Posted on 01/20/2008 9:33:32 AM PST by Stoat
*snfff* Thanks.
As if we needed anymore after yesterday!
All the better to purge out those wee bits o' haggis.
Only an offal-free version of haggis is available in the US.
I'm guessing that for a Scotsman, an offal-free haggis is not the same thing and for some could be considered an Insult To Scotland much like a Fourth of July without fireworks would be to us here in the USA.
You're quite welcome :-)
All of our olfactory senses, passages and orifices need to be in perfect working order for Burns Night :-)
I still consider that lutefish is the worst, sorry I ever asked what it was. To confirm this I would have to Google ‘balut’, and I frankly don’t care to look.
My ancestors on both sides are about 95% Scottish. The only two I have found who aren't are Irish. Although I love much of Scottish culture such as bagpipes, I will admit Scottish food doesn't appeal to me.
Balut is an 18 day old incubated duck egg. The Philipinos eat them like crazy. Peel the shell, add salt and vinegar, and eat it all, even the feathers and the head. Type in balut in youtube and you can see videos of people trying to eat it.
When I visited Edinburgh a few years ago I saw a blatant attempt to win American tourists over to haggis. A stand on the Royal Mile was selling haggis burgers. Sorry, no sale. I had a fine non-haggis lunch at the World’s End pub instead.
More information than I really wanted, though it sounds a bit like the Chinese ‘Thousand year Old Eggs’, a hyperbolic name.
One of the members of the pipe band I’m in always brings flour tortillas to Burns Nicht.
Haggis fajitas, mmmmmmmmmmm...
Haggis in America!!! Great Scot!
Tatties are mashed potatoes. Neeps are turnips. Burns night is a celebration of the poet Robert Burns.
I had eaten Haggis loads of times and thought it was excellent. Then I found out what it was made of and never ate it again.
;)
My ship (Navy, 1985-1991) went to the Philippines a number of times in the late 1980s. We called balut "the egg with legs"....
From http://www.deependdining.com/2005/09/balut-egg-of-darkness-pinoy-pinay.html
Balut is the culinary heart of darkness. If you eat it, you have reservations about doing so. If you know about it, you have strong opinions regarding it. Ask for it in a restaurant and the clerk will visibly react. Devour it at a table with others who arent eating it and youre guaranteed to dine solo. Explain balut to the uninitiated and be prepared for your audience to run away from you as quickly as possible while seeking sanctuary in something comforting like a Ding Dong. I know all this because Ive had these things happen to me whenever balut is present, physically or conversationally. I have struggled and continue to struggle with eating balut. Superman has his kryptonite and I have balut. It is probably one of the (if not THE) exotic foods I fear most. In fact, I have been putting off reviewing balut for almost a year now for this reason. Why am I so freaked out by balut? Well, how much time do you have? For starters, balut will haunt you after you ingest it. It stays with you forever. Im not suggesting that I believe in the ghost stories about being possessed after eating balut. Im speaking more to the traumatic imprinting that might occur when you consume this culturally complex cuisine. Even when I try hard not to think about what Im eating, somewhere in the dark recesses of my mind Im aware that Im eating a fetus, life that is yet to be, something unborn, taboo food. Also, this awareness has nothing to do with political-religious beliefs. It is simply the unappealing idea of eating a fetus.
Other entries on my Top 10 list include Casu Marzu, Baby mice wine, Rocky Mountain oysters, and any kind of brain.
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Och aye. We have to cross over into CND (C-eh N-eh D-eh) to get haggis here. Burns' Night coming up, time to warm up those pipes...
...I will admit that, a few weeks ago, I tried St. Andrews cheese for the first time. It was one of the most delicious cheeses I ever tasted.
Somehow I don't see McHaggis replacing Chicken McNuggets in the Happy Meal.
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