That's a good answer to the question, but now to the next: does a good haggis exist outside the realms of fiction. And a third: if so, where can it be found? A haggis is in the same area of cookery as a terrine and all its cousins. In touring France, we've come across many good terrines and only a couple we'd describe ås bad. We've yet to come across a good haggis - but perhaps it's our expectation of what a good haggis should be thats at fault.
That's a good answer to the question, but now to the next: does a good haggis exist outside the realms of fiction. And a third: if so, where can it be found? A haggis is in the same area of cookery as a terrine and all its cousins. In touring France, we've come across many good terrines and only a couple we'd describe ås bad. We've yet to come across a good haggis - but perhaps it's our expectation of what a good haggis should be thats at fault.
I've never had a bad one. In what way are you thinking it in any way resembles a terrine? What are you expecting?
Currently the best mass-produced haggis are probably McSween's and Simon Howie's, though I would say both - based on several decades of sampling - are blander than they used to be.
So my yardstick is probably a 1980s McSween - not too dry and very markedly peppery.
As @KarlLB says, what are you judging the haggis by?
My brother and sister-in-law are coming to stay for a few days all of which will probably be over 25C. I'm OK with recipes for cold weather, but not so good for hot.
I'm after salads and dressing recipes/combinations that are simple and easy to do. The only vegetales off the menu are cucumber and artichokes.
I'm not so keen on creamy/mayo type salad dressings, so prefer to make my own.
My vinaigrette is -
Salt
Black pepper
Dijon mustard
Sugar
Balsamic vinegar
Olive oil
(Proportions to taste: mine is 1:2 vinegar/oil)
This can be made lighter by substituting lemon juice and walnut oil - plus add walnut halves to the salad leaves.
Keep the salt, pepper, oil and vinegar and add a tbsp of ketchup and a good few dashes of Tabasco (or other hot sauce) and dress potatoes while they're still warm.
For a really simple but zingy dressing for anything with avocado - fresh lime juice, sugar and shop bought sweet chilli sauce.
Pretty well anything is saladable in my book - all lettuce and lettuce-adjacent leaves, peppers, tomatoes, shallots, scallions, fresh peas, mange tout and sugar snap that have been given the minimal amount of cooking (1 min in microwave), new potatoes, home-cooked beetroot, shredded carrot, celery (de-string), apples, pears. Additional scatters - walnuts as mentioned, feta, blue cheese, crispy bacon, croutons fried in the bacon fat.
Crush a chopped clove or two of garlic in a mortar with a good pinch of salt, then add a splash or two of lemon juice and a generous grind of pepper. Add a few tablespoons of mayo and mix well, adding chopped chives or spring onions.
Dress the boiled potatoes while they're still warm, then cool and refrigerate until needed.
That's a good answer to the question, but now to the next: does a good haggis exist outside the realms of fiction. And a third: if so, where can it be found? A haggis is in the same area of cookery as a terrine and all its cousins. In touring France, we've come across many good terrines and only a couple we'd describe ås bad. We've yet to come across a good haggis - but perhaps it's our expectation of what a good haggis should be thats at fault.
I've never had a bad one. In what way are you thinking it in any way resembles a terrine? What are you expecting?
The similarity is that both consist of chopped diced or minced meat (although that meat in the case of haggis is such bits of the beast as lungs, brains and other bits often discarded) mixed with seasonings and onions, stuffed into a casing and cooked. I'm expecting something enjoyable to eat, as have been almost all terrines have been for us.
Why don't you just say that you don't like haggis and be done with it? You don't have to like it - some people don't. It is not a terrine, so the comparison has limited value.
That's a good answer to the question, but now to the next: does a good haggis exist outside the realms of fiction. And a third: if so, where can it be found? A haggis is in the same area of cookery as a terrine and all its cousins. In touring France, we've come across many good terrines and only a couple we'd describe ås bad. We've yet to come across a good haggis - but perhaps it's our expectation of what a good haggis should be thats at fault.
I've never had a bad one. In what way are you thinking it in any way resembles a terrine? What are you expecting?
The similarity is that both consist of chopped diced or minced meat (although that meat in the case of haggis is such bits of the beast as lungs, brains and other bits often discarded) mixed with seasonings and onions, stuffed into a casing and cooked. I'm expecting something enjoyable to eat, as have been almost all terrines have been for us.
