Balthazar Moderator
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#28 · Posted: 30 May 2007 16:07
Different butchers' haggises certainly vary coinsiderably from one another in taste and texture, but I think these differences are more down to each butchers' personal prefrerences and recipes, rather than any particular regional trends across Scotland. (I could be wrong though. I'm not sure if anyone has ever done a study across the country.)
Traditionally every town butcher would produce his own haggis, but these days many haggises are manufactured on a larger scale. Some of these mass-produced ones are a bit industrial, and sometimes have a plastic covering rather than a real sheep's stomach for the bag. Of the mass produced brands, MacSweens is the best. They've kind of cornered the mass-haggis market, and you can get them everywhere, but I think they started as a small traditional haggis maker and their haggises are as good as most butchers' ones - very tasty, good texture and still made with real stomach bags.
What most people would agree on is that a haggis tastes a bit better baked in an oven than boiled in a pan of water, though either way works fine. (You can't bake the plastic covered ones, though.)
Traditionally, Haggis is served with mashed potatoes and mashed neeps (yellow "swede" turnips), which is very nice. But you can also get haggis battered and deep-fried, and served with chips (fries), from any Scottish fish-and-chip shop. If you're hungry enough, this combination is excellent (though admittedly even less healthy).
In a fish-and-chip shop, there are regional differences (though not haggis-related), with Glasgow customers (Glaswegians) preferring vinegar on their chips, and Edinburghers preferring brown sauce. Not sure what they prefer in Inverness. I prefer just salt, personally. But this is another subject and we wouldn't want to go off-topic, would we?
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