When Scottish-Americans and residents of Scotland celebrate the birthday of 18th century poet Robert Burns on Saturday night, traditional haggis probably won't measure up to purist standards.
Haggis is a flavorful Scottish dish made with boiled sheep innards, oatmeal, and spices. genuine Many argue that haggis is only good if it contains a key ingredient: sheep's lung, which is used for stuffing. In the United States, where imports of haggis made from sheep's lungs are banned, some Scottish-Americans are turning to the black market to get the real deal.
McSween, now one of Scotland's most popular haggis makers, has developed a recipe that meets US import guidelines by replacing sheep lung with lamb heart. This isn't the first time MacSween, founded in Edinburgh in 1953, has tweaked haggis. In keeping with modern tastes, the sheep stomach, traditionally used as a haggis casing, has been replaced with a beef casing like that used in some sausages.
“Is there anything that can be said about the difference in texture added by the lungs? Yes,” said Greg Brockman, a Brooklyn butcher who has been making his own version of haggis for years. “Do you think the average consumer will notice? Probably not.”
The new take on the delicacy is expected to arrive in the United States by this time next year, in time to be the centerpiece of Burns Night celebrations.
Burns helped transform haggis, traditionally consumed by peasants, into Scotland's national dish, with lines such as “Fairfa in the face of an honest son/The great chieftain of the pudding races!” In his poem 'Address to Haggis' which is read as part of the celebrations.
The mere mention of this delicacy may make Americans wince, but James McSween, managing director of the family business, sees potential far beyond Burns Night.
“A lot of people eat this every week,” he says. “We did all the hard work: grinding, blending, mixing, and seasoning to create a meat protein ingredient that is highly nutritious and delicious.”
Mr McSween says the casing can be removed and the filling added as a topping or filling to haggis pizza, haggis lasagna or haggis poutine.
“We can make hundreds of menu suggestions,” he said. “It's the versatility.”
McSween sells around £8m of haggis in the UK each year, and its recipe includes sheep's lungs. The company's biggest customer is the grocery and department store chain Marks & Spencer. Mr McSween said the haggis market was worth about £14 million, or about $17.5 million.
Entering the US market was difficult. Haggis was banned in the United States in the 1970s due to a ban on the sale of lungs. In 1989, the United States banned imports of lamb and beef from the United Kingdom following an outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad cow disease.
Mr McSween has been working in North America since 2015, when he began representing the Scottish haggis and meat manufacturing industry in negotiations with the Canadian and US governments to put Scottish lamb and beef back on menus across the Atlantic. He said he has been trying to enter the market. .
The US eased import restrictions on lamb and beef in 2022, but with a ban on the sale of lungs, one thing is clear: Lamb heart must be substituted if McSween's haggis is sold in the US. It was said that there was.
American haggis is “totally acceptable,” McSween said. But now, he says, it's time to “finally bring authentic Scottish haggis to the United States.”
McSween plans to use the same recipe for haggis sold in the U.S. as it sells in Canada, which is currently one of its largest markets. This includes lamb heart and fat, oatmeal, white and black pepper, aromatic herbs, salt, onions and broth.
“We know it works,” McSween said. “This is a delicious product and the most authentic haggis you can make within the law.”
Ann Robinson, founder of Scottish Gourmet USA in Greensboro, North Carolina, isn't so sure. Her company is one of the largest suppliers of domestic haggis (made from ground lamb, beef liver, venison and vegetables) in the United States, and she questions whether McSweens will be able to circumvent U.S. regulations. Ta. Still, she welcomed the company into what she described as a “highly specialized market.”
Brockman, a Brooklyn butcher who lived in Scotland for four years, remembers eating McSween's haggis with friends to celebrate Burns Night. Now he makes his own using sheep heart and liver at Prospect Butcher Company. He usually sells about 20 pounds around Burns Night.
“Everyone is afraid of it as this iconic strange food,” he said. “But there's a nice combination of warm spices, and some iron heat from the heart and liver. I don't think it's overpowering at all. It's just a nice pile of food, dude. It's not appealing in shape or color. However, the taste and aroma are very good.