Haggis and the holiday weekend?
Thanksgiving time is stuffed with food, and turkey in particular. But if you’re tired of leftovers, would like to help a good cause, are open to eating organ meat and there are tickets left, here’s something for you to do.
Chicago Scots, the first and oldest nonprofit organization in Illinois, is celebrating Scotland and Kindness by hosting its 179th Annual Saint Andrew’s Day Gala, “The Feast of the Haggis” at 5 p.m. on St. Andrew’s Day, Saturday, Nov. 30 at the Palmer House, 17 E. Monroe in downtown Chicago.
Proceeds from the evening will benefit the organization’s principal charity, Caledonia Senior Living and Memory Care in North Riverside, a five acre campus that offers three residential options for the elderly.
According to a press release, attendees will enjoy a cocktail reception with Scottish flair, which I assume means whisky drinks of some sort or other. That will be followed by a special presentation of the haggis and a banquet dinner.
According to the Wilderness Scotland website, traditionally, Haggis is made from sheep’s offal, mixed with oats, suet, onion, spices and is cooked inside a sheep’s stomach.
“Today, the haggis that is widely available in supermarkets and served commonly in restaurants is made from either lamb, beef, pork, or sometimes venison. The stomach has been replaced with artificial casings,” the site states.
Past the haggis, entertainment for the evening at the Palmer House will include pipe band performances and Highland Dancers, along with a special presentation of awards, toasts and tributes.
Set to receive the 2024 Distinguished Citizen Award that night is Sir Niall Ferguson. Ferguson is a noted Scottish historian, author and documentary maker. He’s also a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center of Science and International Affairs at Harvard.
The banquet will also honor Paul and Catherine Melville as the 2024 Kinswoman and Kinsman of the Year, for their outstanding leadership and commitment to advancing the work of Chicago Scots and the Caledonia Senior Living & Memory Care.
The dress code is Highland Evening Dress and Black-Tie encouraged. Tickets start at $250 per person for general admission, which includes access to the open bar and sit-down dinner.
For more information, email Dawn Miller at DawnMiller@ChicagoScots.org.
If that’s too rich for your blood, here is a link for making your own haggis.
You can even try making your own haggis-stuffed turkey!
My favorite part of the piece: “Handling the ox bung, the last metre of an ox’s intestine, is very challenging. It smells curiously of blue cheese and is quite slippery to handle after soaking. It also looks just a tad…wrong. But if generations and generations of hardy, tough and slightly psychotic Scots can deal with it, then so can you.”
You could always order some haggis from Jolly Posh Foods in Chicago.
Personally, the best haggis I ever had was a links sausage form called Haggis Pups. They were sweet and juicy, like mild bratwurst. That was a long time ago at the Chicago Scots Highland Games back in 2013. That fest this year and other times has also had haggis-flavored crisps for sale!!
The sausages were available there from a Kansas City area-based business, Scotsfare. Alas, going by that website, it doesn’t seem like they sell Haggis Pups anymore.
Incidentally, Haggis is also the name of the rare young pygmy hippo kept at the Edinburgh Zoo.
Oh well.
There’s always a good selection of whiskies to be found at Woodman’s or Binnie’s.
Here’s a list of musical acts from Scotland.
I already have my own kilt collection, so I am set for my own gathering.
Now for marking St. Andrew’s Day and the Feast of the Haggis, I – and maybe you – have a lot of choices for celebrating Scotland. Celebrating kindness – that should be a given.