Thing about a terrine is it's moulded and holds its shape. Haggis isn't and doesn't. Are we meaning the same thing by "Terrine" here?
Why don't you just say that you don't like haggis and be done with it? You don't have to like it - some people don't. It is not a terrine, so the comparison has limited value.
I have not said that it was a terrine.
A couple of years ago, we spent a month in the Western Highlands. Eating lunch out almost every day, we tried to sample plenty of haggises thinking we were in the right place to do that.
Why don't you just say that you don't like haggis and be done with it? You don't have to like it - some people don't. It is not a terrine, so the comparison has limited value.
I have not said that it was a terrine.
A couple of years ago, we spent a month in the Western Highlands. Eating lunch out almost every day, we tried to sample plenty of haggises thinking we were in the right place to do that.
You probably were. Perhaps you don't like haggis. Some people don't.
I've recently come to the conclusion, incidentally, that people's sense of taste is vary variable - just like vision.
For example, I can't taste anything in cream. It's just blank flavourwise. This can't be universal as otherwise it wouldn't be as popular as it is. But it's a mystery to me.
I think of haggis as being something like a large faggot, but with the addition of oatmeal. With more seasoning too, as the only haggis I have eaten was too highly seasoned for my palate (bought in an Essex supermarket, so possibly not the best example). I have the same seasoning problem with Scotch pies.
I expect people who don't like haggis are not that keen on faggots either.
I think of haggis as being something like a large faggot, but with the addition of oatmeal. With more seasoning too, as the only haggis I have eaten was too highly seasoned for my palate (bought in an Essex supermarket, so possibly not the best example). I have the same seasoning problem with Scotch pies.
I expect people who don't like haggis are not that keen on faggots either.
I have learned a new meaning of the word “faggot”—one that almost certainly couldn’t be used in the US—as well as a food I’m unfamiliar with.
As far as that goes, I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a terrine; another unknown food where I live, at least as such. Some sources tell me that livermush is kin to terrine and pâté. (Terrine doesn’t sound the least bit appetizing to me, I must confess.)
True, traditional haggis cannot be sold in the US, as the US Dept. of Agriculture prohibits the sale of lungs for food. So haggis sold here is lungless unless homemade from an animal that wasn’t bought. A friend from church was making venison haggis last week; I haven’t heard how it turned out.
@Gee D terrines aren't stuffed into a casing but poured/packed into a dish to be baked (or sometimes wrapped in pastry). I'm also someone who is puzzled by the comparison. Haggis has a much drier texture due to the oatmeal and is more comparable to a crumbly stuffing, or in US terms to a looser textured scrapple or goetta. You don't eat the haggis casing so you only eat the crumbly filling.
@Nick Tamen personally I wouldn't say that faggots in this sense and haggis were similar in terms of texture. Faggots here are a Welsh and English Midlands dish made from liver, pork meat, and usually bacon made into large meatballs and wrapped in caul fat before cooking. Where I am from you usually eat them in a roll with mushy peas (they are popular from fish and chip shops this way) or with mashed potatoes and gravy.
I had always wanted to try haggis, and had my opportunity when some friends and I were in Berwick-upon-Tweed. We had dinner in a nice restaurant near where we were staying and haggis came with the meal of one person in our group. He asked if anyone would like his portion since he had no intention of eating it. I took it and was pleased to find it tasted like a strong meatloaf. If we could have had a place to keep leftovers, I would have made a sandwich with the cold leftover haggis and mustard the next day!
(That's how I like cold meatloaf sandwiches!)
@jedijudy is right, haggis is texturally very much like meatloaf. Judy apart, I don't think anyone would eat it cold though, whereas it's essential to terrine that it is, since it's the setting and gelling together of the various ingredients that makes it.
Thanks for the additional descriptions, @Pomona. Is the liver in faggots pork liver or some other kind of liver? Pork liver would make it sound similar to livermush, though livermush is typically sliced and pan-fried.
Thanks for the additional descriptions, @Pomona. Is the liver in faggots pork liver or some other kind of liver? Pork liver would make it sound similar to livermush, though livermush is typically sliced and pan-fried.
Yes, pork liver - the texture varies between looser, more meatloaf-y types and tighter more sausage-y types, but it isn't as liver-heavy as livermush or liver sausage. It's mostly pork, just with liver added along with more typical meatball/meatloaf ingredients.
