It's Just Offal

Here we have haggis stuffed in a carved turnip. We didn't forget the neeps (turnips) and tatties (potatoes) both served chappit(mashed), they can also be served "bashed". Traditional Scottish haggis consists of sheep stomach stuffed with offal- such as a boiled mix of liver, heart, lungs. This is also mixed with rolled oats.



The inspiration for placing my haggis in a carved turnip comes from reading the origins Halloween. At least I got this blog done before Thanksgiving. It turns out Halloween started in Scotland and Ireland with making lanterns out of a turnip, or swede. It is when the custom reached the Americas that it evolve into the use of pumpkins. At the end of a good night of keeping spooks at bay, one could fill their turnip with haggis.

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Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy of a grace
As lang's my arm.

...And so starts the address of the haggis at Burns Night. Robert Burns - 25 January 1759 to 21 July 1796- was a poet and lyrists and well regarded and celebrated to this day. Robert Burns Night has a tradtional dinner of:

Cock-a-leekie soup

Haggis warm reeking, rich wi' Champit Tatties,

Bashed Neeps

Tyspy Laird (sherry trifle)

or Oatcakes and Cheese

A Tassie o' Coffee

We didn't pair our haggis with a wee dram as Robert Burns Night dictates, but we had a beer pairing- Tha's Niver Seen Owt Like It!



Hear All, See All, Sey Nowt! ;-)