How 'nutritious' is haggis?!

Haggis is fine and probably better than some of the sausages you can buy in supermarkets.

I am slightly scared by the sound of that scotch egg though!!! One's that I have eaten (in the UK) are normally covered in breadcrumbs and oven baked....

don't know where you're getting your info about scotch eggs, but they're not usually served with anything. Also, they're not usually deep fried, they're made with tasted breadcrumbs and then baked. You can also make them low fat by using a better sausagemeat.

I was going to say the same thing - scotch eggs are usually a solo act, never served with anything else (well, maybe except for a pint! LOL)...

Haggis is offal... organ meats provide an amazing list of vitamins and nutrients, healthy fats, etc. Like any other foods, keep it realistic. Ive had it once... not bad.. .but not enough to the point it pushes me to say OH MY GAWD I GOTTA HAVE IT AGAIN, if you know what I mean?

Scotch eggs can be VERY healthy... A friend of mine did a slight variety on it by using almond meal instead of breadcrumbs and it was AMAZING! (I have digestive/metabolic issues against the breads category)...

The Scotch Eggs I've had at "pubs" over here have never been covered in gravy or anything. It's been a while but I think they were served with some chutney on the side. They're so damn good.

Now I want Scotch eggs. May try to find somewhere for lunch to get them.

The Scotch Eggs I've had at "pubs" over here have never been covered in gravy or anything. It's been a while but I think they were served with some chutney on the side. They're so damn good.

Now I want Scotch eggs. May try to find somewhere for lunch to get them.

Scotch egg dipped in a good home-made chutney is a FINE thing indeed... :happy:

And yes, they are actually an English thing (though you can find them in Scotland too).

I just answered my own question - haggis IS in the database, over a dozen options. Too funny! :laugh:

Just noticed this - why is it "Too funny! :laugh:" that haggis is in the database? There's lots of Scottish people on MPF.
*Puzzled*

Wow - I actually didn't expect any replies, since I pretty much answered my own question!

The way I described the scotch egg is the way it's served up at the one tent that has them at the Games. Maybe I'm wrong about battered and deep-fried, but it's sliced in half, put on a biscuit and smothered in sausage gravy. I've had it before like this. Yum.

The sweets I mentioned are found at various tents at the Games - they're there every year. (I've been going to the Games at Loon Mountain for about 20 years now) The strawberry shortcake is bigger than my head! I *might* get a small Eccles cake....

I found it funny that haggis is actually in the database here because it's not exactly what I'd think of as healthful, being basically a sausage of organ meats and oatmeal. But I love it!

That's so odd, I have NEVER seen scotch egg served with gravy or biscuits. I truly thought one of your friends had been winding you up about what we eat in order to make you nervous about your trip! I mean seriously. What on earth kind of biscuits is it? If you say chocolate I will vomit everywhere.

Puzzled about the strawberry shortcake and stuff too. I'd never even heard of Strawberry Shortcake until I went to America (even though we had Strawberry Shortcake dolls when we were kids, we didn't know what they were named after!).

Where in Scotland is it you go? Maybe I just need to get out of Edinburgh more often :laugh:

Wow - I actually didn't expect any replies, since I pretty much answered my own question!

The way I described the scotch egg is the way it's served up at the one tent that has them at the Games. Maybe I'm wrong about battered and deep-fried, but it's sliced in half, put on a biscuit and smothered in sausage gravy. I've had it before like this. Yum.

The sweets I mentioned are found at various tents at the Games - they're there every year. (I've been going to the Games at Loon Mountain for about 20 years now) The strawberry shortcake is bigger than my head! I *might* get a small Eccles cake....

I found it funny that haggis is actually in the database here because it's not exactly what I'd think of as healthful, being basically a sausage of organ meats and oatmeal. But I love it!