@Gee D terrines aren't stuffed into a casing but poured/packed into a dish to be baked (or sometimes wrapped in pastry). I'm also someone who is puzzled by the comparison. Haggis has a much drier texture due to the oatmeal and is more comparable to a crumbly stuffing, or in US terms to a looser textured scrapple or goetta. You don't eat the haggis casing so you only eat the crumbly filling.
I know very well what a terrine is, thank you, and don't know how many I've made - let alone eaten - in my life. As to being stuffed into a casing: a galantine is first cousin to a terrine. I see real similarities between terrines, galantines and haggises and have trouble understanding why others have difficulties.
I think the similarity - diced or minced ingredients reformed by the agency of casing or setting - is outweighed, for me at any rate, by texture, taste and temperature.
A scoop of hot haggis and a slice of cold terrine don't occupy the same food kinship to me.
I think the similarity - diced or minced ingredients reformed by the agency of casing or setting - is outweighed, for me at any rate, by texture, taste and temperature.
A scoop of hot haggis and a slice of cold terrine don't occupy the same food kinship to me.
That and the fact that when served Haggis doesn't maintain the shape imposed by the casing. It's too loose and neither sticky nor set.
@Gee D terrines aren't stuffed into a casing but poured/packed into a dish to be baked (or sometimes wrapped in pastry). I'm also someone who is puzzled by the comparison. Haggis has a much drier texture due to the oatmeal and is more comparable to a crumbly stuffing, or in US terms to a looser textured scrapple or goetta. You don't eat the haggis casing so you only eat the crumbly filling.
I know very well what a terrine is, thank you, and don't know how many I've made - let alone eaten - in my life. As to being stuffed into a casing: a galantine is first cousin to a terrine. I see real similarities between terrines, galantines and haggises and have trouble understanding why others have difficulties.
I literally outlined the significant differences in my comment which include things like texture and the ingredients involved, not just having a casing involved.
If everyone else is saying that terrines and haggises aren't similar then perhaps they are in fact not similar.
When we lived in Canada, I decided to try my hand at making haggis, and after a spot of googling found a recipe for "Americanised" haggis. It was a mixture of minced lamb, lamb liver (or chicken liver - lamb liver was rather hard to come by), onion, oatmeal, herbs, spices and a dash of whisky, bound together with an egg. No squeamish-making offally bits!
You whizzed it in a food processor and baked it in a loaf tin like a meatloaf, and broke it up with a fork on the serving dish.
It maybe wasn't quite up to Mr MacSween's standard, but served with David's clapshot it was really rather good.
Rainy day here today so good time to go over old family recipes. Most I would not use but they sure are fun to read. One that is simply signed N says, Today is raining and cold. N's recipe is for meatballs and tomato sauce it reads, "You may like more or less salt and sugar, the same goes for water, you will have to work it out for yourself. Cover with half lid cause this is going to splatter and make a mess. " Another is called, "Sassy Chicken." My favorite name so far is " Italian Egg Foo Young." LOL
Does anyone have a recipe for a meat-free breakfast casserole made with mushrooms? I tasted one at a potluck, but I couldn't locate the person who had brought it
A very easy and tasty recipe, given to me by an Australian friend yonks ago. I hadn't made it for ages but resurrected it last night upon finding half-price organic chicken in the fridge with the reduced stuff with short dates.
Cut your chicken in chunks and brown it in a deep frying pan with some olive oil. Add about half a packet of instant onion soup powder, some apricot nectar and a handful of dried apricots. Put on a lid and simmer until the chicken's cooked and the apricots are soft.
My friend used to serve it with rice, I used boulghour wheat.
Comments
I've never had a bad one. In what way are you thinking it in any way resembles a terrine? What are you expecting?
So my yardstick is probably a 1980s McSween - not too dry and very markedly peppery.
As @KarlLB says, what are you judging the haggis by?
I'm after salads and dressing recipes/combinations that are simple and easy to do. The only vegetales off the menu are cucumber and artichokes.
I would be grateful for any help. Thanks.
My vinaigrette is -
Salt
Black pepper
Dijon mustard
Sugar
Balsamic vinegar
Olive oil
(Proportions to taste: mine is 1:2 vinegar/oil)
This can be made lighter by substituting lemon juice and walnut oil - plus add walnut halves to the salad leaves.
