EDINBURGH SCOTLAND
Legendary Scottish bard Robert Burns celebrated his majestic capital Edinburgh as “Scotia’s darling seat.” The city’s evocative history and grand architecture complement a deep love of ideas and culture, epitomized in its world-famous summer arts festival – but the Scots also prize the wild and rugged in life, and it’s to this older, less rarified Scotland that haggis belongs.
Set back from the rugged shores of the wide Firth of Forth, Scotland’s capital is cradled by hills and crags. The city combines the historic with the chic – grand architecture woven with ancient lanes lined with desirable boutiques. Overseen by its majestic castle, it is a place so old that even the “New Town” is made up of 200-year-old sweeping Georgian crescents. In the 18th century the Edinburgh edition of Robbie Burns’s Poems was published, including his ode “Address to a Haggis.” Burns saw haggis as a symbol of Scottish life during those harsher times when it was essential to use as much as possible of a slain animal: for food, clothing, and even something to write on. While other cuts could be dried for preservation, internal organs were far more perishable. So they were stuffed into the natural casing of the animal’s stomach – forming “haggis” – and cooked on the spot. Traditionally, haggis takes the minced “pluck” of a sheep (heart, liver, and lungs), mixes it with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, salt, and stock, then stuffs it into a casing – today usually synthetic – to be simmered for around three hours. Its ingredients may not sound appealing, but the end result is richly meaty, with a nutty texture and delicious spicy savoriness. On Burns Night, January 25, the national dish is served with accompaniments of neeps (boiled turnips or rutabagas) and tatties (mashed potato) – plus Scotch whiskey, of course. But with the growth of nationalist pride in recent years, haggis has become increasingly popular year-round in Scotland, often with intriguing twists. Scotland’s abundance of deer underpins a surge in venison haggis, while the country’s significant Indian population has inspired haggis pakora, spiced with ginger, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, turmeric, and garam masala. Haggis was a hearty, portable meal for those on the move: whiskey-makers transporting their liquid gold across majestic Highland hills; merchants shipping wares across the choppy channels from the dramatically beautiful islands of Orkney and the Hebrides; and drovers taking animals from the heather-clad moors to the hungry cities. Eating haggis is to join the company of these intrepid travelers – an honor indeed.
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