Got your haggis ready for Robert Burrrrrrns Night?

[eppur_se_muova]

Ye'll have to make your own haggis, the US ban is still in place ...

Scots government bid to overturn US haggis ban

A US government delegation has been invited to Scotland in a bid to overturn its 40-year ban on haggis.

Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead's invitation comes two days ahead of Burns Night, when suppers are held in honour of poet Robert Burns.

Imported haggis was banned by the US because its food standards agency prohibits sheep lungs in food products.

Mr Lochhead raised the issue with the US last year but said he was still hopeful that imports would resume.

Traditional Scottish haggis, which is made with a sheep's heart, liver and lungs, had faced a double barrier.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-12259126

Just Google "haggis recipe" if ye want to make your own (or http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-us&q=haggis+neeps+tatties+recipe&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=). Interestingly, there are various viable veggie and vegan versions vailable. I think I'm going to try the one at veg world: http://www.veg-world.com/recipes/haggis.htm

As one chef recommends, "Serve with mashed potatoes, if you serve it at all." Traditional accompaniments are mashed potatoes, neeps, and whiskey. I've heard neeps described as yellow turnips, swedes, and rutabagas. My money's on turnips:

Neeps: peel and quarter turnips. Boil until tender. Mash well, season with butter, salt and pepper to taste

Tatties: peel and quarter potatoes. Cover with water and bring to boil, cook until tender. Mash and whip in milk. Butter, salt and pepper to taste

http://www.robertburns.org/suppers/recipes.shtml

Don't know if we'll go as far as the readings of Burns' poetry -- "To A Louse" http://www.robertburns.org/works/97.shtml and "To A Mouse, On Turning Her Up In Her Nest With The Plough" http://www.robertburns.org/works/75.shtml are my favs (thank you, Alabama public schools!). Or this one:

Address To A Haggis

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.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o' need,
While thro' your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An' cut ye up wi' ready slight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright
Like onie ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin, rich!

Then, horn for horn, they strech an' strive:
Deil tak the hindmost! on they drive,
Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve,
Are bent like drums;
Then auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
'Bethankit!' hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad mak her spew
Wi' perfect sconner,
Looks down wi' sneering, scornfu' view
On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
As feckless as a wither'd rash,
His spindle shank, a guid whip-lash,
His nieve a nit;
Thro' bluidy flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread.
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He'll make it whissle;
An' legs, an' arms, an' heads will sned,
Like taps o' thrissle.

Ye Pow'rs wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o 'fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies;
But, if ye wish her gratefu' prayer,
Gie her a Haggis!

Robert Burns

(The Bard of Ayr)

(interesting trivia: There is a traditional Romanian dish, served at Easter, made from the heart, lungs, and stomach of a lamb. It is baked in the peritonium (not stomach) of the lamb. http://www.exploringromania.com/haggis.html)

[sarge43]

1. Don't forget you'll need a bagpiper to herald the haggis to table. n/t

[htuttle]

2. If they just legalized haggis, it would put the haggis cartels out of business

It would drastically reduce the number of haggis-related crimes in our country!

[MiddleFingerMom]

3. But FIRST... a word straight from the horse's mouth.

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[jmowreader]

4. Oh, come on now...

Ye are NOT going to tell me the inclusion of Lungs is so critical to haggis making that they couldn't be left the fuck out of the mix for the haggis destined for the United States, where people have the sense not to eat those.

Also, there doesn't seem to be any law stating what must be in a Haggis anyway; I went to McLay's Master Butcher (scottishhaggis.co.uk) and looked at the haggis selection there (http://shop.scottishhaggis.co.uk/Category/53-haggis.aspx). Go to the link and ye shall see the Wee Warrior, Clansman, Piper and Jessie haggises, all of which are packaged in artificial casings rather than sheep stomachs. So I can say without fear of contradiction that if the Scottish butchering industry would simply create a lung-free haggis recipe they could export to the United States as much haggis as the American palate could stand. (Which, considering the other two main ingredients are liver and heart, probably ain't much.)

[MiddleFingerMom]

5. My ex was Germany-born and an EXCELLENT cook.

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One night she presented me with a surprise meal. The sauce was SUPERB... but the
meat kept me chewing and chewing and chewing and chewing.
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It was beef lungs -- considered something of a delicacy over there... but banned
here for a long time (TB was the reason given to me at the time).
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It was the only thing she ever cooked that I didn't like -- and it was pretty
barf-worthy.
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We ain't missin' NUTHIN'!!!!!
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