Keep the salt, pepper, oil and vinegar and add a tbsp of ketchup and a good few dashes of Tabasco (or other hot sauce) and dress potatoes while they're still warm.
For a really simple but zingy dressing for anything with avocado - fresh lime juice, sugar and shop bought sweet chilli sauce.
Pretty well anything is saladable in my book - all lettuce and lettuce-adjacent leaves, peppers, tomatoes, shallots, scallions, fresh peas, mange tout and sugar snap that have been given the minimal amount of cooking (1 min in microwave), new potatoes, home-cooked beetroot, shredded carrot, celery (de-string), apples, pears. Additional scatters - walnuts as mentioned, feta, blue cheese, crispy bacon, croutons fried in the bacon fat.
I'm getting salad cravings.
Crush a chopped clove or two of garlic in a mortar with a good pinch of salt, then add a splash or two of lemon juice and a generous grind of pepper. Add a few tablespoons of mayo and mix well, adding chopped chives or spring onions.
Dress the boiled potatoes while they're still warm, then cool and refrigerate until needed.
The similarity is that both consist of chopped diced or minced meat (although that meat in the case of haggis is such bits of the beast as lungs, brains and other bits often discarded) mixed with seasonings and onions, stuffed into a casing and cooked. I'm expecting something enjoyable to eat, as have been almost all terrines have been for us.
Thing about a terrine is it's moulded and holds its shape. Haggis isn't and doesn't. Are we meaning the same thing by "Terrine" here?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrine_(food)
I have not said that it was a terrine.
A couple of years ago, we spent a month in the Western Highlands. Eating lunch out almost every day, we tried to sample plenty of haggises thinking we were in the right place to do that.
You probably were. Perhaps you don't like haggis. Some people don't.
For example, I can't taste anything in cream. It's just blank flavourwise. This can't be universal as otherwise it wouldn't be as popular as it is. But it's a mystery to me.
I expect people who don't like haggis are not that keen on faggots either.
As far as that goes, I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a terrine; another unknown food where I live, at least as such. Some sources tell me that livermush is kin to terrine and pâté. (Terrine doesn’t sound the least bit appetizing to me, I must confess.)
True, traditional haggis cannot be sold in the US, as the US Dept. of Agriculture prohibits the sale of lungs for food. So haggis sold here is lungless unless homemade from an animal that wasn’t bought. A friend from church was making venison haggis last week; I haven’t heard how it turned out.
(That's how I like cold meatloaf sandwiches!)
@jedijudy is right, haggis is texturally very much like meatloaf. Judy apart, I don't think anyone would eat it cold though, whereas it's essential to terrine that it is, since it's the setting and gelling together of the various ingredients that makes it.
Yes, pork liver - the texture varies between looser, more meatloaf-y types and tighter more sausage-y types, but it isn't as liver-heavy as livermush or liver sausage. It's mostly pork, just with liver added along with more typical meatball/meatloaf ingredients.
(And I’m impressed you’re familiar with livermush.)
I know very well what a terrine is, thank you, and don't know how many I've made - let alone eaten - in my life. As to being stuffed into a casing: a galantine is first cousin to a terrine. I see real similarities between terrines, galantines and haggises and have trouble understanding why others have difficulties.
A scoop of hot haggis and a slice of cold terrine don't occupy the same food kinship to me.
That and the fact that when served Haggis doesn't maintain the shape imposed by the casing. It's too loose and neither sticky nor set.
I literally outlined the significant differences in my comment which include things like texture and the ingredients involved, not just having a casing involved.
If everyone else is saying that terrines and haggises aren't similar then perhaps they are in fact not similar.
You whizzed it in a food processor and baked it in a loaf tin like a meatloaf, and broke it up with a fork on the serving dish.
It maybe wasn't quite up to Mr MacSween's standard, but served with David's clapshot it was really rather good.
Cut your chicken in chunks and brown it in a deep frying pan with some olive oil. Add about half a packet of instant onion soup powder, some apricot nectar and a handful of dried apricots. Put on a lid and simmer until the chicken's cooked and the apricots are soft.
My friend used to serve it with rice, I used boulghour wheat.
Quick, easy and delicious.
Instead of. Very good to serve those on a weight-loss diet as the carpet took away the wish to eat very much.