Haggis against Tripoux ?

Sometimes I discuss « cuisine » with English people, each of us wanting to enhance our own recipes. It is the case with a Scottish dish: Haggis and a French dish: Tripoux. Often in France haggis is a dish that French people laugh at because for them it doesn’t seem to be very good food…. the worst of British cuisine! But generally without having tasted it! Tripoux is a dish which is not very well known in France. It comes from the south of the Massif Central.
Why compare them?
Because, when one looks at the definition, it is the same thing: stuffed ewe’s stomach.
But if you look at the appearance they are different:
Tripoux consists of pieces of ewe’s stomach, which are stuffed. It looks like small roasts tied up with string.
Haggis is the whole ewe’s stomach stuffed.
The great difference is the stuffing.
Inside tripoux the stuffing is just dry raw ham in small pieces.
Inside Haggis the stuffing is minced meat with other things unknown to me!
You can find tripoux in butcher’s only in the Massif Central either just raw or cooked with a flavoured sauce. You can also find it cooked in tins.
I had never tasted Haggis before of course! Mandy Brice, our Scottish teacher at IMEP, brought me back a haggis directly from Scotland.
I roasted it as Mandy recommended and ate it with mashed potatoes. As also recommended I drank whisky!!!
The first thing which surprised me was that the stuffing is stronger when I expected something mild. But haggis was good for my taste. I would like to taste it using another Scottish recipe: boiled and put inside mash potatoes a little bit like our “hachis Parmentier”. In France, the reputation of this dish is false and maybe Scotland could export it.
The taste of tripoux is very different. The texture is not the same as Haggis. It is milder and it is very good with potatoes or pasta (for people who like it!! and Mandy is not a fan of tripoux).
The best thing to do to compare these two dishes is to taste them.
“Bon appétit” and Cheers!

Note: More about the tripoux (in French!) go to http://www.monauvergne.com/2006/05/11/one-two-tripoux/