Haggis

dr rockerdr rocker Regular
edited January 2011 in Life
Anyone else having haggis today / tonight? Its Burns night in Scotland, and seeing as I am only really a few miles frm their (and to celebtrate Haggis actually being English) I have had some.

Had it with mashed potatoe and turnip (although the turnip is actually a swede, but in my part of the world its called turnip and in america its called rutebega).

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Haggis is sheeps heart, lungs and liver minced with pin barley or oatmeal, suet, onions corriander seed, mace and nutmeg and stock all stuffed in a sheeps stomache.

Apparently, because of the lungs, you cannot have real haggis in america. I have also heard all american pork is skinned. WTF?

Comments

  • edited January 2011
    That looks delicious. How does it taste?
  • dr rockerdr rocker Regular
    edited January 2011
    Tastes great. Creamy texture, tastes a little like liver pate but more spiced and a little sour.
  • edited January 2011
    Burns night lol

    Who read the poetry?
  • DirtySanchezDirtySanchez Regular
    edited January 2011
    Apparently Haggis is illegal in the United States. Which sucks because I've been wanting to try it:sad:
  • edited January 2011
    Apparently Haggis is illegal in the United States. Which sucks because I've been wanting to try it:sad:

    http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS334231870520110125

    It stems from our ban on sheep-lungs in food.
  • dr rockerdr rocker Regular
    edited January 2011
    Burns night lol

    Who read the poetry?

    No one, Burns night just reminds me how much I like haggis.

    It stems from our ban on sheep-lungs in food.

    Yeah, that was in the OP. Why are sheep lungs banned in food?
  • edited January 2011
    dr rocker wrote: »

    Yeah, that was in the OP. Why are sheep lungs banned in food?

    Who knows.

    It doesn't have to make sense, lol, this is the United States we're talking about.
  • edited January 2011
    As far as I can find, the ban on lung has to do with safety measures towards mad cow disease.

    From http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow/Greger122403.cfm
    Except for Islamic halal and Jewish kosher slaughter (which involve slitting the cow's throat while the animal is still conscious), cattle slaughtered in the United States are first stunned unconscious with an impact to the head before being bled to death. Medical science has known for over 60 years that people suffering head trauma can end up with bits of brain embolized into their bloodstream; so Texas A&M researchers wondered if fragments of brain could be found within the bodies of cattle stunned for slaughter. They checked and reportedly exclaimed, "Oh, boy did we find it."[24] They even found a 14 cm piece of brain in one cow's lung. They concluded, "It is likely that prion proteins are found throughout the bodies of animals stunned for slaughter.
  • dr rockerdr rocker Regular
    edited January 2011
    Vineman wrote: »
    As far as I can find, the ban on lung has to do with safety measures towards mad cow disease.

    From http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow/Greger122403.cfm


    The lung thing in food goes back to the 1970's - way before the big scares over BSE, although haggis was banned from being imported in 1989. Mad cow disease crossing from cows to humans is mostly shit anyway IMH - it has an incubation period of 3-7 years and it is very unlikly any infected animals have been in the food chain in the UK for near 15 years.
  • edited January 2011
    I have had as close to haggis as is available in Canada, I loved it, it takes very well to massive quantities of salt, and can absorb double it's weight in liquor.
  • dr rockerdr rocker Regular
    edited January 2011
    Yeah, I put a lot of salt on it - it really enhances the flavour without being too salty, although I dont put whisky on it, I dont really like it on it. Let the offal speak for itself.
  • dr rockerdr rocker Regular
    edited January 2011
    Well, the haggis I bought was a six portion one, so with two people in the house there was quite a bit left over - so I made burgers with it.

    Crumbled the haggis and mixed it at a ratio of 2/3 haggis to 1/3 minced beef and mixed it together by crushing it in my hands. Gave it a good grilling - I normally have my burgers quite rare, but mixing cooked offal and fresh meat, I wanted it really cooked through.

    Had it in buns with red onion, mayo, ketchup, tomatoe, cucumber and lettuce. I also cooked some slices of streaky bacon and placed them on top of the burgers and put a slice of maaasdam (a dutch cheese) on top and back in the grill for a few minutes.

    I will definately be having that again.
  • edited January 2011
    Haggis burgers would be a good way of getting squeamish folk to try it. Oh, and I don't put whiskey on mine either, I just meant that you can sail back a lot of booze with it in your stomach. Do people put whiskey on it like seasoning?
  • dr rockerdr rocker Regular
    edited January 2011
    Yeah, people pour shit loads of whisky on haggis. Some also make a whisky sauce with whisky and cream. I just like mine as it comes.
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