Editing Haggis

{{Short description|Scottish savoury pudding containing sheep's pluck}}
{{About|the Scottish dish}}
{{Infobox food
| name = Haggis
| image = Scotland Haggis.jpg
| image_size = 275px
| caption = Haggis displayed for sale
| alternate_name = 
| place_of_origin = Scotland
| associated_cuisine = [[Scottish cuisine|Scottish]]
| creator = 
| type = [[Pudding#Savoury|Pudding]]
| served = 
| main_ingredient = Sheep's [[offal|heart, liver and lungs]], and stomach (or [[sausage casing]]); [[onion]], [[oatmeal]], [[suet]], spices
| variations = 
| calories = 
| other = 
}}
[[File:Haggis on a platter.jpg|thumb|Haggis on a platter at a [[Burns supper]]]]
[[File:Haggis, neeps and tatties.jpg|thumb|right|A serving of haggis, neeps, and tatties]]

'''Haggis''' ({{langx|gd|taigeis}} {{IPA|gd|ˈtʰakʲɪʃ|}}) is a savoury [[pudding]] containing sheep's [[offal|pluck]] (heart, liver, and lungs), [[Mincing|minced]] with chopped onion, [[oatmeal]], [[suet]], spices, and salt, mixed with [[Stock (food)|stock]], and cooked while traditionally encased in the animal's [[stomach]]<ref name=OED/> though now an artificial [[sausage casing|casing]] is often used instead. According to the 2001 English edition of the ''[[Larousse Gastronomique]]'': "Although its description is not immediately appealing, haggis has an excellent nutty texture and delicious savoury flavour".<ref>{{cite book | title = Larousse Gastronomique | last = Montagné | first = Prosper | page = 592 | year = 2001 }}</ref>

It is believed that food similar to haggis — perishable [[offal]] quickly cooked inside an animal's stomach, all conveniently available after a hunt — was eaten from ancient times.<ref name=rome/><ref name=necessity/><ref name=cdr/><!--this summarises text in body, sources repeated here as text was challenged-->

Although the name "hagws" or "hagese" was first recorded in England c. 1430, the dish is considered traditionally of Scottish origin.<!--English usage & Scottish tradition sourced in #History--> It is even the national dish<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scotland.org/experience-scotland/food-and-drink/|title=Food and Drink in Scotland&nbsp;– Scottish Cuisine|work=Scotland.org}}</ref> as a result of Scots poet [[Robert Burns]]' poem "[[Address to a Haggis]]" of 1786. Haggis is traditionally served with "[[rutabaga|neeps]] and [[potato|tatties]]", boiled and [[Mashed potato|mashed]] separately, and a [[Dram (unit)|dram]] (a glass of [[Scotch whisky]]), especially as the main course of a [[Burns supper]].

== History and etymology ==
=== Scottish theory ===
Haggis is popularly assumed to be of [[Scotland|Scottish]] origin,<ref name=OED>{{OED|haggis}} First recorded as "hagws" "Now considered specially Scottish, but a popular dish in [early] English cookery"</ref> but many countries have produced similar dishes with different names. However, the recipes as known and standardised now are distinctly Scottish. The first known written recipes for a dish of the name, made with [[offal]] and herbs, are as "hagese", in the verse cookbook ''[[Liber Cure Cocorum]]'' dating from around 1430 in [[Lancashire]], [[north west England]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/lcc/parallel.html#q120|title=Liber Cure Cocorum: Parallel Transcription/Translation|website=www.pbm.com}}</ref> and, as "hagws of a schepe"<ref>{{cite book|url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/CookBk?type=simple&rgn=full+text&q1=hagws&submit=Go|title=Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse|year=1999}}</ref> from an English cookbook also of c. 1430.

