Pennsylvania Has Its Very Own Version Of Haggis, But With A Different Animal

For something most people in the U.S. have never eaten, the mention of haggis can evoke strong reactions, but if you want to get a taste of something very similar, you only need to go as far as Pennsylvania. Haggis, that dish of sheep's stomach stuffed with a mixture of oats and chopped offal, is sometimes held up as a point of ridicule for the culinary prowess (or lack thereof) of the Scots, but the tradition of using up unwanted meat after butchering is something that crosses cultures. Pennsylvania already has a food like that which you might be more familiar with: the pork and cornmeal mixture known as scrapple. But Pennsylvania chefs' thrift with the pork doesn't stop there — they also created a haggis-adjacent dish with a pig's stomach.

This stuffed pig's stomach dish goes by a few different names in Pennsylvania. For the more literal-minded, it's just "pig stomach," while the slightly more poetic call it "hog maw." Like haggis, it's a stomach stuffed with ground meat and filler, but in this case, the meat is pork sausage and the filler is a mixture of cubed potato and onion, sometimes with other vegetables like carrot and cabbage. Unlike haggis, which is boiled like so many other British Isle classics, P.A. pig stomach is baked. It can then be served by either slicing or scooping out the filling to be plated by itself. It's not actually all that different from sausages served in natural casings, which are usually cleaned intestines.

It's no surprise that the same area in Pennsylvania gave rise to both scrapple and pig stomach. They are dishes of the Pennsylvania Dutch, which has a well-earned reputation for thrift and frugality. The Pennsylvania "Dutch" are actually descendants of German-speaking immigrants, which includes groups with their own unique food like the Amish community but is not limited to them.

The name Dutch actually comes from "Deutch," the former English term for all German speakers. P.A.'s version of pig's stomach actually evolved from a similar German dish called "Saumagen," which was adapted with locally raised American ingredients. Like Cajuns in Louisiana, the Pennsylvania Dutch community has gradually developed a unique local culinary legacy with lots of dishes like shoofly pie and potato filling. Today, pig's stomach is still a holiday meal, especially on New Year's, where it is served with sauerkraut in the German tradition.

Pig's stomach or hog maw isn't something you'll see on a lot of restaurant menus in the area. Although some spots still have it on the menu, it is slowly declining in popularity, and it's now primarily a home-cooked tradition. Old-school markets and butchers in the Pennsylvania Dutch region will still carry empty pig's stomachs, and may even clean them, but most of the mixing and stuffing is something you'll have to do yourself if you want to try it. Like many old recipes it's up to individuals to preserve this tradition.