Jodi on 
Erin on 
Eric on 
Bill Evans on 
Some people bring fridge magnets, T-shirts, or shot glasses back from vacation. I haul back weird food. While strolling through the Saint John City Market, I was distracted by this shelf of Scottish haggis in a can ($8.99).
It’s from the same place I picked up the Yorkie “It’s not for girls!” chocolate bar.
The only time I’ve tried haggis was at a Burns supper in Ottawa, and the only thing I really remember was a terribly dry mealy texture.
Traditionally, haggis is made of sheep’s heart, liver and lungs, minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and boiled in the animal’s stomach for approximately three hours.
This can, under the brand of Scotland’s Stahly Quality Foods, actually came from its manufacturer in Chicago. Exporting offal is harder from the U.K., I guess.
The can’s ingredients, in order, were: water, lamb hearts, oats, pork fat, lamb liver, pork, salt, and dehydrated onion. With no preservatives, and at 180 calories and 11 grams of fat for one-third of a can (78 grams), it didn’t sound so bad.
So we cracked open the can, and Jason yelled, “OH MY GOD, IT SMELLS LIKE DOG FOOD.”
Undaunted, I took a closer look. It looked like dog food.
The back of the can suggested a traditional meal of haggis, tatties and neeps (mashed potatoes and turnips). I wasn’t sure we could stomach it as an entire dinner, so I modified another idea from the can.
Instead of warm haggis on toast with melted cheese, I grabbed some Melba rounds and sliced up some pickles.
The haggis did look half decent once we spooned it out and heated it — in the microwave.
It tasted like a very rich, mediocre pâté, and much more moist than the version I first tried years ago. However, there’s no way I’d be able to eat a whole plate of it as a meal, and now I have three-quarters of a can of haggis sitting in my fridge.
Mark the Rustic, haggis fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread!
Do you have a puppy?
Funny – it looks slightly like a canned Russian product that I occasionally eat, a meat and barley mix. No offal though.
You are a braver woman than I, that’s for sure.
Haggis can be awful at the best of times, but it’s something I grew up with having two Scottish parents and it can be very good if it’s prepared right. Haggis that is boiled or out of a can will make me want to hurl it back at whoever served it to me, just for the record.
I only eat Haggis as a breakfast sausage – same goes for every other Scottish person in my family. I like haggis best when it is bought fresh from a Scottish butcher, sliced into rounds PRIOR to cooking, and broiled in the oven like you would cook any other sausage.
If you decide to brave Haggis again, skip the can and head to the butcher. The only Scottish butcher I can vouch for in Calgary is Macewans Meats on Elbow. Get a few extra goodies while you’re there and do an all out fry-up one morning with some Square/Lorne sausage (a must, my favorite!), Scottish bacon (lots of meat, little fat), black pudding, eggs, potato cakes or hash browns, toast, and beans… can’t forget the beans. Wash it down with a nice big mug of black tea or coffee and you might as well be in a pub in Glasgow the morning after an evening of one (or ten) too many glasses of Scotch.
Enjoy,
-Grant
Oh good lord nooo!
What would ever possess you to try this horrid thing?
You are one brave foodie.
I always find it amusing when people recoil in horror at what is in haggis. Then you realise these same people will happily eat god knows what that are in sausages, hotdogs, etc. Do they really think they are made out of high grade meat?
Hi … don’t heat this in a microwave, just put it in a saucepan, choped it up and it will melt as you heat it. I know it looks like dog food but trust me. I’m Scottish and don’t have the slightest problem in eating canned Haggis … Grants is definitely one of the best. If you prepare it properly then you won’t get a better meal.
If you don’t like it on it’s own then use it to stuff chicken breast and then wrap Parma Ham round it, pan fry in olive oil and serve with a pepper sauce. Or use it wrapped in thinly sliced steak, similar to beef olives … again with a pepper sauce.
Hi Kate,
I know you sent this comment a long while ago. But I would like some advice from you. I am from India and last year on a visit to the UK, I bought a tin of haggis in Edinburgh (same brand as the one shown here) since I wanted to taste something authentically Scottish. I haven’t opened the can yet. How long should I heat the haggis in the saucepan and should I put everything inside the can in the saucepan, fat and all? If after heating the haggis, I still don’t like the taste then should I fry it. Please let know anything that you think is worth knowing to make it really tasty.
Thanks in advance,
Kavita.
bloody foreigners slagging off our haggis,if your too saft tae eat it, leave it tae the real scots back hame.if yea want to eat it the way its supposed to taste pour a large glass of whiskey over it. or spice it up with black pepper.always have it with tatties n neeps,you,ll no need tae eat a thing for the rest of the day!