microwave oven . It ’s simple : you just cut start the case , tip the contents into a microwaveable container , and nuke it for around six minute ( for a standard - sized haggis ) . However , for a gushing haggis , you must seethe it . After boiling ( gently , or it will abound in the goat god ! ) submerge in weewee for around an hr , the contents of the haggis will swell up passably , stretching the outer casing . So when you switch off into it with the tongue , it bursts open and gushes in a fashion that would make Burns proud .
3. SOMETIMES, HAGGIS PLAYS HARD TO GET.
This is n’t because it ’s run wild and lopsided around a heather - covered mountain — that ’s one silly taradiddle Scots sometimes tell tourist — it ’s because , since 1971 , the US has banned haggis import . Therefore , it’sliterallyhard to get . American can buy US - made haggis on home soil , but it will exclude one of the principal ingredients : sheep ’s lung . The USDA worried that abdomen fluid might get into livestock lungs during slaughter , so they ban animal lung as a grocery in 1971 . This ban bump off other traditional foods as well as haggis , but it came to be eff as the “ haggis prohibition . ” The USDAmay lift the banas early on as next year , but we ’ve heard that before .
4. NOBODY IS SURE OF THE ORIGIN OF THE WORDHAGGIS.
Haggis may have come from the Old Norse wordhöggva , meaning to hew , cut , or pip . That would link up in with the fact the ingredient are chop up finely before stuff into the casing . However , etymologists often arrive at for Old Norse whenever they are timid of an English word origin . Hageys — also connected with chop up or hashing — found its means into midway English . And the Old French wordhacheiz , meaning “ minced meat , ” is similar . Alternatively , for a more “ out there ” origin of the Bible , think the Old Frenchagace , mean " magpie"—in the sense that magpies wish to collect up various odd routine and pieces .
5. HAGGIS IS A PUDDING.
OK , now to double back a little on that earlier assertion that haggis is a sausage balloon . It is also a “ puddin ’ ” ( in Burns ’s words ) in the sense that black pudding — traditionally made with pork blood and oatmeal cased in pig intestine — is a pud . Confusingly , though , inglorious pud is known in some land as “ blood line blimp , ” or “ black sausage . ” Another variate — one that excludes the profligate and supercede it with copious amounts of pork fat — is the predictably named " white pud . " So , haggis is in fact a sausage balloon and a pud , in the grand tradition of offal sausage and puddings made the world over since at least romish times … and yet it is also something lusciously enigmatic and unique . No wonder Rabbie rise so lyrical about it .
6. HAGGIS IS VERSATILE.
Because haggis is also a tasty dressing , it clear an excellent multipurpose ingredient in mod preparation . When visiting Scotland , expect to see haggis on high - class restaurant menus all twelvemonth around . A modernistic favorite is Chicken Balmoral , which is chicken bosom stuffed with whisky - soaked haggis and wrap in bacon . Slightly less nouvelle cuisine is haggis pakora , a flavorful Indo - Scottish quick food made by surface haggis in light slugger and then late - fry it . And haggis is no longer for meat - feeder alone ; vegetarians and vegans can now buy proficient timber offal - free versions of this humble - but - versatile pud / sausage . Oh , and you could also get haggis - season potato chips .
7. YES, “HAGGIS HURLING” IS REAL (BUT SILLY).
As if overeat a haggis , boiling it , receive it bagpiped into a dining elbow room , saying poetry over it , and then dig it with a heavy tongue is n’t sport enough , you could also throw it . However , please note that this is not a summercater that normally assume place at Burns supper . This unusual pursuit is ordinarily reserved for Highland games , which take plaza in Scotland during the summer months . This start only a few decades ago as a kind of practical antic . It ’s certainly not an ancient sport — why would Scottish ancestors licentiously throw away good food ? Or , worse still , toss it over to their opposition ?
8. IF BLACK PUDDING CAN BE A “SUPERFOOD,” MAYBE HAGGIS CAN, TOO.
First off , there ’s no such thing as a “ superfood . ” There are intellectual nourishment with big or less nutritional value , of course , but who gets to decide which unity are “ crack , ” and based on what standard ? Anyway , for the last few weeks , the cyberspace has been buzzing with the “ news ” thatblack pudding is a superfood — seemingly because it ’s low carb , pack with vitamins and minerals , and so on . If you ’re going by interchangeable criteria , then haggis could qualify as a superfood , too , as it ’s mostly protein and ( nicely concentrated ) fatty tissue , contains supposedly cholesterin - reducing oatmeal , is extremely calorie - deep and nutritious , has a low sugar content , and arrest iron , vitamin A , vitamin B12 , and copper , as well as other vitamins and mineral .
But that ’s not the reason Scots love it — the real reason is because it ’s delicious . Just remember to eat it spicy , before all that saturate fat congeals . Cold haggis is definitely an acquired gustatory sensation .
