" Great cheiftan o the puddin' race!" (Haggis)

Member Name: Casseopeia

Product:	Haggis
Date:	11/12/02 (242 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Tasty, Nutritious, Filling

Disadvantages: Messy to make yourself

"Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o the puddin'-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy of a grace
As lang's my arm." Robert Burns


If there is one dish that is immediately identified as being Scottish then it must be haggis and yet it would be more correct to call it a British dish. The English made haggis well into the 18th century before abandoning the dish, the Scots quite wisely continued to make haggis. Personally I love it and fortunately there are a few English butchers who now sell it. We still have it occasionally for dinner when I can find it here.

Although butcher's shops and supermarkets are filled to overflowing with haggis on Burns Night on the 25th January (the anniversary of Robert Burns birth) and St. Andrew's Day (30th November) there is no difficulty in obtaining haggis all year round. It is even available in the traditional fish & chip shops in Scotland, albeit as a thick sausage shape and deep-fried. Unfortunately it is extinct in English fish and chip shops but can be found in most supermarkets on the afore mentioned dates.


A traditional recipe

Before I describe what haggis is it is important to stress that haggis tastes wonderful because if you knew what went into it you would probably never eat it!

If you cannot buy a haggis locally or if you just fancy making one then here is a traditional recipe credited to "The Glasgow Cookery Book" (John Smith, 1962). I have to say I have only ever made it myself once or twice. Most butchers base their own recipes on this one, although each individual?s haggis will be different. Some will be smooth, rough, spicy, herby, strong or mild. As well as the usual sheep's haggis you can make sweet, venison or vegetarian haggis, the scope for variation is almost endless. As a result of the diversity of t
he possible recipes an annual competition is held to find the finest butcher's haggis in the country. Whatever the precise details of the recipe the resulting haggis ought to be moist and firm, never dry and crumbly nor should the meat consist of tough gristly bits.

Ingredients

1 sheep's pluck. i.e. the animals heart, liver, and lights (lungs).
Cold water.
1 sheep's stomach.
1lb lightly toasted pinhead oatmeal (medium or coarse oatmeal).
1-2 tablespoons salt.
1 level tablespoon freshly ground black pepper.
1 tablespoon freshly ground allspice.
1 level tablespoon of mixed herbs.
8oz finely chopped suet.
4 large onions, finely chopped.
(lemon juice (or a good vinegar) is sometimes added as well as other flavourings such as cayenne pepper)

Directions

Wash the stomach in cold water until it is thoroughly clean and then soak it in cold salted water for about 8-10 hours.
Place the pluck in a large pot and cover with cold water. The windpipe ought to be hung over the side of the pot with a container beneath it in order to collect any drips. Gently simmer the pluck for approximately 2 hours or until it is tender and then leave the pluck to cool.
Finely chop or mince the pluck meat and then mix it with the oatmeal. Add about half a pint of the liquor in which the pluck was cooked (or use a good stock). Add the seasonings, suet and onions, ensuring everything is well mixed.
Fill the stomach with the mixture, leaving enough room for the oatmeal to expand into. Press out the air and then sew up the haggis. Prick the haggis a few times with a fine needle. Place the haggis it in boiling water and simmer for approximately 3 hours.


Serving your haggis

Haggis is traditionally served as "haggis, neeps and tatties".
The neeps are mashed turnip or swede, with a little milk and allspice added, whereas the tatties are creamed potatoes flavoured with a
little nutmeg. To add that authentic touch
consume your haggis, neeps and tatties with a dram of good whisky, it goes down your neck not onto the haggis!

The tourist haggis

The tourist trade is keen to exploit the gulible tourist, willing or not, with the story of the wild haggis, a tubular beast which has one set of legs shorter than the other to enable it to run round hillsides. The wild haggis hides in the short purple heather that covers the Highland hillsides and is difficult to trap. However the secret is now out and all the good people of dooyoo know the real story about Haggis!

Enjoy!

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