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I was looking for backgroun information on Haggis. Preparation and eating it. Some Scottish food I have never tried and I 'm still wondering the Scottish community on those board could describe the taste.

//http://www.scottishhaggis.co.uk/index.htm

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

And on the subject of Hurling Haggis......

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

I'm not sure if this should b attempted before or after consumption.

The real reason for this thread.

//http://www.trebuchet.com/

The website popped out of nowhere whilest navigating one of the sites linked above.

Not sure if they'd let these through customs though.

Maybe they would travel better and smoother, just as model kit.

I can't imagine causeing  too many problems with one of these.

It's just a toy and not too much trouble until somebody loses a eye.

I'm not Scottish but I have had haggis. Imagine something that tastes like a very dry black pudding without the white fat bits and you're fairly close.

Also, I've built the small floating arm trebuchet from the plans available on that site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/waub/2664464470/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/waub/2664464470/)

It'll throw a golf ball a couple of hundred meters. Lots of fun!

-Bouwel-

Haggis is lovely stuff.  It's lightly spiced meat with oats that comes in a bag.  Sometimes the bag is a sheep's stomach, but usually it's in plastic wrapping (I wouldn;t reccomend eating either).  You boil it for preparation and serve it with turnips and mashed potoato traditionally or it's quite nice battered with chips!  It shouldn't be dry unless it's been overcooked.

b a r f

Minced up sheep's lungs, heart and liver, onions, salt, nutmeg, mace, oatmeal, suet, beef stock.
Boil and simmer meat for  an hour then chop up finely, chuck it  in a big bowl along with the onion, spices, stock etc and mix it all up. Stuff the mixture into a sheep stomach lining (or alternatively a synthetic sub as PVS says*) leaving a little room for expansion. Boil and simmer for about 3hrs and bobs yer uncle. Serve with mashed potato and mashed swede (not turnips- they're rank. Scots tend to call swede 'neeps' as well as turnip.
Best to mix it all into a big mound on your plate and shovel it down with a fork- great! Don't eat too much- it's very rich and it'll be runnin' oot the other end afore ye can say:
"In the name o' the wee man!"
Alternatively you can get haggis pizza- fuckin class, especially if you gie them a quick dip in the deep fat fryer to finish.


(* Anyone who tucks into lungs, heart and liver surely can't balk at being cooked in stomach lining, surely?)
Scotland- stickin' it tae the Euro's in the culinary stakes.

Oh! And remember to cut off and discard the excess fat, sinew and windpipe from the meat- we dinna eat any old shite, ye ken!

This thread proves once again why us English people are genetically superior to our Scottish slaves.

I had Haggis for the first time last February when we were in Inverness for Hi-Ex... And I'll probably have some again this coming February when we're back in Inverness for Hi-Ex 2 (Eden Court, Inverness, February 14-15 2009)*.

It's nice stuff, spicier than I'd expected, a bit like sausage-meat stuffing only browner.

-- Mike
* //http://www.hi-ex-co.uk

Quote from: "Godpleton"This thread proves once again why us English people are genetically superior to our Scottish slaves.

How can you lot be superior when we have the ability to thrive on such foodstuffs?

Bouwell answers with....

QuoteI'm not Scottish but I have had haggis. Imagine something that tastes like a very dry black pudding without the white fat bits and you're fairly close.

The Black Puddding. Would you beleive I'm sitting here watching 'The Goodies' right now thinking about that episode.

From the sounds of it. I don't think I could stomach this in large portions. I might try alittle bit, a few mouthfulls.

Dog Deever said.....

QuoteAlternatively you can get haggis pizza- fuckin class, especially if you gie them a quick dip in the deep fat fryer to finish.

Interesting! I understand that Deep Fried Haggis and Haggis Burgers are sold in Fast Food Outlets all over Scotland.

Godpleton states that......

QuoteThis thread proves once again why us English people are genetically superior to our Scottish slaves.

Yes, well, I once drank a small bottle of coolant because my Ute broke down in the middle of nowwhere and I ran out of water.
 
Regarding Haggis....

From what I read on the wiki, it sounds offal. ( Awful :lol: )

Food Jokes.

The Orignas of Haggis according to the WIki.

