Highly recommended.
I know it sounds about as appealing as getting the gobble off a pensioner with false teeth, but don't knock it till you've tried it.
Would also make a great stuffing substitute at the Christmas table.
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
I'll also agree, it's infinitely more palatable than the real deal. Nicer flavour, none of the smell or bits of anus and oesophagus.
Love haggis. This one is great but I do prefer the "real thing".
Does it have any dairy products in it as a matter of interest?
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Interesting concept, like many I enjoy the real Haggis but I'll certainly give it a go.
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
"You gotta know when to hold em and know when to fold em".
I agree, As a dedicated carnivore with a veggie wife and daughter, I find this one of the better meat free options out there and will quite happily choose to eat it.
Its nice but so is real haggis. When I'm visiting our Glasgow office I stay at the Blytheswood and they do a cracking Scottish fried breakfast with real Haggis. Yum!
Sorry guys - as a one-time consumer of MacSweens Vegetarian haggis I have to register a negative vote.
In fact I would rather eat the packaging.
Why in God's name would anyone want vegetarian haggis? It's up there with wanting vegetarian bacon.
Buy real haggis or buy something more acceptable to your moral stance on food consumption or your taste buds.
I should add that I bought it with an open mind thinking that it may be a healthier option, but rejected it on taste grounds alone.
Last edited by unclealec; 9th November 2017 at 00:24.
The wife and I had one from Waitrose the other night and thought it was very good. I’d never had got her to eat the meat one so this was a good alternative and better than the nut roasts I’ve tried in the past. Well recommended.
G&D at its best, discussing veggie haggis!! LOL.
Be rude not to give it a go princess but if it’s garbage I will tip the left overs in ya tea when we catch up next.
As vegetarian haggis go, it's not bad. Far better than a proverbial Waitrose/Marks & Spencer nut roast and if combined with the traditional Scottish fayre of mashed tatties and swede,it's not a bad meal overall.
Love my real haggis,but does this taste anything like it or is it a different taste ?
I'm a fan of the real thing but M&S veggie haggis is not half bad either.
Individual tastes are, er, individual. No amount of debating will lay to rest the burning question of "do I like it?".
They are far from expensive (in fact when I tried it they were being offered free in Sainsbury's if you bought a real haggis) so get one and try it. You have a couple of months before it becomes compulsory to eat it (I often think that Burns Night was invented so that the Scots only have to eat haggis once a year!) so try it.
But if you take my advice (not compulsory) you will get a real haggis as well. They freeze well; if you decide you prefer the vegetarian, you can give the real one to me, or donate it to your local Civil War re-enactment society.
I can't allow this opportunity to pass of telling (again) my haggis joke:
Did you hear about the Burns night when the haggis was piped in by McTaggart of Dunblane, and piped out by Shanks of Barrhead?
This.
I've never got why vegetarians want things that taste like haggis or sausages. I'll make clear I've nothing at all against free choice of vegetarianism, but no omnivore ever has wanted their steak to taste more like tofu. It makes me curious why there is a desire for things which emulate non-vegetarian food. Perhaps a feeling that society expects people to fit in and be like everyone else, but I can't imagine that's the case these days? It's basically trendy to be vegetarian. My wife and I went on a conservation volunteer thing earlier this year, and of five dishes laid on for the volunteers, two were vegan, two vegetarian and only one had meat. Omnivores very much the minority.
Used to live across the road from MacSweens when they were based in Bruntsfield, Edinburgh and have long been a fan of their haggis. Their veggie option is great, we always buy one small veggie and one normal meat haggis and have it in split portions with the family. The veggie is undoubtedly a much better option e.g. a nut roast or whatever.
Am fortunate (?) enough also now to live fairly close to Barrhead, and commute through there daily. Shanks is unfortunately no more - think its now an industrial park, but were legendary for their ceramic lavatory products and a huge local employer for decades in the West of Scotland.
For many years we have held a small Burns Supper. at TCManisions. My wife, a proud Scot, each year protests that she hates haggis. Each year I buy her a vegetarian haggis and our guests and myself a full fat original version. The result is always the same... the veggie haggis is written off as a bad idea and as toothsome as an old pot scourer whilst the proper haggis is devoured with vim and vigour by all.
Without doubt the same will happen this January.
Aye, that MacSweens veggie effort is decent. Unlike the real mystery meat version it does suffer from a very narrow window of cooked perfection before it dries out and becomes like eating fine dry rubble.
Just to clarify, a PROPER Scottish cooked breakfast "fry up" doesn't include haggis. It should be black pudding.
It's a strange one indeed.
From my point of view (have been a veggie for around 25 years, wife and kids all veggies too) I (and most veggies I know) don't want anything to taste like haggis, sausages or anything else meaty for that matter. Perhaps the food producers are hedging their bets by hoping to appeal to both vegetarians and meat lovers?
Is it really that trendy to be a veggie now? If it is then I must run off and tell the wife as she's always moaning at how behind the times I am :)
Ive been vegetarian for over 30 years and decided to go vegan earlier his year mainly due to my newly diagnosed lactose intolerance.
I dislike things that taste too much like meat as it was the fact that I didnt like it in any of its forms that turned me vegetarian in the first place.
Fortunately a number of things don't so thats OK - happy to try new things though just to see.
Good to hear that as I near 60 I am at last trendy.
