[Sca-cooks] 'Tis the season.

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Jan 1, 2010, at 1:40 AM, Antonia di Benedetto Calvo wrote:

> Stefan li Rous wrote:
>> Nobody in the US is likely to pull a
>> codfish out of the sea and cure it in lye, whilst a lot of us are
>> capable of making a credible haggis.  USDA does not permit the sale of
>> the stomach paunch as "organ meat" but that's life.  The flavor is not
>> all that affected by use of a pudding bag or pot.  Haggis isn't bad with
>> copious salt, pepper and onions, the way Eyana used to make it, peace be
>> to her. >>> 
> 
> 
> My understanding is that US shoppers have the same problem we do in NZ-- the authorities are hysterical and have banned sheep's lungs, which makes it a lot trickier to producea haggis.

Seriously? Lungs are lungs. It's really the fat that makes the difference. I've made perfectly decent haggis using veal livers and hearts, pork spleens in lieu of lungs (basically you need some fairly vascular tissue, lots of blood and strong, gamy flavors). Not indistinguishable from the same thing made from sheep parts, but very similar, and for the many, many people who haven't tried the real thing, and many who have, it comes pretty close.

I wouldn't say it's exactly the same, but it's close enough to quash the "the best is the enemy of the good" crowd.

Adamantius






"Most men worry about their own bellies, and other people's souls, when we all ought to worry about our own souls, and other people's bellies."
			-- Rabbi Israel Salanter