QuoteThe haggis is frequently assumed to be Scottish in origin though there is little evidence for this, and food writer Alan Davidson states that the Ancient Romans were the first people known to have made products of the haggis type.[2] A kind of primitive haggis is referred to in Homer's Odyssey, in book 20, when Odysseus is compared to "a man before a great blazing fire turning swiftly this way and that a stomach full of fat and blood, very eager to have it roasted quickly." Haggis was "born of necessity, as a way to utilize the least expensive cuts of meat and the innards as well" (Andrew Zimmern). In times of famine people would eat whatever it was that they could get their hands on, which is how all those fascinating ingredients became a part of Scottish tradition.

If you a Scottish Local feel free to disagree with that.

But if it's true, that it origanated either from the French Normans, Norway/Iceland or Rome. Then I doubt that Slaine might have feasted on Haggis during his travels. It does sound like it came around after his time.

I now believe he's more the salmon munching, turnip and potatoe eating, and gulping of Formorian hearts.

It's ok- bagpipes are supposedly of Indian origin as well. And tartan is French- the whole idea of 'Clan tartan' was conceived by a couple of Greek brothers from 'an ancient pattern book' 'found' in an 'abandoned cave' on the west coast.
And whisky isn't Scottish either.
Scottish dancing- highland flings, sword dancing etc, fiddle & accordion music and all- all invented when the Lowlanders suddenly realised:
"Doh! We've destroyed our own cultural identity."
And just like the canny Lowlanders we've come to know and love- they bullshitted and made it all up!
History is written by the victors and 'origins' should always be taken with a pinch of salt- in truth 'the Scots' were never a single cultural entity until relatively modern times- pretty much a front line for a clash between several competing cultures- Pict, Gael, Roman, Briton, Saxon, Norman, Viking.
Although, every culture develops through time and adds to it's identity by borrowing from other cultures (look at the Romans and Greeks).
There are many Scots who wouldn't touch Haggis with a barge-pole- apparently the national dish is curry now, with a Glaswegian origin claimed for chicken tikka masala (I think)- I certainly know more folks who love curry than I know who love haggis.

Curry is the UK national dish as well as Scotland.

Whiskey isnt unique to Scotland but nobody does it better than the Scots in my not very humble opinion.I mean single malts and not rubbish like Bells or Famous Grouse.

Deever Dog says....

QuoteThere are many Scots who wouldn't touch Haggis with a barge-pole- apparently the national dish is curry now,

Peterwolf adds...

QuoteCurry is the UK national dish as well as Scotland.

I know people, who I would swear lived on curry and being of Scottish heritage.

My favourite Scottish invention is obesity.

Don't think we invented it- there were porkies all across Europe when we were starving, half-fed wiry folks.
We just embrace it and excel.
You have to be good at something...

Ah'm aboot tae cook masel' a haggis richt noo.

Here in Scotland, we have an egalitarian view of the world. We don't consider ourselves inferior or superior to anyone, except the arse-picking scum of Milton Keynes.
 

- Trout

Oh, and haggis is fantastic. I intend to say poetry to one next month, in celebration of 250 years since the birth of Robert Burns!

- Trout

I should point out that I don't actually live in MK but in Newport Pagnell, which invented Aston Martin cars which saved your hero Sean C.'s worthless ass many a time.

He's nae my hero- he's a fud.

QuoteWhiskey isnt unique to Scotland but nobody does it better than the Scots in my not very humble opinion.I mean single malts and not rubbish like Bells or Famous Grouse.

Never had Irish then?

There is nothing quite like two fingers of Black Bush.

Tomorrow I plan on bludgeoning someone to death with an empty whiskey bottle, and it held Irish so that means that Irish is always better.

Quote from: "Uncle Umpty"

QuoteWhiskey isnt unique to Scotland but nobody does it better than the Scots in my not very humble opinion.I mean single malts and not rubbish like Bells or Famous Grouse.

Never had Irish then?

There is nothing quite like two fingers of Black Bush.

 I have to admit that i havent tried it.Nobody does it better than the Scots AND the Irish.

"Tomorrow I plan on bludgeoning someone to death with an empty whiskey bottle, and it held Irish so that means that Irish is always better."

Who are you trying to impress ? Get some therapy/counselling and try self harming as that helps in the short term.

At this very moment I am sitting at my desk in work eating a deep fried battered pizza.

Its sooooooooooo tasty.