The Tasting of the Haggis

A few months ago, I inherited two cans of authentic Scottish haggis from a colleague. Just in case the word “haggis” isn’t enough to tell you just how special this event was, let me review the ingredients list: lamb lungs, beef suet, and oatmeal. My husband and I have been bragging that we’d taste that haggis one of these days, but somehow, when we looked at that can, we never quite managed to live up to our bravado.

Last weekend, though, our cupboard was really bare. Basketball Girl suggested that maybe we should eat the haggis. Long pause. “Why not!” my husband said bravely, and armed himself with the can opener. For anyone who’s thinking about taking the plunge (method works for Spam as well), here’s a step-by-step guide to making a delicious haggis meal.

1. Slide that baby out of the can. Don’t worry, it’s supposed to look like badly decayed dog food. Yum!

Mmm, smells delicious too!

2.  Warm it up in a frying pan. Don’t worry too much if it starts to smoke and burn to a crisp. That just adds depth to the blend of lung, fat, and oatmeal flavors.

3.  Add a few condiments — barbecue sauce, a pat of brie cheese, whatever. It’s really hard to improve on the native haggis flavor.

4. Enjoy! There’s nothing quite like a plate of good old haggis to get your day off to the right start.