Talk:Haggis
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[edit] Photographs
Come on, we must take a photograph (or several!) of a haggis to add to this page! --Kaihsu Tai 16:23, 2004 Jan 25 (UTC)
Unfortunately the picture contributed is appropriate for the Burns Supper article (where it also appears) but not for this one since the haggis takes up a very small portion of what is a very large picture. We need a more appropriate one for this article -- a smaller one which depicts a haggis rather than a man attacking a haggis. -- Derek Ross
- I wholeheartedly agree. I put the current one here until a better one comes along! --Kaihsu Tai 13:09, 2004 Jan 26 (UTC)
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- Sorted now. Cheers. – Kaihsu 18:27, 2005 Jan 30 (UTC)
- That's great, Kaihsu, but I take it from the timing of these edits that you only eat haggis once a year, <grin>. Cheers -- Derek Ross | Talk 01:23, 2005 Jan 31 (UTC)
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- I actually ate haggis about 5 times last year, about 4 times in Edinburgh and about 3 times for breakfast. – Kaihsu 11:34, 2005 Jan 31 (UTC)
[edit] History section
I see little about the history of the haggis in this section, just a short section about a poem by Rabbie Burns.....would be good if you could expand it a little Jcuk
[edit] "Superficially resembles Scrapple"
I won't alter the article to argue with someone else's national dish, but I've had a lot of scrapple and a reasonable quantity of haggis (yes, in Scotland, not an outland recreation), and IMO they are more similar (as compared to other foods) than different.
The first time I had haggis (in a small country B&B) it immediately reminded me of scrapple, and haggis may technically be a sausage, but it is more like scrapple than any sausage I've had. -- Cecropia | explains it all ® 21:09, 19 Dec 2004 (UTC)
- Interesting. I shall look out for scrapple so that I can do a "taste test" from the other direction. -- Derek Ross | Talk 19:43, 2005 Jan 24 (UTC)
[edit] Neeps
The article says that "neeps" are turnips, whereas the Robert Burns Day article, which links to haggis, says that "neeps" are rutabaga. I'm not familiar with Scottish culinary culture, but someone should correct one of these articles. (Unless the term is used interchangeably.) JD79 17:19, 25 January 2006 (UTC)
- See rutabaga. If that article is right, what American call a "rutabaga", Scots call a "neep" or "turnip" (and the English call it a "Swede", "Swedish turnip", or "yellow turnip"). What Americans call a "turnip" is -- I think -- either called a "white turnip" or not called anything, being relatively unknown. —Bunchofgrapes (talk) 19:28, 25 January 2006 (UTC)
- Update. The turnip page is a little clearer, but the situation is even worse than I said before. The Scottish call the thing Americans call "turnips" "swedes", which is the same thing the English call the thing Americans call "rutabagas". My head hurts. —Bunchofgrapes (talk) 19:35, 25 January 2006 (UTC)
The turnip page is the one to believe. This page attempts to repeat what it says. -- Derek Ross | Talk 21:43, 25 January 2006 (UTC)
Well then...I guess I never knew that the rutabaga was so closely related to the "American turnip". Thanks, Wikipedia! JD79 22:57, 25 January 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Odd Facts and pop Culture
Spicey McHaggis the former bagpipe player for the Dropkick Murphys, quite obviously named after the food delicacy was removed, surely that is a reference to popular culture connected to haggis. If the band called Enter the Haggis which no one has heard of (and was probably added by one of the band themself) can remain, surely Spicey McHaggis as a more famous musical artist can remain.
- Not to mention the Ren and Stimpy character, Haggis MacHaggis.
