It’s coming up to that time of the year again – Burns Night, and the maker of my favourite vegetarian haggis seems to have given up making them, I can only find their normal haggis in the supermarkets. I tried another maker and it was not a good experience, it had red kidney beans in it and they were really hard – a bit of a worry as they didn’t seem to have cooked.
I intended making up my own recipe but in today’s Guardian I spotted a recipe for vegetarian haggis and it’s more or less what I was going to do anyway, although I must admit that I wouldn’t have thought of putting black treacle into it.
Anyway, if you are also looking for a vegetarian haggis recipe, have a look here.
In the accompanying article Felicity Cloake says that the main flavour in haggis is offal, I don’t agree, in any haggis I have had the main flavour has been the pepper/spices. That’s why I decided long ago to stick to the veggie type as the flavour is very similar and you don’t feel squeamish at the thought of what is inside it!
I had to look up Burns Night. I had an inkling of what it was right before the search results loaded. A holiday for a poet! That’s awesome. Is it widely celebrated in Scotland?
Christy,
It’s widely celebrated everywhere, even in Russia! I think you will find Robert Burns Societies in every large city, especially in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Australia but there are plenty in the US too. http://www.rbana.com/ As well as eating haggis, turnip and potatoes a lot of whisky is drunk but they also have Burns poetry recitations and usually songs sung too.
I texted my co-worker / friend who is half Scottish (on her mom’s side) and she did say that when she was younger, she and her sister would perform highland dancing at the Burns Suppers. She says the organized Burns Suppers in our area (Washington D.C.) are exclusive and/or pricey. She’s thought about holding her own but has never actually followed through.
Christy,
The ‘professional’ ones tend to be boozy and sometimes a bit elitist affairs with a lot of men drinking whisky. I enjoyed the ones we had when I was a schoolgirl – food, Irn Bru to drink and the usual poetry and songs. For some reason we didn’t have highland dancing although I could have performed for them!
Isn’t it frustrating when you can’t buy a product you like? I just said to Jack the other day that I think my grocery store looks at my receipts and drops all the things I really like. I hope your new haggis recipe is tasty.
Happy Burns Night!
Joan,
It’s a foregone conclusion that everything we like will end up being dropped, we are always moaning about it. I suppose it means that anything we like doesn’t sell well enough for their liking.
Veggie Haggis can only be found in posh supermarkets in the south. Although at work someone wanted a gluten free one – that would have just been a pile of vegetables?! They got soup instead.
Jo,
I’m quite surprised that you can get haggis at all, I remember when people had to get them sent from Scotland for their Burns Suppers! It has become a bit of a fashion fad with a lot of people – gluten free food – but my sister is coeliac so I find it quite annoying when people just decide for themselves that they need gluten free food.