We all know there is a celebration to be had on Burns Night (around the 25th of January each year) to celebrate the Bard's Birthday, which was on January 25th 1759. If you are going 'full on' this means you are attending an organised evening, usually with much tartan, whisky, music and somebody to give the address to the haggis.
But those that have tried the haggis experience know - a haggis is not just for Burns Night, it's for life.
For those of you who only eat wild haggis, look away now. We will be looking at the sheep-based approximation that many people can buy in their local supermarket. This version of the haggis is a savoury pudding containing sheep's pluck (heart, liver, and lungs). These items are boiled and then minced and mixed with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices (black pepper, coriander, mace, and nutmeg), and salt. The stock from the boiled meat is added to the mix, and the whole wrapped up in a sheep's stomach (or an artificial casing) to hold the pudding together. Once you are ready to eat the haggis, it can be boiled, or removed from it's casing and oven baked, pan fried, or microwaved.
But what is the best way to experience haggis? Traditionally, haggis would be boiled and served with 'tatties and neeps' - usually mashed potato and mashed turnip (swede).
These ingredients provide a great balance - the plainer vegetables offset the spice in the haggis, a great way to get meat and two veg. However there are other great ways to experience haggis :
Balmoral Chicken
Balmoral Chicken a great way to try haggis - A chicken breast is sliced along it's length and opened out. haggis is placed in the opening and the breast is re-folded and wrapped in bacon. This assemblage is usually wrapped in aluminium foil and cooked in the oven. Served with vegetables and either whisky sauce or peppercorn sauce it can be a wonderful dish.
Full Scottish Breakfast
Ingredients (as shown above) can include Haggis, Tattie Scone, Square or Lorne Sausage, Bacon, Egg, Baked Beans, Fried or French bread, Mushrooms and Tomato.
Haggis Pizza
Another way to try out haggis without resorting to tatties and neeps - put it on a pizza!
Haggis Pakora
If you are into pakora generally, the local haggis variety will hit the right spot.
Haggis Supper
Chip shop haggis and chips. In this case the haggis is dipped in batter and deep fried, served with chips and seasoned with salt, vinegar or sauce to your taste.
Now that you have seen some of the different ways you could experience the haggis, why don't you give one a try? You don't have to wait until the next Burns Night!