Customer Reviews

Haggis, The: A Little History

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Clarissa Dickson Wright fans will love her little book of history about one of Scotland's culinary products. Except for its whiskey, if one mentions "haggis" one immediate thinks of Scotland. The book is brief and to the point with suttle humour peppered throughout the piece. Ms. Wright shows her culinary knowledge and her well read background in this delicious piece of work.

Haggis is the legendary national dish of Scotland. It is, when well-made, surprisingly delicious. We served an excellent one to friends from Nova Scotia that we bought in Scotland, and our guests were delighted by its spicy richness.

Clarissa Disckon Wright, the witty co-host of the Two Fat Ladies cooking show, wrote this book with her wry humor but also with authority. It is an excellent work and fun to read. The illustrations are charming.

Be warned, however; making a haggis yourself is not for the faint-of-heart, nor is a detailed recipe included here--the initial stages of making haggis resemble a post-mortem more than a culinary exercise. Dickson Wright gently suggests you buy yours, as most people do. This is surprising, as she once described a recipe for beef tongue stuffed in sausage casing explaining, "just as simple really as applying a condom, though, of course, less fun."

Clarissa Dickson Wright, The Haggis: A Little History (Pelican Press, 1998)

Books like this make me wonder: what is the publishing industry thinking jacking up their prices every year, like clockwork, assuming we're going to buy this "cost of living increase" nonsense?

Clarissa Dickson Wright's The Haggis: A Little History is a small, lavishly-illustrated hardback priced such that, if the carpings of other publishers are to be believed, Pelican must have taken a major loss printing and selling it for the price they do. One would expect to see a book of this beauty selling for at least three times this price solely to break even. (Heed well, poetry fans. You're getting screwed on those fifteen-dollar trade paperbacks of less than an hundred pages. Not that you're surprised, but now you have hard evidence.)

As to the content of the book itself, it's a short essay by Dickson Wright (the surviving member of the wonderful Two Fat Ladies) on the origins, history, and popularity of the dish that has come to be associated with Scotland more than any other, though it's been said the Scots invented whiskey because they had to eat haggis. With her trademark wit and charm, Dickson Wright sheds new light on the much-maligned supersausage. Maybe even enough new light to get a few folks to try the stuff. Maybe. Folks, if you have tried scrapple and thought you were eating something akin to haggis, think again. (One word: oatmeal.)

A lovely little book. Granted, probably not for everyone, but giving a slew of these to children as birthday presents (you can remove the dust jacket; the actual book cover is just as beautiful and far more durable) may finally take the taint off the Scottish Hot Dog once and for all. ****

A small book packed with history. Written on a little known subject, there is almost too much information for anyone who is not a haggis connoiseur. Probably not a title you would want to keep in your home library.

I'm so tired of all these yuppie cooking shows. I think that the "Two Fat Ladies" is such a refreshing breath of fresh air! Whenever I see it on the television, I stop what I'm doing and get ready to learn something and have a great laugh. I appreciate it even more now that Jennifer has passed on.- Kristina Jansz