My sister-in-law came over today and started to read a cookbook that my grandmother got back in 1944. It's called "Reliable Cookery" subtitle "Notes Rules and Recipes". My grandmother was Scottish and the book was published by McDougalls Educational Coy, Ltd. (London and Edinburg). There is no copyright date, so at the latest it was published in 1944. The recipe in question is Haggis.

Yes, that old Scottish staple.

I've never eaten it and now that I've read this recipe, I never will. It follows:

1 sheep's pluck (heart liver, and lights) (wtf are lights?)
1/2 lb beef suet
1/2 lb oatmeal (toated). (this isn't getting better)
Alspice and cloves, if liked
1 stomach bag
4 onions (par-boiled)
Salt and pepper

Method:
1. Wash the bag well in cold water, scrape till quite white, and rinse thoroughly.
2. Soak overnight in cold water.
3. Wash the pluck well and put on to cook, covered with boiling water and a teaspoonful of salt, leaving the windpipe hanging out. (like a snorkle?)
4. Boil 2 to 3 hours, then remove from the water and allow to cool.
5. Remove the windpipe and grate down most of the liver.
6. Chop the lights and heart, and mix with the suet (chopped) and the toasted oatmeal and seasonings.
7. Moisten with about 1 pint of the water the pluck has been boiled in, and mix very thoroughly.
8. Arrange the stomach bag into three or more small bags, and fill about half full of the mixture, and sew up.
9. Put in a pan of boiling, salted water, and boil steadily for 3 hours, pricking occasionally to prevent bursting.
10. Dish on a hot dish and serve very hot.

Windpipe? Leave it hanging out? Lights, what the hell are sheep lights (no, please do not tell me). Prick the thing while it cooks so it doesn't a-bomb your kitchen? OMFG.

(with apologies to davbob and anyone else out there if you happen to enjoy this fare)

Lights are lungs

I won't be eating this anytime soon. uhggg.

I should just downvote you for telling me but my brother speculated that it was sheep eyes or teats, neither of which is better.

True haggis is illegal in the USA. I posted all about this in another thread, but no search = no linky.

It should be illegal in the US and probably several other countries.

I've eaten kidneys before.
They're OK, but you really have to boil the piss out of them.

*snerk*

Hey Bornbad - do you eat this sh*t? It's Scottish!

http://www.plime.com/entertainment/food-and-drink/f/2044/2/#q10

found via:

Well guys if you can not take even this much never read Hungarian cook books, especially not that deal with internal organs of various animals.
My personal favorites are
udder stew with red wine and instead of side dish just a good bread (made from autumn-wheat floor),
Cow tripe, i like to drink light beer with this one,
Kidney with marrow.

I don't mention here gizzard stew, because everyone likes that. (even my kids and that is something, they were grown up on Texan school's cafeteria food and BigMac, so they aren't used to anything even remotely strange.)

Actually I might try it if it was fried to a crispy texture. I think it is the boiling of the mess which makes it look less than appetizing.

If it was fried and cut into slices it might not be that bad. Can it be fried? Has any haggis eater ever tried that?

We're talking Scotland here. Scotland, where some bright spark thought of taking a Mars bar, covering it in batter and throwing it in a deep fat fryer.

In essence, if it will physically fit in a fryer then you can guarantee that someone has tried frying it.

If it won't fit, then someone will have cut it into slices and fried those.

You get haggis burgers on the menu in takeaways - a slice of fried haggis in a bun.

And just in general, I'm going to stand up for the haggis. It is tasty - very tasty indeed.

excursus:

I have this dream about about an industrial scale deep fryer in my kitchen which is on 24/7. Whenever I feel like frying something, I'd just throw it in:

chicken

fish

fries

potato wedges

...

Anytime, you know.
Right next to that deep fryer, there would be kebab machine - also running 24/7.

Back to haggis, now.

I don't think haggis would be too bad. You shouldn't not try something just because of whats in it, for all you know it could taste great.

I'm sure most of you have eaten a doner kebab at some point, and we all know what goes in them. This being said, I can see how the ingredients can put you off, but you know the old saying: "Don't knock it 'till you've tried it"

FatElvis says "I like you, Suckersklub. Always have, always will."

Tut I can't believe I missed out on this thread.

The windpipe should be left hanging out the side of the pot exactly like a snorkle. This is to allow the expanding gas from the sheeps lungs to be exhaled so to speak. (stops it smelling when you chop up the lungs).

Pricking to avoid bursting just allows pressure to escape. Haggis doesn't actually explode but the bag can split which leaves a soggy mess of sheeps innards soup which is fairly tasteless.

Dish on a hot dish and serve very hot.

You don't actually eat stomach lining this is only used as a bag to hold it all together while cooking.


It tastes like a lightly spiced dry minced beef or pork.

I'm drooling here trying to describe it.


Haggis is only illegal in certain U.S states and is very popular in many other countries of the world.


In response to 2many, yes haggis can be fried, When its prepared it can be left to dry and then instead of boiling in the sheeps stomach it can be sliced and fried, a favourite sunday morning breakfast of mine is fried haggis butties.





I was also present at the birth of the "fried mars bar" they originated in a shop called The Golden Bird in Laurieston.


All I can say is we were drunk and my friend owned the shop. Many other things were battered and fried that evening including my watch and several pens.


In almost any chip shop in Scotland you can also get a deep fried haggis in batter, as well as deep fried pizza.

Sorry for the long post but this subject is very close to my cholestorol clogged heart.

Somehow I'm not surprised to see the word 'butt' in a description of haggis.

O.k you know my "don't knock it 'till you've tried it" comment, I take it all back!

No no no...no fair going back on it now negativeone!

Here you go. Dig in.


It is called ISAW by the way, and is fried chicken intestines...you know...the tube chickens use to turn chicken feed into chicken sh*t?

I imagine it is called ISAW because after you eat it, you probably say something like
I SAW SATAN AFTER EATING THAT!!

I always tell my 10 y/o who is extremely picky, that you don't know until you try it if it is bad or good. Well...I think it is fair to say that most or all of these qualify in the I can live a full and happy life having not tried them.