{{poemquote|
'''For hagese'''.
Þe hert of schepe, þe nere þou take,
Þo bowel noght þou shalle forsake,
On þe turbilen made, and boyled wele,
Hacke alle togeder with gode persole,
}}

The earlier (1390) book ''The Forme of Cury'' by Richard II's master cooks includes a dish of grated meat in a pig's caul, without using such a name.<ref name=Times>{{Cite newspaper|newspaper=The Times|date = 30 January 2023|title=Sorry Scotland but Haggis is an English Dish | at=p. 17, column e}} </ref>  

The Scottish poem "[[Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy]]", which is dated before 1520 (the generally accepted date prior to the death of [[William Dunbar]], one of the composers), refers to "haggeis".<ref>{{cite book|title=William Dunbar: Selected Poems|first=William|last=Dunbar|author2=Harriet Harvey Wood|publisher=Routledge|year=2003|isbn=0-415-96943-3|page=18}}</ref>

{{poemquote|
Thy fowll front had, and he that Bartilmo flaid;
The gallowis gaipis eftir thy graceles gruntill,
As thow wald for ane haggeis, hungry gled.
 — William Dunbar, Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy
}}

An early printed recipe for haggis appears in 1615 in ''The English Huswife'' by [[Gervase Markham]]. It contains a section entitled "Skill in Oate meale":<ref>{{cite book | author-link = Gervase Markham| last = Markham | first = Gervase | title = The English House-wife, Containing the Inward and Outward Vertues Which Ought to Be in a Compleate Woman | url = https://archive.org/details/b30328068|edition=4| publisher = John Harison | page = [https://archive.org/details/b30328068/page/240 240] | year = 1631 }}</ref> "The use and vertues of these two severall kinds of Oate-meales in maintaining the Family, they are so many (according to the many customes of many Nations) that it is almost impossible to recken all"; and then proceeds to give a description of "oat-meale mixed with blood, and the Liver of either Sheepe, Calfe or Swine, maketh that pudding which is called the Haggas or Haggus, of whose goodnesse it is in vaine to boast, because there is hardly to be found a man that doth not affect them." (Gervase Markham, ''The English Huswife'')

In her book ''The Haggis: A Little History'', Dickson Wright suggests that haggis was invented as a way of cooking quick-spoiling [[offal]] near the site of a hunt, without the need to carry along an additional cooking vessel.<ref name=cdr>{{cite book |last=Dickson Wright |first=Clarissa |author-link=Clarissa Dickson Wright |title=The Haggis: A Little History |publisher=Pelican Publishing Company |year=1998 |isbn=1-56554-364-5}}</ref> The liver and kidneys could be [[grilling|grilled]] directly over a fire, but this treatment was unsuitable for the stomach, intestines, or lungs.<ref name=cdr/> Chopping up the lungs and stuffing the stomach with them and whatever fillers might have been on hand, then boiling the assembly – probably in a vessel made from the animal's hide – was one way to make sure these parts were not wasted.<ref name=cdr/>

=== Roman theory ===
Food writer [[Alan Davidson (food writer)|Alan Davidson]] suggests that the [[Ancient Rome|ancient Romans]] were the first known to have made products of the haggis type.<ref name=rome>{{cite book |title=The Oxford Companion to Food |last=Davidson |first=Alan |author-link=Alan Davidson (food writer) |year=2006 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=0-19-280681-5 }}</ref> Haggis was "born of necessity, as a way to utilize the least expensive cuts of meat and the innards as well".<ref name=necessity>[[Andrew Zimmern]]</ref>

=== Norse theory ===
[[File:pölsa.jpg|thumb|upright|Swedish [[pölsa]], a relative of haggis]]

