"Fair Fa' yer honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the puddin' race;
Abune them a' ye tak' yer place…"†

Thus starts Rabbie Burns' Address to the Haggis which is recited at every Burns supper all over the world. (We Scots get everywhere!)

The Scots, being a careful race abhor waste, so when all the good cuts of meat are taken from a sheep's carcase, all the remaining meaty bits are chopped up, mixed with oatmeal, spices and herbs, and made inro a rotund sausage using the empty stomach of the sheep. Haggis is one of those dished that one either adores or detests—even a few Scots are anti-haggis, but not many.

Here's a wikiref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haggis

Your boiled dinner sounds great. We Scots have a soup, called Scotch Broth that is not dissimilar, more of a stew than a soup really, made using sheep meat (mutton or lamb) with onions, potatoes, carrots, swedes etc with pearl barley and pulses. A wonderful winter warmer that really lines the tummy! There are commercial producers of Scotch Broth, (canned or packet) but it is always better home-made and cooked slowly for a very long time.

Maybe we should start a BC Cookery section?

Hugs,
Gabi

PS there is a story we Scots usually tell Sassanachs about the great haggis hunts we have. There is one where we explain that haggis roam wild on mountains; the boy haggi have two long right legs and two short left legs, while the girl haggi have two long left legs and two short right legs, so the girls and boys have to run round the mountain in opposite directions, meaning that when a boy haggis meets another haggis coming in the opposite direction, it is bound to be a girl haggis. This means that boy haggi being over-sexed and a bit dumb always manage to mate with the opposite sex.

On a haggis hunt, you decide which sex of haggis you want to catch and then run round the hill in the opposite direction to that sex. The haggis, happening on a human being, takes fright, turns round and because the creature now has its longer legs on the uphill side, cannot stand and rolls to the foot of the mountain where another haggis hunter holds out his kilt to catch it in. :)

† This is written in Lallans, the language of the Scottish Lowlands.

G.