[edit] Vegetarian haggis taste test
There's a comment in the current version of the article that vegetarian haggis is pleasant in taste but unlike the traditional variety. This is an oversimplification. In fact the flavour of the "traditional" haggis varies quite a lot since there are many recipes, some heavier on the liver, some heavier on the oatmeal, or with other changes. That goes for the vegetarian haggis too: the flavour tends to vary with the recipe. Surprise, surprise. The point is that there is an overlap in the flavour range and that means that some vegetarian haggis is indistinguishable in flavour from some traditional haggis, so it's not entirely true to say that all vegetarian haggis tastes unlike any traditional haggis. -- Derek Ross | Talk 15:49, 24 April 2006 (UTC)
- Goodness me: I quite like vegetarian haggis, but I've never encountered one that tasted anything much like a meat haggis! I think there's something irreproducible about the taste of animal fats. Ming the Merciless 16:44, 24 April 2006 (UTC)
I speak from experience. The Henderson's veggie haggis fooled me completely. I did not realise that it contained no meat until I was told. Delicious! (Henderson's cafe is well worth a visit if you're in Edinburgh even for those who don't like haggis and aren't vegetarian.) -- Derek Ross | Talk 06:20, 25 June 2006 (UTC)
- I've eaten a fair few haggis in my time, and tried a couple of vegetarian ones. Very nice, but more like stuffing than haggis. Would go well with a nice roast dinner, but that might defeat the whole vegetarian aspect... I will keep an eye out for Henderson's if I'm ever up that way, mind. Slavedriver 14:58, 6 August 2006 (UTC)
McSweens haggis (available every branch of Waitrose I come across - so i'm not sure about the "available in *some parts* of england" comment.. I can certainly get it here in Portsmouth whenever I want) comes in a meat and vegetarian variety.. I've had both, and at first taste, they're almost identical, but the aftertaste differs, and the meat one was certainly more addictive, but that said, they definitely qualify as being "similar". I've been considering converting to vegetarianism, and this is one product which makes the whole process sound less painful! Yum.
[edit] Similar dishes
Regarding dishes similar to Haggis:
Mutton “Pancita”
In central Mexico, in the State of Hidalgo, one of its traditional dishes is “barbacoa” which is made from mutton. A “barbacoa”, although similar in name to barbeque differs from it in that it is a process of cooking consisting of making a hole in the ground, wrapping meats in maguey leaves and placing them in the hole which is then heated by embers that slowly cook the meat in its own juices. During the 19th Century, Hidalgo was an important mining centre that had a strong British influence with many Britons coming to live there, mainly in the town called Real del Monte. They left, among other things, the method of making pastries, now called “pastes” that are now the typical dish and perhaps a variation of haggis, the “pancita” or “little belly”. The innards of the mutton; lungs, liver, kidneys, spleen and such are placed inside a pouch made by the stomach lining, with a liberal sprinkling of spices including the typical chilli and cooked along with the rest of the meat. The only flavouring given to the rest of the meat is salt inferring that the “pancita” was a latter addition. Once cooked it is eaten with the flat maize bread called tortilla in Mexico, but then so is mostly everything there. Other thing the Britons left were the first football (soccer) teams.
Contributed by Rafael Maffey
[edit] Drinks
I have a couple of issues with this new section that's just been added.
1. There isn't really a drink, traditional or otherwise associated with haggis. Most haggis is bought from chip shops, day in, day out, in the form of haggis suppers without any drink at all. Even if a drink is bought with it, that drink is far more likely to be cola or Iron Brew than whisky or wine.
After purchases from chip shops, the second largest consumption of haggis is in the form of supermarket haggis at family meals. Again I would suggest that most families would have it with water or fizzy drinks. Wine is a less likely possibility and whisky is highly unlikely.
The only place where it is likely that haggis will be eaten with whisky is at a special event such as a Burns supper or a St Andrews day dinner where haggis is on the menu as a Symbol-of-Scotland. So it would be much more accurate to say that whisky (another Symbol-of-Scotland) is a traditional accompaniment at these type of events than to give the misleading impression that it's normal to drink whisky whenever you eat haggis.
2. There's an unwarranted assumption that haggis is spicy. While some haggis may well be spicy (because it may have a lot of pepper in it), there is a lot of haggis which is light on the pepper and thus isn't spicy at all. It all depends on the recipe. In my experience people who eat haggis for the first time are far more likely to say that it tastes like liver paté than to say it's like curry. And so, again in my opinion, you'd be much better served by thinking about wines to go with liver than in thinking about wines to go with chilli.
So if the new section is to remain, it should be updated to take these points into account. -- Derek Ross | Talk 19:40, 12 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Tampering?
Um, can someone with more experience take out the sub-plebeian attempt at humor? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.201.158.78 (talk) 22:21, 24 January 2007 (UTC).
- Done. But please feel free to do it yourself, next time. We always welcome helpful contributions like that. -- Derek Ross | Talk 00:07, 25 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] No mention of Highlander?
Haggis had a prominent mention in the film Highlander (1986)
[edit] History of Haggis
All the theories on this page regarding the history of haggis assume that it was invented in Scotland - although it's been a symbol of Scottishness ever since Burns's apostrophe, I'm not sure that its origins are Scottish. Does anyone have any evidence for that?
Ninj 15:00, 20 March 2007 (UTC)
I'm re-writing the history section in view of the fact that no-one's come forward with an answer to the question above.
Ninj 16:33, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Smile
Why is Image:Rabbie Haggis!.jpg this haggis smiling?
