[Sca-cooks] 12th Night Haggis Contest

[Terri Spencer]

Serena wrote:
> If Mistress Christi pops up I am sure she can give more detail, but I

> can tell you the basics. There were two entries and one done my the
> good Mistress as a demonstration. Both of the entries were mock
Haggis
> of the sweet persuasion, my marzipan one and two chocolate ones that
> had supporting documentation from the following website:
> http://www.wallydug.demon.co.uk/haggis/
> Since the Haggis is such an endangered creature THL Temhair felt it
> was her duty to make a representation out of substitute ingredients.
> and she said that she found the information on the Internet, so it
> must be true. ;)

< Tara aka Temair delurking>
Funny how we all made a desert - without even consulting each other.
Crowdpleasers'R'us.  Actually, I was gifted with a huge bar of
Ghirardelli melting chocolate and had to find something to do with it.
Fast!

To spread the word and save the Haggis, here is the full account:

Haggis is actually an endangered species native to Scotland.  Not
wishing to further damage this rare animal, and in keeping with the
current Save Haggis in Trouble (S.H.I.T.) campaign, I have chosen to
represent the Haggis in a different medium - chocolate.

Haggis Facts
- The Haggis is often confused with a sheep's stomach and innards
because sheep are a natural enemy of the Haggis, and often devour the
poor creatures.

- Haggis became rare after Robert Burns wrote of the dish so beloved by
the Scots, and it became a world famous delicacy.  January 25th, Robert
Burns day, occasion of many Burns Suppers, is the most dangerous time
for Haggis, and many do not survive it.

- The demand for Haggis, and their low fertility rate, have caused the
current scarcity.  Modern Haggis have adapted to the highlands with
legs of varying length.  Females have shorter legs on the right, males
on the left.  Thus females run clockwise around hillsides; males
counterclockwise.  This limits mating opportunities to the times their
paths meet.

- Adult Haggis are very fast.  Their legs, however, are fragile, and
are often broken or shed during mating, drinking or hunting.  Thus they
are usually served and depicted without legs.  Sources disagree on
whether they have three or four legs in the wild.

- The most humane method of trapping Haggis is digging a hole and
leaving an open bottle of whiskey in it overnight as bait.  The drunk
Haggis sheds its legs and cannot then climb out of the hole, so it can
easily be captured in the morning.

- The rare Haggis captured with legs is prized, and it takes an expert
piper to properly squeeze it so that it emits its haunting mating call.
 This is the origin of the Scottish bagpipe, and the best and most
traditional bagpipes are still made this way.  A hybrid domestic Haggis
with hollow wooden legs has also been developed.

- Haggis were known in ancient and medieval eras, and were more fierce
and numerous in those times.  The Hadrian and Antonine walls were built
to defend Roman Britain from the ancient Haggis, as well as the
troublesome Celts and Picts.


Bibliography
http://www.wallydug.demon.co.uk/hagis/leaflet.html

Http://flyinghaggis.co.uk/haggis/

http://www.electricscotland.com/haggis/haggis2.html

http://www.droughduil.demon.co.uk/haggis.htm

http://www.bookbeast.com/haggis.htm (primary source with picture)

http://www.stenboye.dk/haggis/ (primary source with pictures and
sounds)


Tara


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