[[Clarissa Dickson Wright]] says that it "came to Scotland in a [[longship]] [i.e., from [[Scandinavia]]] even before Scotland was a single nation".<ref>{{cite book | last = Barham | first = Andrea | title = The Pedant's Revolt: Why Most Things You Think Are Right Are Wrong | publisher = Michael O'Mara Books Ltd | year = 2005 | isbn = 1-84317-132-5 }}</ref> She cites etymologist [[Walter William Skeat]] as further suggestion of possible Scandinavian origins: Skeat claimed that the ''hag–'' element of the word is derived from {{langx|non|haggw}} or the [[Icelandic language|Old Icelandic]] ''hoggva'',<ref>[http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-haggle.html '' The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology'', 1996]. Retrieved on 29 June 2009</ref> meaning 'to hew → chop → hack',<ref>''An Icelandic-English Dictionary'', Page 309, [[Richard Cleasby]], [[Guðbrandur Vigfússon]], [[George Webbe Dasent]]&nbsp;– 1874</ref> same as in [[Modern Scots]]: ''hag'', 'to hew' or strike with a sharp weapon, relating to the chopped-up contents of the dish.

The related Nordic variations of the root dish are traditionally called ”hew/chop-food”: {{langx|da|hakkemad}}, {{langx|no|[[:no:Hakkemat|hakkemat]]}}, {{langx|sv|hackmat}}, in modern Swedish renamed to ''[[pölsa]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=hackmat sbst. |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?seek=hackmat&pz=1#U_H1_20574 |website=saob.se |publisher=[[Swedish Academy]] |access-date=2025-04-07}}</ref>

==Folklore==
{{main|Wild haggis}}{{more citations needed section|date=August 2018}}
[[Image:Haggis scoticus.jpg|thumb|A fictitious [[Wild Haggis]] ''Haggis scoticus'', next to a prepared specimen, as displayed at the [[Glasgow]] [[Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum|Kelvingrove Gallery]]]]
In the absence of hard facts as to haggis' origins, popular folklore has provided some notions. One is that the dish originates from the days of the old Scottish [[Drovers' road|cattle drovers]]. When the men left the [[Scottish Highlands|Highlands]] to drive their cattle to market in [[Edinburgh]], the women would prepare rations for them to eat during the long journey down through the [[glen]]s. They used the ingredients that were most readily available in their homes and conveniently packaged them in a sheep's stomach allowing for easy transport during the journey. Other speculations have been based on Scottish slaughtering practices. When a [[Chiefs of the Name|chieftain]] or [[laird]] required an animal to be slaughtered for meat (whether sheep or cattle) the workmen were allowed to keep the [[offal]] as their share.

A joke sometimes maintained is that a haggis is [[Wild Haggis|a small Scottish animal]] with longer legs on one side, so that it can run around the steep hills of the Scottish highlands without falling over. According to one poll, 33 percent of American visitors to Scotland believed haggis to be an animal.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/nov/27/travelnews.travel "American tourists believe Haggis is an animal"], guardian.co.uk, 2003-11-27.</ref>

==Modern use==
[[Image:Bob Purdie addressing haggis 20040124.jpg|right|thumb|175px|Recitation of the poem "Address to a Haggis" by [[Robert Burns]] is an important part of the [[Burns supper]].]]Haggis is traditionally served as part of the [[Burns supper]] on or near January 25, the birthday of Scotland's national poet [[Robert Burns]]. Burns wrote the poem "[[Address to a Haggis]]", which starts "Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face, Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!" In Burns's lifetime haggis was a common dish of the poor as it was nourishing yet very cheap, being made from leftover parts of sheep otherwise discarded.

