Palenque

But tripe, sadly, is tripe in any language: and I ain't 'avin' any.>

i wasn't either but even with rudimentary French i mistook something on the menu once in France and got a steaming hot plate of cow brains - bout the same as tripe in being disgusting to moi

MissPrism

Nowadays you find it in Scotland only

No, you can get it from our local market in England and Marks and Spencer sell it in England.
I hadn't realised that some people thought that you ate the casing until an American friend was doing the "yuck gross" nonsense.
I told her that nowadays it was usually in plastic.
"You mean that you eat plastic!"

PatrickLondon

The only time I've eaten haggis was in Scotland, and it was served as out of its casing and served as part of a whole dish - it might as well have been (rather peppery) stuffing balls, really. Not much to write home about in either sense, but that's poverty food (which most "traditional" and "characteristic" dishes are, in most cultures) for you. I see it quite often in my local supermarket, but I'm not tempted.

Palenque

Well i am tempted however from all those who enjoy Haggis and will no longer dismiss it as disgusting - yeh i probably would have eaten the casing as well. Next time in Scotland it's haggis for me

Q - where would one find prepared haggis - in a pub - or a cafe? Considering i don't cook when traveling? Is it expensive? Is there just one traditional variety - well perhaps no variety at all?

thanks

Gordon_R

It's not expensive at all - after all it originated as "peasant food", if that's not too pejorative a term to use. I've enjoyed haggis in pubs and restaurants large and small throughout Scotland. There's just one traditional variety I'm aware off (I'll discount the recent introduction of a vegetarian version), but butchers compete seriously with each other in annual competitions for the best quality. The trad way to have it is with bashed neeps and champit tatties (that's mashed turnip with mashed potato).

Occasionally restaurants try a few twists like a whisky cream sauce as an accompaniment. Speaking of which, if you're ever in Glasgow, try the haggis at The Bothy restaurant in the Hillhead district - one of the best I've ever had.

JimDunlop

So even if the English made the stuff. Why not Identify our own version as being "Scottish Haggis" and the Individual eater can make their own choice and decision as to how good the cook was

laverendrye

<<And PQ is right "à la mode de" (pronounced MOD) in France is not the same as "a la mode" (pronounced MOWED) in the US.>>

So does boeuf à la mode come with ice cream or not??

historytraveler

While we're on this offal subject ( sorry, couldn't resist), would someone please educate me on the contents of white pudding? I am familiar with black pudding. Not a regular item on my menu but not bad. Does white pudding consist of the same ingredients as black pudding minus the stuff that makes it black?

Michael

Black pudding is mainly blood. I suspect that white pudding is more like a <i>weisswurst</i> in content.

nukesafe

Does not sound much better than Haggis to me -- especially the brain used as a binder.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_pudding

Cholmondley_Warner

White pudding is basically a sausage - without the blood. It's for poofs. Eat your blood, or you will get rickets, or mange possibly.

You can get haggis fairly regularly on the breakfast menu of Scotch B&Bs that aim at tourists. It doesn't come with ice cream. Well not normally. Apart from in Largs - where anything goes.

nukesafe

On the subject of Haggis, there was an interesting article in the New York Times about Haggis not being Scotch. You guys battle it out; I don't care!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/07/op...irIz307D1+rtJw

Cholmondley_Warner

All you need to know:

>>>>>The whisky is to neutralize the taste of the haggis, and the turnips are there for health reasons. Highly recommended.

Iowa_Redhead

Haggis and ice cream?!? Oh vomit! I don't care if it's the correct use or not, but to me "a la mode" means with ice cream.

I can't say that I truly enjoyed haggis while I was in Scotland, but while it was offal it wasn't awful (sorry). It very much reminded me of hash. Yes, it was served in the hotels with breakfast for some reason.

corli33

Haggis=Nasty Slop. I wouldn't feed my dog that!!!!!

carolemg

Hmmmm I love haggis

Personally, I think haggis belongs to and originated from Scotland, the receipe would have been passed down from generation to generation and would never have been found in a Scottish cook book.... the English however never having personal experience of haggis would have required a receipe and thus it was discovered in a english receipe book.

FYI 'Scotch' = a whisky from Scotland
Scottish - someone or something from Scotland - we're not 'scotch' lol x x x

Cholmondley_Warner

You (I suppose that should really be "we") will be called Scotch until we stop moaning about it.

CW - a bit scotch.

Palenque

Well if Haggis is of dubious Scottish origin then it appears Chicken Masala may well have originated in Glasgow:

Chicken tikka masala 'invented in Glasgow' - Good Living ...
Aug 3, 2009 ... Scotland is known around the world for bagpipes, Scotch whisky, haggis and tartan kilts. But now it is trying to protect a less obviously ...
http://www.smh.com.au/news/goodlivin...152549144.html

carolemg

CW - I have only ever heard the term used by Americans! No self respecting person of scottish origin would ever refer to themselves as 'Scotch' its a term used for whisky and pies lol.

Ya Tikka Masala is widely recognised as being invented in Glasgow - in the very fantastic Shish Mahal restaurant in the city!

laverendrye

<<The affectation that the term "Scotch" is used only to describe tape, eggs, mist and your undrinkable imitation of whiskey is one of those silly Victorian prisseries the Scotch invented about the same time as clan tartans.>>

The economist John Kenneth Galbraith in his memoir, "The Scotch", recounts his early years in rural Ontario (Iona Station, Elgin County) among a very Scotch/Scottish/Scots community:

"But nearly everyone was Scotch...We referred to ourselves as Scotch and not Scots. When, years later, I learned that the usage in Scotland was different, it seemed to me rather an affectation."

Fowler's notes that according to the OED "Scotch" was the adjective used regularly by Burns and Scott, and that its substitution by "Scottish" only began in the mid 19th Century. It calls it "a middle-class preference" and remarks that outside Scotland, "...Scotch is likely to occur, both as adj and noun, in contexts which middle-class Scots would regard as either droll or improper".

It's likely that Galbraith's forebears had left Scotland before they got the word on what they should call themselves.