Haggis

If you mention to anyone, at all, that you're going to visit Scotland, you're bound to be warned about Scotland's national dish; haggis. Haggis is, according to the AHD "A Scottish dish consisting of a mixture of the minced heart, lungs, and liver of a sheep or calf mixed with suet, onions, oatmeal, and seasonings and boiled in the stomach of the slaughtered animal." The closest thing I can compare with haggis to in terms of standard American dishes is stuffing, made with giblets. My introduction to haggis consisted of my Scottish host handing my a glass of single malt, and telling me to down it, and then telling me that it was invented as compensation for haggis . . .

Haggis was not always thought of as a Scottish dish; indeed it was quite popular in England right up until the eighteenth century. Etymologically, the ancestry of haggis is French; The Random House Dictionary, unlike the OED or AHD, properly attributes English haggis to Anglo-Norman French, via late Middle English (c. 1375–1425) hageys, from Anglo-Norman French *hageis, the equivalent of the verb hag-, the root of haguer, to chop, hash. They then follow haguer back to Middle Dutch hacken "to hack," with the addition of the -eis noun suffix frequently used for cookery terms. Language blogger Language Hat beat Random House to the chase, point out in this entry that there are several clear cognates in Anglo-Norman French.

Should you be so inclined, you can make your own haggis. It is often served with neeps and tatties, or turnips and potatoes, as in the image above. Alternatively, the less intrepid can order their haggis in a can here. If you want the stomach or casing there is an extra charge.