Haggis is widely available in supermarkets in Scotland all year, with cheaper brands normally packed in artificial casings, rather than stomachs. Sometimes haggis is sold in tins or a container which can be cooked in a microwave or conventional oven. Some commercial haggis is largely made from pig, rather than sheep, offal.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ramsayofcarluke.co.uk/products/traditional-ball-haggis-1kg/|title=Traditional Ball Haggis (1kg) – Ramsay of Carluke}}</ref> Kosher haggis, not only pork-free but fully conformant to [[Jewish dietary laws]], is produced.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://thejc.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx|title=The Jewish Chronicle ePaper|website=thejc.newspaperdirect.com|access-date=2015-02-03|archive-date=2021-01-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125035654/http://thejc.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Haggis is often served in Scottish fast-food establishments, in the shape of a large [[sausage]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/ode-haggis|title=A guide to haggis|work=BBC Good Food| quote =chip shop-friendly haggis sausages specially shaped for deep-frying}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y2ItAgAAQBAJ&q=haggis+supper+shape&pg=PT175 |title=Scottish Miscellany: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Scotland the...|date=2013-12-13 |access-date=2016-04-20| quote =A popular chip-shop dish throughout Scotland is the haggis supper, which is a long haggis pudding, shaped like a sausage, served with [[French fries|chips]]. Some...serve the traditional large round haggis puddings though these tend to be too large for most appetites and some find them too spicy.|isbn=9781628732207|last1=Green|first1=Jonathan|publisher=Skyhorse }}</ref><ref name="auto1">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/you-don-t-have-to-be-scottish-to-enjoy-haggis-8467024.html|title=You don't have to be Scottish to enjoy haggis|author=Ian Irvine|date=25 January 2013|work=The Independent| quote =the haggis supper – haggis in the form of a substantial sausage coated in batter and deep-fried till crisp}}</ref> and deep fried in batter. Together with chips, this comprises a "haggis supper".<ref name="auto"/><ref name="auto1"/> A "haggis burger" is a patty of fried haggis served on a bun. A "[[haggis pakora]]" is another deep fried variant, available in some Indian restaurants in Scotland. Haggis can be used as an ingredient in other dishes, even [[pizza]], rather than the main part of a dish.<ref>[http://www.heraldscotland.com/food-drink/celebrity-chefs/braised-beef-cheeks-with-haggis-crumble.1421938846 Herald Scotland: Braised Beef Cheeks with Haggis Crumble]. An example of the use of haggis as an ingredient</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.macsween.co.uk/us|title=Macsween &#124; US|website=www.macsween.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Ranscombe|first=Peter|title=Scots sell focaccia to Italy – and haggis pizzas to Burns revellers|url=http://www.scotsman.com/scotland-on-sunday/business/scots-sell-focaccia-to-italy-and-haggis-pizzas-to-burns-revellers-1-2070682|newspaper=Scotland on Sunday|date=2012-01-22}}</ref>

A traditional haggis recipe describes haggis as "sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver, and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally encased in the animal's stomach and boiled". Ingredients are sheep stomach, heart and lungs of one lamb, onions, oatmeal, salt, pepper, stock, and water, with optional ingredients dried coriander, cinnamon, and nutmeg. It can be boiled, baked, or deep fried.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.obanargyll.com/haggis-recipe.html|title=Haggis recipe & ingredients}}</ref>

In the north-east of Scotland, from Aberdeen northwards, in addition to the customary neeps and tatties, haggis is commonly served with [[Mince (dish)|mince]].<ref>{{Cite episode|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000dq47|station=BBC Radio Scotland|series=Out of Doors|title=A Robert Burns Special|credits=Presenters: Euan McIlwraith, Mark Stephen|date= 25 January 2020| minutes = 27:54}}</ref>

===Vegetarian===
[[vegetarianism|Vegetarian]] haggis was first available commercially in 1984, and now can account for between 25% and 40% of haggis sales.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/food-and-drink/features/best-vegetarian-vegan-haggis-burns-night-2020/|title=The best vegan and vegetarian haggis for Burns Night|first=Pip|last=Sloan|newspaper=The Telegraph |date=January 24, 2020|via=www.telegraph.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/uk-news/vegetarian-haggis-sales-soar-ahead-burns-night-147538|title=Vegetarian haggis sales soar ahead of Burns Night|website=www.scotsman.com}}</ref>  It substitutes various [[pulse (legume)|pulses]], [[nut (fruit)|nuts]] and vegetables for the meat. [[Oats]] and [[barley]] may be included as may different types of [[lentil]]s, [[split pea]]s, [[adzuki bean]]s, [[kidney bean]]s, [[borlotti bean]]s, [[peanut]]s, other nuts and [[Edible mushroom|mushrooms]], [[onion]]s, and [[carrot]]s.<ref>''[[The Guardian]]'' (London) 22.01.2015 [https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2015/jan/22/how-to-cook-perfect-vegetarian-haggis How to cook the perfect vegetarian haggis]</ref>

