Scots ask US to lift haggis ban

The BBC ^ | January 20, 2008

[Stoat]

Scots ask US to lift haggis ban

 

Haggis, traditionally eaten on Burns night, is banned in the US

The Scottish Government is considering asking the United States to rethink its ban on haggis imports.

Imports of Scotland's iconic dish were banned by the US in 1989 in the wake of the BSE scare because it contains offal ingredients such as sheep lungs.

Only an offal-free version of haggis is available in the US.

The move would be backed by renowned haggis maker Macsween, which believes the American market could be a very lucrative one.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said it "will consider engaging the US government on its haggis export ban, if there is popular support for such a move from within our world famous haggis producers".

Expat Scots

Jo Macsween, a co-director of family company Macsween, said she hoped to see the ban overturned.

"The market is massive because there are so many expat Scots there and once Americans try a good quality haggis, they can't get enough of it," she added.

The dish, traditionally served with tatties and neeps on Burns' night, usually contains a sheeps lungs, liver and heart minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices and salt mixed with stock.

It is then boiled in the animal's stomach for around three hours.

A spokesman for the US Department of Agriculture said: "We do not allow importation because of the UK's BSE status."

We see no reason at all why people cannot eat haggis safely, so long as manufacturers follow hygiene legislation   Food Standards Agency

"Sheep are susceptible to TSE's and thus the US takes precautions on importing those ruminants from BSE-affected countries."

However, a spokesman for Britain's Food Standards Agency said: "We see no reason at all why people cannot eat haggis safely, so long as manufacturers follow hygiene legislation.

"We have the strictest BSE controls in the world."

[Stoat]

A Scottish Family Business MacSween Haggis

BBC - Burns Night - Homepage

[Gman]

Hoot Mon!!!

Neeps & Tatties!!! MMMMmmm!!!

[squidly]

traditionally served with tatties and neeps on Burns' night Anybody wanna fill me in here, I'd appreciate it.

[Stoat]

Haggis Ping

[Grizzled Bear]

Turnips and Potatoes.

[Grizzled Bear]

Oh, and a wee dram of whiskey!

[Jewels1091]

anything that has sheep lungs in it is not the food line i want to be in!

[alice_in_bubbaland]

I’ll stick to the meat (pork) & steak pies! Stewart’s Bakery in Kearney, NJ makes the best!

[Drew68]

Anybody wanna fill me in here, I'd appreciate it.

Tatties are mashed potatoes and neeps are turnips. Don't know about Burns' Night.

[Dustbunny]

anything that has sheep lungs in it is not the food line i want to be in!

Ditto to that !!!

[alice_in_bubbaland]

Happy Haggis Day!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PivMvR2ExwI

[hometoroost]

"Only an offal-free version of haggis is available in the US."

Ah yes, I can see the ads now - Haggis it offal good!

[Stoat]

traditionally served with tatties and neeps on Burns' night Anybody wanna fill me in here, I'd appreciate it.

BBC - Burns Night - Recipes

Haggis, neeps and tatties
Haggis
A one kilogram haggis should be boiled in a large pot for approximately 20 minutes. For larger sizes, consult the label for boiling time. Vegetarians should look out for the many variations of vegetarian haggis.

Neeps
4 large turnips
50g butter
2 teaspoons caster sugar
1 teaspoon salt
Peel and quarter the turnips. Boil for 25 minutes or until soft. Drain and mash, adding the butter, sugar and salt.

Tatties
6 large Maris Piper potatoes
70 g butter
milk
salt and pepper
Peel and quarter the potatoes. Boil for 20 minutes or until soft. Drain and mash. Scold the milk by bringing it to the boil. Remove from the heat and add the butter. Add the milk mixture to the mash until preferred consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Cranachan
6 heaped tablespoons porridge oats
3 tablespoons honey
1.5 pints of double cream
150g raspberries
2 teaspoons caster sugar
Cover a baking tray with parchment. Preheat oven to 160°C. Mix the honey and oatmeal thoroughly, spread the mixture on the parchment into 10 thin round shapes. Cook for 10-20 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool. These will become wafer like when cold. Whip the cream and sugar together, add the raspberries and two of the wafers broken up. Gently stir the mixture to create a marble effect. Spoon into a cold bowl or glass dish and place a wafer on top.

Bannocks
2 cups of porridge oats
1 cup of flour
2 pinches of salt
butter or margarine
half a cup of boiling water
Pre-heat your oven to 200°C. Take a bowl and mix together the dry ingredients (you can add an optional pinch of soda bicarbonate to make them rise a little). Using a knife, cut three-quarters of a cup of butter or margarine through the dry ingredients until it looks like coarse bread crumbs. Add the boiling water and mix thoroughly until it forms a dough. Take a rolling pin and roll the dough into a thin sheet. Cut the dough into small round sections (about 7cm across) and place on a greased baking tray. Finally, cook your portions in the preheated oven for around 10 minutes.

[A knight without armor]

“Don’t know about Burns’ Night.”

Me neither but I am imagining cold haggis sandwiches the next day.

[Dagnabitt]

When haggis don’t have offal, the terrorists win.

[Hegemony Cricket]

I’ve never had Haggis, but I have to wonder if the main objection is that you know what’s in it. I mean - do you eat hotdogs?

[alice_in_bubbaland]

Burns Night: the celebration of Robert Burns birthday...or just an excuse to eat Haggis. :)

[Stoat]

Don't know about Burns' Night.

BBC - Burns Night - Homepage

Robert Burns: poet, balladeer and Scotland's favourite son. Each year on January 25, the great man's presumed birthday, Scots everywhere take time out to honour a national icon. Whether it's a full-blown Burns Supper or a quiet night of reading poetry, Burns Night is a night for all Scots.

 

[NVDave]

Tatties - potatoes cut up and then mashed with milk and butter. Sometimes spices are added.

Neeps - Swede (a green leafy vegetable that grows in cold climes - from the turnip family - turnip greens come in all sorts) with salt and pepper.

I’ve seen other sorts of tatties that are spuds cut into eights and allowed to fry in about 1/2” of oil, seasoned to taste.

The thing to remember about Scottish cuisine: there’s a reason you don’t see “Scottish Restaurants” in the phone book, despite the number of Scots ex-pats who have come to the US over the last 250+ years: most Scottish cuisine is very poor fare. The Highlanders were a poor and persecuted people, and their food was more or less than what was left over. Traditional haggis is but one example of this: offal, oats and spices, served up in a sheeps stomach.

You’re not about to see that served up on the Food Network by any of their shiney-happy-people chefs.

Even malt whisky is the result of poverty. Most people don’t know this, but the Scots used to drink ale, not whisky, as their national drink.

Then the English levied a malt tax on all products made from malted grains - by volume. You pay more tax on beer than whisky and so the nation of Scotland became moonshiners up in the hollows and glens. US moonshiners in the south have as their heritage the Scottish tax avoidance of the malt tax - US moonshiners just use corn instead of barley as their feedstock. Anyway, you get the idea — the Scots were poor, they weren’t about to pay a tax on their booze, so they went to whisky as a means of avoiding the malt tax and the rest, as they say, is history.

[Rudder]

Imported Haggis in a tin can sounds almost as yummy as old shoe filled with cat shit.