I first tried haggis a few years ago on a trip to Scotland as part of a full Scottish breakfast and found that I rather enjoyed the flavour and much preferred it to black pudding. I'd normally buy pre-made haggis from a supermarket and use that (usually located in the same section as bacon and sausages) but had been thinking of trying to made my own from scratch for a while. I have a couple of Scottish cookbooks that contain recipes for it and found the traditional method rather intimidating initially, as I wasn't sure if I could get hold of the ingredients. Not to mention that it was supposed to take most of the day to cook it! While there are easier and quicker recipes out there, I did not intend to back out of a cooking challenge that easily. I dully took myself to my local butchers and ordered the pluck and the stomach. This was delivered a few days later although they did not have a sheep's stomach, but getting me the caul instead. This is a thin, fatty membrane which surrounds the internal organs of an animal and can be used in recipes to provide flavour, extra fat and to hold things together. That didn't work out so well for me with the haggis....
Ingredients:
The pluck of a sheep (heart, lungs and liver, preferably still connected together with the wind pipe)
Enough water to submerge the pluck
5 small onions, finely chopped
2 cups medium oatmeal, toasted in a pan for a few minutes
3 tsp cayenne pepper
450 g beef suet
1/2 tsp allspice
1 Sheep's stomach (I used sheep's caul instead)
Method:
Put the pluck in a deep enough pot to fit it all in and cover with cold water. Make sure the wind pipe is hanging outside the pot as it will release liquid during cooking. Put a bowl underneath to hold any escaping liquid. Bring to the boil in high heat, then the turn down to low and cook for 2 hours. Check on it regularly and remove any scum rising to the top. You may need to empty the bowl holding the escapee liquid every so often. Turn the heat off and wait to cool.
Remove from the liquid, and cut off any fat and the wind pipe. Get rid of them. Finely chop the meat. You can do this the day before you want the haggis to spread the cooking a little. If this is the case, put the chopped meat in Tupperware and cover with the cooking liquid so it doesn't dry out. Make sure you save the rest of the cooking liquid. You will need this later.
When you are ready to cook, put the meat (drained from any liquid if stored overnight) with the oats, suet and spices. Go heavier on the pepper, as haggis is meant to be spicy. That cooking liquid you saved? Add one addle at a time to the dry ingredients and mix in well by hand. You are looking for a mix that clumps together when you squeeze it in one hand, but does not turn into a mushy dough. I ended up using 3 laddles of liquid, but you may need less or slightly more. If you are not confident on the flavour, start by adding a little of the spices to the mixture and fry a tiny amount in a frying pan. Taste it, then adjust the seasoning in the mixture as you like. Repeat this process until you are happy with the seasoning.
Take out your caul and select 4 of the largest sheets. Spread the first one out as large as it would go and place a quarter of the dry mix in the middle, as tightly packed as you can. Wrap the caul around the mix, ensuring it is fully covered. Place aside while you do the rest with the rest of the mixture and cauls. If these are on the smaller side, feel free to make a few smaller haggises (haggi?). Once they are all done you have two options in cooking them:
Place them in a casserole or ceramic pot that goes in the oven, cover with the leftover cooking liquid and bake on 160 degrees C for 3 hours. That's the option I ended up going with.
Place with the cooking liquid in a deep pot and boil on low heat for 3 hours.
Take out of the oven or turn off the heat after the 3 hours are up. You should, hopefully, have 4 parcels of haggis ready for eating. Unfortunately for me, because I used a few smaller cauls for my last parcel, I only had 3 that had held together. Haggis number 4 had dissolved. In hindsight, this would have made a good soup cooked further with root vegetables, had I kept it. Nevertheless, I had enough food there to feed two of us for a week. I don't reckoned freezing the haggis as the texture may be affected.
Here is what I did with the haggis for the rest of the week:
Meal 1: Roasted haggis with mashed potatoes and parsnips. I made extra of each mash to go into meal 2. Just roast the haggis to crisp up a bit, boil and mash the vegetables. Serve.
Meal 2: Haggis and mash bake. Layer the haggis with the mash in a baking dish and top with cheese. Bake until the the cheese is melted and bubbling. Serve with salad. Makes 6 portions.
Meal 3: Haggis Lasagne. Use the haggis as you would mince and cook in a tomato sauce with extra vegetables. I put in mushrooms, a carrot and some spinach. There is no need for too many other seasonings other than a little dried mixed herbs within the sauce. Layer the meat with lasagne sheets and white sauce (from a jar or make your own roux). Top with cheese and bake until the lasagne sheets are cooked through and the cheese is melted and bubbling. Don't be put off by making your own roux. Its super easy and quick consisting of flour cooked in butter and cooked with milk to form a sauce.
Lastly, and most importantly, son't be put off from making haggis. Its not hard, just time consuming. The end result is super versatile too. Just make sure you get a sheep's stomach to avoid some of it melting completely. Although one of my recipe books suggested using a foil to loosely wrap the mixture in and boil. That would be the next thing I try next time a make haggis.
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