Haggis

It also has affinities with Andouillette, several varieties of which feature in French cuisine. 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".
Most modern commercial haggis is prepared in a casing rather than an actual stomach.

There are also meat-free recipes for vegetarians.
The haggis is a traditional Scottish dish memorialised as the national dish of Scotland by Robert Burns' poem Address to a Haggis in 1787. 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
Haggis is assumed to be of Scottish origin, despite a relative paucity of historical evidence available to support the Scottish claim.An English recipe book dated 1615 mentions haggis, 132 years prior to its first recorded mention in Scottish literature. Markham refers to “the use and vertues of these two severall kinds of Oate-meales in maintaining the Family, they are so many (according to the many customes of many Nations) that it is almost impossible to recken all;” and then proceeds to give a description of “oat-meale mixed with blood, and the Liver of either Sheepe, Calfe or Swine, maketh that pudding which is called the Haggas or Haggus, of whose goodnesse it is in vaine to boast, because there is hardly to be found a man that doth not affect them” .
Although there is no precise date for the first preparation of Haggis, the earliest recorded consumption of the related French dish Andouillette can be traced back to an actual date in the ninth century - it was served at the coronation of King Louis II in Troyes on the 7th September 878 .
Food writer Alan Davidson goes back further, stating that the Ancient Romans were the first people known to have made products of the haggis type. Even earlier, a kind of primitive haggis is referred to in Homer's Odyssey, in book 20, (towards the end of the eighth century BC) 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). Since the internal organs rapidly perish, it is likely that haggis like preparations have been around since pre-history.
Clarissa Dickson Wright also repudiates the assumption of a Scottish origin for haggis, claiming that it "came to Scotland in a longship [ie.

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.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.
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.

According to one poll, 33% of American visitors to Scotland believe haggis to be an animal.
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. Sometimes haggis is sold in tins, which can simply be microwaved or oven-baked.Higher class restaurants sometimes serve "Chicken Balmoral" or "Flying Scotsman", which is chicken breast stuffed with haggis and sometimes also wrapped in bacon. In some Scottish butchers, haggis is combined with Lorne sausage into a product colloquially known as "Braveheart" sausage.
Since the 1960s various Scottish shops and manufacturers have created vegetarian haggis for those who do not eat meat.

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. Haggis-maker MacSween conducted a taste-test 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 remains popular with expatriate Scots in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, owing to the strong connotations with Scottish culture, especially for Burns Suppers.

These dinners include traditional haggis as well as haggis-stuffed won tons and haggis lettuce wrap.

In popular culture


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. The Scotsman newspaper's web site runs an annual Haggis Hunt.
Haggis is also used in a sport called haggis hurling, throwing a haggis as far as possible.