I don’t see why people get so perturbed about meat like vege options. Who really cares ? The fact is for whatever reason people have decided to omit meat and/or dairy, many for ethical/moral reasons and some of the products available provide a quick, easy alternative to a dead animal.
I don’t give a toss about the perceived trendiness of vegetarianism, too old to care!
Vegetarian. Haggis.
I can't bring myself to put the two words next to eachother in the same sentence.
agreed, Haggis is Haggis, the other is a mix of grains cooked in a bag,
its like going to the Bahamas, its the Bahamas, simples,
just because your sitting under a palm tree in the sun in Tenerife does not make it the Bahamas.
that would be stupid, right?
what next? vegetarian black pudding? Pfff
Bought it once by mistake, as an accompaniment for Fillet steak and peppercorn sauce (goes very well) and didn't realise until it came to cook it.
I thought it was pretty good in that situation, although might be more critical if eaten in the more traditional fashion - with neeps and tatties.
Al
Haggis is made from the “pluck” of a sheep.
Its lungs , heart , liver and kidneys.
Nothing lower than that , no bungholes , harrises or pizzles. The only didgey bit is the lung meat which to be fair could harbour toxins. Alrhough if its young lamb thats unlikely. No stomach or aesophagus as far as I’m aware.
I suspect they could just double up in the other organs or substitute some minced lean cut and you wouldn’t even have the lung meat issue.
I can quite easily eat a whole family sized one. A banquet scale one is quite an intimidating beastie.
However the reek of the gasses from my bloated belly is a fearsome thing for many a nicht after.
Which reminds me......
Tae a fart
Oh what a sleekit horrible beastie,
Lurks in yer bellie efter a feastie,
Just as ye sit doon among yer kin
There starts to stir an enormous wind.
The neeps and tatties and mushy peas
Start working like a gentle breeze
But soon the pudding wi' the sauncie face
Will hae ye blawin' a' ower the place
Nae matter whit the hell ye dae
a'body's gonnae hae tae pay
Even if ye try tae stifle
it's like a bullet oot a rifle
Hawd yer bum ticht tae the chair
Tae try tae stop the leakin' air
Shift yersel fae cheek tae cheek
Pray tae god it disnae reek
But a' the efforts go asunder
Oot it comes like a clap o' thunder
Ricochets arrond the room
Michty me! a sonic boom
God almighty it fairly reeks
A' hope a' huvnae shit ma breeks
Tae the bog a' better scurry
Whit the hell, it's no ma worry
A'body roon aboot me choakin'
One or two are nearly boakin'
I'll feel better for a while
Cannae help but raise a smile
It wis him! I shout and glower
Alas too late, he's just keeled ower
Ye dirty bugger! They shout and stare
I'm no that welcome any mair
Where e're ye go let yer wind gang free
That sounds jist the joab fir me
Whit a fuss at Rabbie's party
Ower the sake o' one wee farty.
It sounds even worse than the original. Do they make veggie Scotch Pies too?
Off on a slight tangent - I would recommend 'Vegout' Porkless Pies sometimes available from Holland & Barret.
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I doubt this is really Burns but whilst we are at it...
O D E T O A P E N I S
By Robert Burns
Puir wee saft an' flabby penis,
A wheen o' pleasure you hae gien us.
An hour or twa ago, puir thing,
Ye made a lassie's gled hert sing,
For then ye stuck oot firm and prood
An' put Jean Armour in the mood.
She doted on the love ye geid,
An' lost wi' glee her maidenheid.
Her comely thighs, her erse sae braw
Did answer mother nature's ca'.
She squirmit like a trimlin' jelly,
As ye went scuddin' up her belly.
Fu' prood she wis o' hard worked penis:
an' hoo ye jerked sae weel between us;
She lay there, gigglin' wi' pleasure;
Lie doon, and rest - ye've earned yer leisure.
For Ye geid yer a' tae satisfy
The urgent need o' Jean and I.
Still ye did a guid night's work;
Ye did yer duty, didnae shirk.
Noo, wee thing ye look sae sad,
You're just nae use tae Rabbie lad.
Ye're wabbit oot, an' saft as butter -
But hoo ye made Jean Armour splutter.
An' as I slowly puff my pipe
Ye look just like some wrinkled tripe.
Noo ma Bonnie Jean's gang hame
Tae hing her heid in sorry shame.
Ye ken gie weel ye did her wrang -
I kept ye in her far too lang,
An' noo we'll hae tae wait an' see
If Jean will hae a pregnancy.
Oh weel, we a' men, we tak oor chances,
Let's saunter doon tae Poosie Nansy's,
An' when I've had a dram or twa
I'll let ye piss agin' the wa'.
Maybe ye'll pardon my abuses
I realise ye've ither uses.
I had some haggis (carniverous type) along with black pudding, Branston beans, and some eggs on toast an hour ago. That's me set up for a brisk walk with a camera, and a swally in some alehouse or other as I roam about.
F.T.F.A.
Waitrose had a load of the gluten free haggis reduced to 75p over the weekend so I bought a couple. I couldn't bring myself to buy the vegetarian version.
I tried some gluten free organic haggis non-veg (I forget the make) and it was rather nice stuffed into medium-sized hollowed out tomatoes and baked in the oven for 15-20 minutes
optional cheesy crumbs on top - and more pepper
of all present at the dinner party there was only one who left half of theirs - most were haggis virgins.
Ramsay of Carluke do a great haggis. I'm going to get one tomorrow.