Haggis, Neeps and Tatties....

It's a strange blog title which I'll explain in a minute but today, January 25th is the birthday of a very famous man who shares the same birth country as myself. Robert Burns was a Scottish poet, some of you may know who he was and others will probably be saying "who's that" with the scrunched up face, (you know the look) For anyone who doesn't know who Burns was I can tell you about one of his poems he penned and your scrunched up face of will become one of eyes wide open. It was a poem called "Auld Lang Syne" which is sung at the stroke of midnight on January 1st all over the world. The poems title translates to "Old Long Ago" Burns had many other great pieces of work including "My Love is Like A Red Red Rose" which would be an awesome poem to recite for a loved one this coming valentines day, down on one knee mumbling broken Scottish words could shoot you to hero status!

I know your thinking what does this have to do with the strange title so listen up. Haggis is a meat product, it's about as Scottish as it gets apart from Scotch whisky. Haggis is made from the heart, liver and lungs of a sheep...wait don't hit the back button, I didn't say it was an everyday food item, though when I lived back in Scotland it almost was for me. It's readily available and is typically deep fried and served with chips. Traditionally it's cooked in the lining of the sheep's stomach and boiled or steamed and served on Robert Burns birthday alongside the neeps (turnips) and tatties (potatoes). It has the consistency of moist ground beef and tastes quite gamey along with it's added ingredients of oats and spices. Burns wrote a poem about the haggis which is recited at thousands of Burns supper birthday meetings all across the globe. Unfortunately due to American USDA regulations true haggis cant be made here, sadly the heart, liver and lungs are probably secretly stuffed into something else but I am able to buy haggis in a can form a local British store close to where I live. Haggis in a can does sound a little weird but it actually tastes pretty darn close to what I can get back home, at $10 a can though it's definitely a special ingredient. 

I hope you've enjoyed a little piece of my background and I urge, nay demand that if your ever in Scotland you must try haggis. I like to add a dollop of tomato sauce beside mine just for dipping purposes. In case any readers are whisky fans, that's a bottle of fourteen year old Oban single malt Scotch in the background. A glass of the "water of life" is a traditional accompaniment to the haggis.

Happy Birthday Burns.....

I'm linking this post up to http://jennifercooks.com/