When Scottish Americans and Scottish expats sit down on Saturday evening to celebrate the birthday of the 18th-century poet Robert Burns, the traditional Haggis will probably not meet purist standards.
Haggis, the savory Scottish dish of boiled sheep entrails, oatmeal and herbs, one can Real Haggis, many, only claim if it contains an important ingredient: sheep lung, which is used in the filling. In the United States, which forbids the import of Haggis with Schapenlong, some Americans of the Scottish heritage have used to the black market to get the real work.
Now MacSever, one of the more popular makers of Haggis in Scotland, has developed a recipe that would satisfy the US input guidelines by replacing Schaapenlong with Lamhart. It is not the first adjustment that MacSever, which was founded in Edinburgh in 1953, made his Haggis. In a nod to modern flavors, it has changed the stomach of sheep that is traditionally used as a Haggis housing for a beef housing, as used in some sausages.
“Do I think there is something to say for texture difference that the lung adds to it? Yes, “said Greg Brockman, a butcher in Brooklyn who has made his own version of Haggis for years. “Do I think the average consumer will notice? Probably not. “
The new view of the delicacy is planned to arrive in the United States next year, on time to be the center of Burns Night Celebrations.
Burns helped Haggis, which was traditionally consumed by farmers, in the national dish of Scotland with lines such as “Fair Fa” your honest, Sonsie Face / Great Chieftain O 'The Pudding race! “In his poem 'address to a haggis', which is read as part of the parties.
While only a mention of the Delicatesse Winces can draw from Americans, James MacSween, the director of his family business, sees the possibility far beyond Burns Night.
“Many people eat this from week a week,” he said. “We have done all the hard work: we have ground, mixed, mixed, seasoned and made it a very nutritious and tasty ingredient for meat protein.”
Take off the housing, said Mr. Macsses and add the filling as a topping or ingredient in Haggis Pizza, Haggis Lasagna or Haggis Poutine.
“You can do hundreds of menu suggestions,” he said. “It's the versatility.”
Macsses sells around eight million pounds Haggis in Great Britain every year, where the Schaapenlong recipe includes. The largest customer is the supermarket and department store chain Marks & Spencer. Mr. MacSween said that the Haggis market is worth around 14 million pounds, or around $ 17.5 million.
Break on the American market has been a challenge. Haggis was banned in the United States in the 1970s because of the ban on lung sales. In 1989, the import of lamb and beef from Britain prohibited after an outbreak of spongiform encephalopathy of cattle, also known as crazy cow disease.
Mr. MacSween said he has been trying to enter the North -American market since 2015, when he started representing the Scottish Haggis and Meat Manufacturing industry in conversations with the Canadian and American governments to try to restore Scottish lamb and beef On menus about the Atlantic Ocean.
The United States relaxed the restrictions on the import of lamb and beef in 2022, but because of the prohibition on lung sales, one thing was clear: if the Haggis of Macses were sold in America, the Lamhart would have to replace.
The American Haggis is 'completely acceptable', Mr. MacSes said. But now, he says, it's time to “finally get real Scottish haggis in the United States.”
MacSeveren will use the same recipe for American Haggis sold as in Canada, now one of the largest markets. That includes lamhart and fat, oatmeal, white and black pepper, aromatic herbs, salt, onion and broth.
“We know it works,” said Mr. Macses. “It is a tasty product, and it is the most authentic Haggis that we can make within the legislation.”
Anne Robinson, the founder of the Scottish Gourmet USA in Greensboro, NC, is not that certain. Her company is one of the largest suppliers of inland Haggis in America (made with ground lamb and beef liver, deer or vegetables), and she wondered if MacSever could circumvent the American rules. Yet she welcomed the company in what she described as 'a highly specialized market'.
Mr. Brockman, the butcher in Brooklyn, lived in Scotland for four years and remembered that he had Macsever Haggis for Burns Night parties with friends. Now he makes his own at Prospect Butcher Company, with the help of sheep heart and liver. He usually sells around 20 pounds around Burns Night.
“Everyone fears if this emblematic weird food,” he said. “But it has a beautiful mix of warm herbs and there is a part of that iron tongs from the heart and liver. I don't think it's completely overwhelming. It's just a nice hill with food, man. It is not attractive in shape or color, but it tastes really good and smells really good. “