==Outside Scotland==
Haggis remains popular with Scottish immigrants in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, owing to the strong influence of Scottish culture, especially for [[Burns Suppers]]. It can be made in any country, but is sometimes imported from Scotland.{{fact|date=January 2025}}

=== Legality ===
In 1971, it became illegal to import haggis into the US from the UK due to a ban on food containing sheep lung, which constitutes 10–15% of the traditional recipe.<ref name=USABAN>{{cite news|title=US not ready to lift ban on Scottish haggis|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8480795.stm|work=BBC News|date=2010-01-26|access-date=2011-01-19}}</ref> The ban encompasses all lungs, as fluids such as stomach acid and [[phlegm]] may enter the lung during slaughter.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-usda-doesnt-want-us-to-eat-lungs/ |title = The USDA Doesn't Want Us to Eat Lungs|date = 2014-07-03}}</ref> The situation was further complicated in 1989 when all UK beef and lamb was banned from importation to the US due to a [[Bovine spongiform encephalopathy|BSE]] crisis.<ref name=USABAN/> The ban on importing British lamb to the US was lifted in 2022 but the ban on food containing sheep lung remained in force.<ref>{{cite news|title=British lamb shipped to America for first time in over two decades|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/british-lamb-shipped-to-america-for-first-time-in-over-two-decades|date=2022-10-08|access-date=2024-04-11}}</ref><ref name=USABAN/> 

As haggis cannot be exported to the United States, it is instead made there, sometimes by Scottish companies. In one such use, which is stated to be otherwise the same 150-year-old recipe having the same ingredients as in Scotland, sheep lung is not used and the casing is artificial rather than stomach.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scottishhaggis.com/index.php/frequently-asked-questions/|title=Frequently Asked Questions – McKeans – Buy Scottish Haggis Online}}</ref>

==See also==
{{portal|Food|Scotland}}
{{Div col|colwidth=22em}}
<!-- please do not make arbitrary inclusions below from the numerous potential vaguely-related meat puddings/sausages across the world, unless there is a significant and evident close connection -->
*[[Balmoral chicken]]
*[[Black pudding]]
*[[Haggis hurling]]
*[[List of sausages]]
*[[Skirlie]]
*[[White pudding]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
;Notes
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wiktionary|haggis}}
{{Commons category}}
{{Cookbook|Haggis}}
{{Wikisource|Address to a Haggis}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070706200245/http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_17236,00.html Alton Brown's Haggis Recipe]
*[https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/nov/27/travelnews.travel Belief in the Wild Haggis]
*[http://www.scotland.org/culture/festivals/burns-night/burns-supper-guide/ How to cook the perfect Burns supper at scotland.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414110737/http://www.scotland.org/culture/festivals/burns-night/burns-supper-guide/ |date=2012-04-14 }}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100414004246/http://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/39042/haggis-hail-to-thee Haggis, Hail to Thee!]- slideshow by ''[[Life magazine]]''
*[https://www.foodsofengland.info/haggis.html Haggis at The Foods Of England] 
* {{YouTube|vIHQj4IDM7k|Address to a Haggis in French}}

{{Scottish cuisine}}
{{Puddings}}
{{Sausage}}
{{Meat}}

[[Category:Haggis| ]]
[[Category:British puddings]]
[[Category:Offal dishes]]
[[Category:Meat dishes]]
[[Category:Scottish cuisine]]
[[Category:Scottish sausages]]
[[Category:Savory puddings]]
[[Category:National dishes]]
[[Category:Meat and grain sausages]]
[[Category:Precooked sausages]]