That's so odd, I have NEVER seen scotch egg served with gravy or biscuits. I truly thought one of your friends had been winding you up about what we eat in order to make you nervous about your trip! I mean seriously. What on earth kind of biscuits is it? If you say chocolate I will vomit everywhere.

Puzzled about the strawberry shortcake and stuff too. I'd never even heard of Strawberry Shortcake until I went to America (even though we had Strawberry Shortcake dolls when we were kids, we didn't know what they were named after!).

Where in Scotland is it you go? Maybe I just need to get out of Edinburgh more often :laugh:

I think she's in the US, going to the highland games in New Hampshire? Based on my google search of Loon Mountain anyway. Here in the US, biscuits aren't cookies but a bread roll item and generally not sweet. If you see "biscuits and gravy" its not like a chocolate chip cookie with sausage gravy over it. :sick: I can totally see where it would sound disgusting, just based on the different terms used!
This reminds me that I should make some sweet potato buttermilk biscuits again this winter! yum!

I think she's in the US, going to the highland games in New Hampshire? Based on my google search of Loon Mountain anyway. Here in the US, biscuits aren't cookies but a bread roll item and generally not sweet. If you see "biscuits and gravy" its not like a chocolate chip cookie with sausage gravy over it. :sick: I can totally see where it would sound disgusting, just based on the different terms used!
This reminds me that I should make some sweet potato buttermilk biscuits again this winter! yum!

I assume she's using the American term "biscuit", not the British term. A biscuit is a type of bread. It is generally made with flour, butter, buttermilk. It's soft and flaky and delicious.

Oh, that is too funny! Yes, when she said "Scottish Highland Games", I assumed she was coming to Scotland... And since I thought we were talking about Scotland and Scottish food, I thought biscuits referred to Hobnobs or Digestives or something *heaves again at the thought*

I love MFP. It's like a cultural exchange programme sometimes

An American friend from Boston told me about your bready biscuit things once... they do sound delicious. I'm off to Google those sweet potato buttermilk ones right now!

:bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile:

Every once in a while I'll cook up a batch of scotch eggs. Dust them with some BBQ rub and toss them on the smoker for about 2 hours over some apple wood. Yummy goodness. It's a high protein treat.

I've had haggis once. I was in Scotland and I decided to give it a shot. I asked my English friend what it was exactly. He smiled and said, "It's a traditional Scottish dish". OK no real answer. When the waiter arrived I asked him about describing haggis. He smiled and said, "It's a traditional Scottish dish". I ordered it anyway. Ate it. It was fine, didn't kill me. I thought it was funny that they all used the same line when asked to describe the dish. The next time someone describes a dish as "traditional" without offering up any other details - I'll think I'll pass.

Definitely staying away from the scotch egg (that's a hard-boiled egg with a sausage patty wrapped around it, battered and deep-fried, served sliced over a southern-style biscuit covered with a ladle of sausage gravy). No humongous strawberry shortcake, no fried dough, no shortbread cookies - but I still want my haggis with a nice Scottish ale to wash it down.

i need to find a scottish festival because that stuff sounds AMAZING!

I loved reading through all of this just because of the cultural differences! Being from America I knew exactly what she was talking about but I can imagine being from the UK or something and being completely confused. I for one, had no idea what haggis was until I read about it here so thanks for that BTW, I love our American biscuits, especially covered in sausage gravy!

Probably too late to be helpful, but in answer to the original question, I checked out some packs of haggis in the supermarket this afternoon.

Nutritional info (per 100g):

Calories 250
Fat 17g, of which only 6g is saturates
Protein 10g
Carbs 20g
Fibre 3g
Sodium 0.7g

What was interesting was the variation in proportions of ingredients between the brands - the cheap ones tended to have fat as the second or third ingredient, in the better ones it was one of the last. (Don't know about other countries but here the first ingredient is the biggest quantity, the last is the smallest).

Anyway, thanks to this thread reminding me how good it is, I bought some for my dinner. Thank you OP! :drinker: