Haggis in, like, LA

[Mudpuppie]

This morning NPR had a piece about a Scotsman searching for haggis in LA. He finally found it. Fun story.

You can hear it here: http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1592237

[ludja]

thanks for the link; just listened to it...

good scottish friends of ours (up hear in N. Ca) keep promising (threatening?) to have a haggis/George Burns party. I am intrigued to try it!

[Mudpuppie]

thanks for the link; just listened to it...

good scottish friends of ours (up hear in N. Ca) keep promising (threatening?) to have a haggis/George Burns party. I am intrigued to try it!

The haggis/Robbie Burns party would be more authentic, but the haggis/George Burns would probably be more fun!

[srhcb]

Mail Order Haggis:

http://www.blackface.co.uk/blackface_haggis.asp

SB (one fourth Scots)

[Mudpuppie]

It's possible that there is nothing I would less like to receive in the mail than haggis.

[herbacidal]

It's possible that there is nothing I would less like to receive in the mail than haggis.

how about durian?

coal?

wet blanket?

crushed dingleberries/gingko nuts?

[ludja]

thanks for the link; just listened to it...

good scottish friends of ours (up hear in N. Ca) keep promising (threatening?) to have a haggis/George Burns party.  I am intrigued to try it!

The haggis/Robbie Burns party would be more authentic, but the haggis/George Burns would probably be more fun!

Yeah, a joke-telling round robin accompanied w/cigars and lots 'o haggis!!

Guess, I inadvertantly contributed to 'email conversational slumming'....

[Mudpuppie]

how about durian?

coal?

wet blanket?

crushed dingleberries/gingko nuts?

Nope. Haggis is still at the bottom of the list.

[Suzanne F]

I heard that piece as I was waking up this morning. Wondered who would be the first to post about it. For those in the U.S., just wait until Fergus Henderson's book The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating is out in the spring.

[PS]

Haggis is great. Mmmmm.... chopped lungs....

But seriously, try it. Them boys is tasty. The increasing squeamishness surrounding offal is a real shame.

[Mudpuppie]

Haggis is great. Mmmmm.... chopped lungs....

But seriously, try it. Them boys is tasty. The increasing squeamishness surrounding offal is a real shame.

Funny, I would have thought the squeamishness was waning somewhat. I think people are generally getting more adventurous about trying new things. This is an unscientific theory -- I'm using my old-school parents, sushi, and the popularity of FoodTV as evidence. Maybe this doesn't apply to offal, but it seems to me that we are culturally and sociologically more accepting of new-to-us foods that we were in, say, the 70s or 80s. So maybe, slowly, with the help of people like Emeril (sorry), the squeamishness factor is being tempered?

[marlena spieler]

Marlena who is married to A Scotsman replies:

och, you've not lived until you've had a good haggis! aye, every year we go to scotland to celebrate burns night, thats rohhhhbbbbbbbert burrrrrrrrrns night. we address the haggis, dance at the ceilidh and have a whisky-soaked time.

burns wrote the poem extoling the virtues of turning the odds and ends of the meat into something delicious, and when he died in 1796 the edinburgh literati honored his memory with this ritual feast, the piping of the haggis, drinking of whisky, and reciting of the poem "Ode to the Haggis"

if anyone should happen to be passing bridge of allan, in stirlingshire, the royal hotel do a festive robbie burrrrns weekend........the rooms are totally tartanized of course. and folks such as robert louis stevenson, the beatles, et al have stayed there.......the little main street shops decorate their windows for robbie the national poet.....with displays of books, whiskey, a wee mouse..........

and lest i get off the point too much, good fish and chips at the allan water fish and chips shop at the end of the road. buy they to take away and eat them outside sitting on the bench overlooking the river. a couple of pickled onions with the fish and chips never goes amiss in my book.

Once my scottish husband flew over to california and when he opened his suitcase--his huge and heavy suitcase, there were no clothes at all! all that was there were cans and cans and cans of haggis.

now i dont know how good a canned haggis is, mercifully, we managed to give the stuff away as gifts (and even harrods sells a canned haggis).

but the good stuff in the stomach casing, the savoury meaty graveyish stuff, hey, who cares if its lungs etc. and who even knows what the etc is. all i know is that it is delicious, DELICIOUS! (and actually there IS a vegetarian version, though i've not had it, always going straight to the meat of the matter.)

and once you have that haggis, don't forget the neeps and tatties. and wee dram of course.......

Aye, here's to the "Great Chieftain o' the puddin race...."

Marlena MacSpieler

[PS]

I was in Bridge of Allan last week. Didn't have any chips though.

Apologies if I misinterpreted your antipathy to receiving haggis in the post to squeamishness! I can't apologise for my love of haggis though...

[Carolyn Tillie]

I also listened to that show and got a bit pissed off. Why, might you ask?

Well, they had this guy who apparently couldn't find Haggis in Southern California and had to look for it for "over a week."

That is the lamest statement I've ever heard.

When I lived in SoCal, I had no less than four different Burns dinners to choose from and that was without looking hard! There is a huge Scottish population (and those who love Scots) that stage these events. There are several versions of Highland Games that occur all over SoCal and the statement that this guy couldn't find a Haggis in SoCal was ludicrous.

BTW, my personal favorite and yearly sojourn for a great Burns Dinner is to Tam O'Shanter Inn - 2980 Los Feliz Blvd., LA 90039. 323-664-0228. They usually only do their Burns Dinner for two or three nights only, and never over a weekend (I always went on a Monday, I believe).

The meal not only included great Haggis, but a wonderful Scotch Broth, lovely Scotch selection, but a grand poet to read the poem, bagpipers with whom I could flirt about what they were wearing under their kilt, and those quaint little girls that did the sword dance... I'm going to miss attending this...

[FistFullaRoux]

Louisiana should probably be the easiest state to locate haggis and other offal. Offal is practically an industry there. OK, it's usually pork or beef, but Cajuns eat everything but the oink. Ever hear of boudin? Replace pork with sheep and rice with oatmeal, and you're nearly there.

All you would have to do is find a recipe and make a special request of a butcher. He might have to "import" a sheep, but they can be found. A local butcher (which still exist in surprising numbers, especially in south Louisiana) can cut up whatever you would need. There may be a good chance you would have to buy the whole animal, but you never know.

I do know goat, racoon, rabbit, venison, and any number of other critters can be found in pretty much whatever cut you desire. Sheep's not a big stretch.

[srhcb]

The meal not only included great Haggis, but a wonderful Scotch Broth, lovely Scotch selection, but a grand poet to read the poem, bagpipers with whom I could flirt about what they were wearing under their kilt, and those quaint little girls that did the sword dance... I'm going to miss attending this...

Carolyn!!

Now, we not only have in common an interest in Gastronomica magazine and psychedelic stories, but Scotch heritage!

On one of my other food related discussion boards I have oft been teased mercilessly about haggis. It's good to know where I can find some backup next time I need it.

SB (1/4 Scots)(Chalmers)

[Mudpuppie]

Apologies if I misinterpreted your antipathy to receiving haggis in the post to squeamishness!

You didn't -- I am squeamish. I still think, though, that the average american palate is becoming less squeamish in general. (Mine is not. I'm pretty stubborn.)

I can't apologise for my love of haggis though... 

Nor should you!

[slkinsey]

As it so happens, I am going to hold a Burns' Night dinner here in NYC (I am of Scottish extraction). Stay tuned for details, including picture of eGullet personalities clad in kilts and pickled on Famous Grouse.

[warwart]

I think many people, who would happily eat rattlesnake lips in venom sauce for the thrill, think Haggis is not exotic enough and tastes bad, so it isn't worth the while. Some of my worst childhood memories were of Burns Night with Grandpa, an unreconstructed Jacobite. No noble pudding as big as your arm, instead individual bladder stuffed Haggi -- nasty, elastic and without the necessary whiskey. They bounced. I was five at the oldest, so maybe I'm misremembering. Perhaps this was just the children's menu Haggis, like the franks and beans at a HoJo's?

As an adult, I've liked most of the Haggis I've had, except for the tinned varieties. Breakfast Haggis reminds me a lot of scrapple. For my own Burns nights, I've used Lamb etc. (contact info at end, but the haggis link seems to be down today). Yummy with tatties and nips. Whiskey does help -- anything. Not unlike a coarsely grained pate. It's been liked by Scots and non-scots alike -- I never have enough.

St. Andrew's day is past (November 30th), but Burns night is nearly here, January 25th! (Alas, I may be in Pennsylvania, tending to my parents. No Burns night this year.)

LAMB ETC.

1413 S.E. MILL

ROSEBURG, OR 97470

PHONE: 541-673-7463

FAX: 541-957-9945

HTTP://WWW.TCFB.COM/LAMBETC

[Adam Balic]

As the official hogmanay celebrations were called off this year due to bad weather ( ), Burns' Night is likely to be even more drunken this year. Should be fun, although haggis isn't such a once in the year thing here.

[ludja]

Saveur's Jan 2005 issue mentioned a brand of canned haggis from Texas that they said was good (maybe for canned haggis?-- or what you can easily get in the US).

Has anyone tasted this: Caledonian Kitchen Haggis obtained at click ?

From Saveur,

...an authentic-tasting, USDA-friendly mix: beef sirloin, liver and suet, plus bin oats, onions, pepper and mace.  His blend, cooked by a secret process, sans sheep stomach, won fifth place at a 2002 Scotland magazine haggis taste-off.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Gads... for a minute I thought this thread was new and I was having a bit of deja vu (until I read my post) and was going to rejoice at the return of the Mudpuppie...

I need to read dates more closely.

[ludja]

Gads... for a minute I thought this thread was new and I was having a bit of deja vu (until I read my post) and was going to rejoice at the return of the Mudpuppie... 

I need to read dates more closely.

←

Sorry...despite the title; this thread has a bit of discussion re:sourcing haggis (by internet/mail order also). I thought to add to it rather than start a new thread among the scattered haggis threads--each with one or two posts.

[Mabelline]

ludja, thank you for digging up this old thread. I miss mudpuppy SO much!! I think about her every day. I only hope she is in good health...she was so much fun.