Many people across the nation would’ve celebrated Burns Night yesterday. Burns Night is one of Scotland’s most prominent national events. As many of the traditions surrounding Burns Night include eating haggis we thought we share some information about the iconic meat pudding. Let’s discuss Burns Night and answer the question of what is haggis made from.

What is Burns Night?

Burns Night is the event that brings together haggis, whisky, poetry and people. The event is held on the 25th of January every year and celebrates the birth of Robert Burns. Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and lyricist. Widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, Burns and his poetry are celebrated worldwide.

Many people across the world, in fact, mark the occasion by partaking in a Burns Supper.

What is a Burns Supper?

The first Burns Supper was held on the fifth anniversary of Robert Burns’s death. Nine of Robert’s close friends came to celebrate the life of their late friend. A delicious meal, performances of Burns’s work and a speech of honour of the great Bard were performed. The group saw the event as such a success they decided to hold the event again, beginning the tradition enjoyed by many.

What is haggis?

Haggis is the national dish of Scotland and has been popular throughout the country since the mid-18th century. It should go without saying, but at the first Burns Supper haggis was served. Haggis is an inexpensive and nourishing dish, hence its popularity throughout history.

If you’ve never tried haggis, firstly you don’t know what you’re missing out on. Think of a crumbly sausage with a coarse oaty texture. With all the different meat as well as loads of flavouring, it has a great taste!

Offal is the prominent ingredient of haggis. Offal refers to the organ meats of the animal, typically it was lamb. Organs such as the liver, heart and lungs were minced and bulked out with oatmeal, onions and seasonings. This was then pressed and sealed inside the animal’s stomach. Similar to that of the casing of a sausage. Offal would always spoil the quickest. Hence its heavy use in this recipe.

Traditionally, the stomach lining bag simmered for some hours. In the modern world, we have microwaves that can prepare a pre-cooked haggis in minutes, it won’t have the same charm about it though.

Haggis has gained a truly undeserved bad rep. We’ve put it down to the name and what goes into it not sounding the most appealing. Unfortunately, black pudding has suffered from the same fault. We also wrote a similar blog to this. In the blog, we discuss what black pudding is actually made of, feel free to read it.

However, if you have the taste for them, then both Haggis and also Black Pudding are really most tasty and should be tried if possible!

Get in touch

We’ve built up numerous close contacts over the years; we’re loyal and fair and because of that our suppliers look after us. It is very rare that we cannot source a product within a couple of days. If you’re looking to buy some offal to create your own haggis at home feel free to get in touch.

Give us a call at 01424 730417 and a member of our team will discuss the viable options with you. Alternativly, you can simply fill in the contact form and we will get back to you as soon as possible. We look forward to hearing from you. Hopefully, you found this blog answering what is haggis made from useful!