The verdict

Of course I was going to try haggis. How could I be in Scotland and not have some? There it was, right in the hotel breakfast buffet, sitting next to some blood sausage. At least, I thought that was haggis. There was no label, so I was guessing that the fried textured patty was it (the blood sausage was a lot darker).

Haggis, according to Wikipedia, consists of sheep's heart, liver, and lungs minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally simmered in the animal's stomach. (Why did I think that it was cooked in the sheep's bladder? Much too small, now that I think of it...). I've had chicken hearts before and had no problem with them, other than with their chewy, almost jerky like texture and the odd association of eating, well, a heart. Lungs - I had no idea what that would taste like. Liver, though, I've had a bad history with. Foie gras is great, and some formulations of chopped chicken liver can be rather tasty, but for the most part, I can't stand the stuff. I can sense it from a mile away. My parents and grandma have tried to fool me on occasion into eating liver, but I can't abide it - the aroma, the texture, that specific peculiar flavor no matter what animal it's from - ech!

But I was feeling optimistic about haggis. I figured that with everything all chopped up into bits and pieces and mixed with spices, I could stand a good chance in having the flavors and textures of offal be somewhat diminished and offset by other ingredients. And looking and sniffing at the crispy patty, I felt all right: I can do this.

First bite in: wow, this is a whole lot better than I thought it would be. No, let's amend that: this is actually pretty darned good! It popped with pepper, the dominant flavor, crackled from a crisp, fried crust (deep fried? pan fried? I couldn't quite tell), and had a good solid chewy crunch from the coarse oatmeal. Definitely meaty flavored, but nothing that I'd identify - positively or negatively - or even associate as coming from innards. Could I actually be enjoying a dish made with liver?

Yes...for a while. I slowly made my way through the items on my breakfast plate, enjoying some beans, bacon, grilled tomatoes, eggs, and toast. I was about 75 percent of the way through my haggis patty when it came. The flavor. That awful livery flavor. Oh, no. And I was having such a good time. But that first bit of the last 25 percent - I was starting to feel queasy because that's how liver, swiftly and surely, makes my stomach feel. What happened? Was this an anomaly? Did I hit a concentrated pocket of the nasty stuff? The ingredients in a sausage of this sort can't be distributed entirely evenly and consistently, can they? Or were the first three quarters the anomaly, and what I thought I was enjoying was not the "real" thing?

I tried to finish up the serving but just couldn't do it. I felt defeated, at least for the moment. I decided I was simply going to have to try another batch. After all, this was only my first day - and my first meal - in Edinburgh. So two days later, I sat at breakfast again, with another piece of haggis on my plate. Bite one: no, not good.  Bite two, anyway, just to be sure: game over. Do not pass go. There was no bite three. I just couldn't do it.

But the next time I'm in Scotland, I am going to try haggis again. I saw it on menus in plenty of places, different styles of preparations and sauces, and I'm sure there are variations on the recipe that might result in something more palatable for me. This isn't some food masochism I'm engaging in - I'd much rather eat goetta than haggis - I just want to keep an open mind and gullet. I wouldn't want to miss out on a good thing.