Lodge St. Andrew #518

So what is a haggis..?

It is a dish containing sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally simmered in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours.

There is a bit of contreversay surrounding the origins of haggis, whilst it is assumed to be of Scottish origin the earliest known written recipe in 1430 was actually in Lancashire, North West England.

The first written Scottish reference wasn't until 90 years later, in 1520, in William Dunbar's poem "Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy".

Nearly 100 years later back in England in 1615 there is a recipe in “The English Huswife” by Gervase Markham.

Robert Burns famous "Address to Haggis" was first published in 1786.

The exact origins are lost in the mists of time, although a similar dish was served at the coronation of King Louis II in Troyes, France in 878, and there are records of the Ancient Romans making similar dishes.

Although widely available now from most butcher's in Scotland and stocked by most supermarkets haggis has endured through the ages from its humble start as a popular dish for the poor, as it was very cheap, being made from leftover, otherwise thrown away, parts of a sheep (the most common livestock in Scotland), yet nourishing, to now being known as the National Dish of Scotland.

So contrary to popular belief a "Haggis" is not a small Scottish animal with one set of legs longer than the other so that it can stand on the steep Scottish Highlands without falling over.