My grandmother used to mix Irish oatmeal with odds and ends from her brother's butcher shop and steam it in cans. She'd spice it with sage, red pepper, and whatever else struck her fancy and slice it once it was cold and fry it up for breakfast sausage.

She had no control over what went into it as far as trimmings and guts went but it always seemed to taste the same, like a very good breakfast sausage.

If she'd packed it into stomachs instead of cans, it would have been haggis.

There is a haggis eating contest held every year at the Celtic Classic in Bethlehem, PA.

http://www.celticfest.org/haggis_contest

Haggis sounds similar to the PA Dutch scrapple.

"In composition, preparation, and taste, scrapple is similar to the white pudding popular in Ireland, Scotland, and parts of England and the spicier Hog's pudding of the West Country of England."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrapple

To me, it always looks as disgusting as it sounded.

It was a Scots version of fruitcake-- all over the place but nobody ever actually ate it. Very un-Scottishly, though, it couldn't be saved and gifted next Christmas.

Asking around where I could find some decent haggis, I was regularly directed to the local McDonald's or KFC where I was told I could get a decent meal instead of typical Scottish dreck. I saw plenty of haggises hanging in butcher shop windows, but I was no position to cook one up.

(Yes, Craig Ferguson isn't the only Scot with an odd sense of humor.)

Anyway, I finally found a restaurant that had it on the menu and ordered some as a side dish. The waitress made a face when I ordered, and scowled when she brought it out.

I found it largely bland, but not objectionable. I was tempted to ask the waitress what the gritty bits were, but decided that wouldn't end well. The rest of the meal, btw, was quite good, as were the other meals I had there. I suspect they have this love-hate relationship with the reputation of a rather embarrassing national dish.

The comparison with scrapple is an apt one. Both come from a hardscabble past where you just didn't throw away needed nutrition. Scrapple, however, does cause me a to gag. It may have something to do with a story long ago about a long strand of something someone found in his dish of scrapple...

"What's this?

"Oh, you got the snout. I guess we didn't grind it up enough."

And drown it in either pancake syrup or ketchup. Either is permitted. Scrapple is just corn meal mush with, um, unidentified pork products and spices.
Having Pennsylvania Dutch heritage, my Mom made it pretty regular for weekend breakfasts, and I never liked it all that much (that's why God invented ketchup) so I never made it for my kids.