The Haggis

First Posted on IWeThey 07-27-2024

I'm planning a Musica Donavaina event for October. I wasn't going to do one in August due to heat, but it seems to be in demand. It'll be relatively easy to put together, music all random Renaissance which I have plenty of, and just cold soups, salads, and probably some kind of sandwiches.

It's the October event that will take real effort. It'll be food and music from all the Celtic lands. This includes the Scottish Highlands (the lowland Scots are Germanic). So, I want to present a Haggis. That means I have to learn how to make a good Haggis.

This presents problems with authenticity. To get a sheep stomach and sheep lungs in Southern California, the only way is to buy a sheep and dismantle it yourself. There is little demand for sheep stomachs here, and it's illegal to sell sheep lungs in the United States (removal of that regulation is under discussion).

Well, for the stomach, even in Scotland they are tending to use artificial casings, because preparing the stomach is a very real hassle. So I ordered 4 inch casings from Amazon. The lungs are impossible (I'm not about to dismantle a sheep) so I intend to replace it with honeycomb tripe.

Now the problem is lamb hearts and lamb livers. So, I checked Super King Altadena. They had lamb cutlets and shanks from New Zealand, but no innards. So I went down to Super King Los Angeles, which has a big Near Eastern clientele. Yes, they had a really big lamb section, but all meats, no innards. So. this was going to be a problem.

On my way back home, I stopped in the Philippines for vinegar. My favorite everyday dip for vegies and some meats is just Philippine cane vinegar and salt. No other vinegar will do. So at Seafood City, I bought 3 750 ml bottles. I also checked the fish section and they had very fresh tiny anchovies.

I had just read a Cornish recipe for "whitebait". Well, we don't have whitebait in Southern California, but I decided to get a couple of handfuls of the anchovies and try the recipe with them. About the same size, and closely related. You fry them up and eat them "heads, guts, and feathers".

Then, after returning home, I decided I would photograph the "whitebait" recipe, but wanted to have the fishies over lettuce leaves, and I hadn't bought any lettuce. So, I set out up the hill to Smart & Final, since I needed to pick up my meds from across the street anyway. Well, they are a restaurant supply, and their produce section is usually sub-standard, and they had no green leaf lettuce. So, I went across the street to the CVS pharmacy and they were closed for lunch. No rush, I'll catch them some time next week.

So, lettuce. I buy my lettuce from Sunland Produce, which is over the hill. I didn't want to go all that way just for a head of lettuce - but, that's were I buy my wine and beer (when they have my brand in stock), so I'd buy some of those even though my stock was good - it will be consumed. Also picked up a bag of fresh cherries which were on sale.

I was ready to check out. I don't buy meat at Sunland, I buy it at Super King. Sunland's meat section is smaller and usually higher in price. I decided to check it anyway. Holy Moly! Lamb livers, lamb hearts, and honeycomb tripe all in a row! Problem solved.

So I will be able to practice making haggis. I will base it on the recipe of a famous Scottish chef, based in turn on the recipe of the "Haggis Lady of Mull".

Another problem. In Scotland, it is traditional to "pipe the haggis in" to the table. I don't know any pipers these days - but I will synchronize presenting the haggis with the first track of the second CD of the music program. "Saor Patrol". Anyone for electrically enhanced bagpipes? With drums?

Otherwise on haggis, I have a very old cookbook by a guy who wrote that the worst haggis he had ever had was at a restaurant in Italy. He said this was no excuse, because the best haggis he has had was from another restaurant a few blocks away. The cook there said he learned the recipe from the cook of a British destroyer soon after the Anzio landing. He said he adopted it because food was scarce then, and the ingredients were not considered to be "food" in Italy, so he could buy them cheap.

And, there's the "Haggis Lady of Mull". The above mentioned chef was on the island of Mull with a film crew. He heard about the Haggis Lady, so decided to check her out. He expected a aged lady born and bred on the island. Instead, she turned out to be a young English lady who had a few years ago moved from southern England.

She made a haggis for her son's "Burns Night" dinner. It was so well liked the locals demanded she make more. She eventually turned her home into a small restaurant specializing in haggis (haggis is used in many ways besides being eaten "as is"). She is now the leading, and almost only, haggis maker in the Hebrides.