How do you prepare haggis? What egzactly is Haggis?

[Sandoval]

I'm from Hungary and I've heard about the haggis, one of your national food. Is it difficult to prepare it? What's it egzactly. Can you give me some tips for good Scottish food?

[kathyv]

Haggis is the meat of a sheep, oats, onions and herbs cooked in a sheep's stomach. Don't get grossed out! It's not bad and tastes o bit of liver. If you like patee, you won't mind haggis.

I am not sure how it's cooked, I think it's boiled.

You can also get vegitarian haggis as well as tinned varieties.

Good Scottish food can best be sampled in Scotland! However, if you can't have it there you can fix your own! Oats, Shortbread, Whisky, Salmon, Tatties, Neeps, Cock A Leeky, Cranichan.... all are traditional Scottish foods.

If you search around this forum you will find recipes for a lot of scottish foods.

[Babz]

Haggis

Take a sheep's paunch and pluck, some of the lungs, liver and heart and
sometimes the kidneys.

Take the suet from round the kidneys and chop it finely.

Add a pint of medium oatmeal, a good amount of chopped onion, 1 tablespoon
salt, dash of black pepper, half a nutmeg, a handful of currants, raisins
or any available fruit element.

Mix well and pack into the paunch.

The secret of making a good haggis is to allow for the swelling
up of the meat to fill the elastic stomach tightly without bursting.

It may be necessary to prick the haggis slightly when the boiling is
beginning to let out air. It is easier to sew it up though the correct
fashion is to wrap the stomach over using wooden skewers.

Simmer for four hours.

If I find more I will post them too !!

[Babz]

1 sheep's stomach bag
1 sheep's pluck - liver, lungs and heart
3 onions
250g Beef Suet
150g oatmeal
salt and black pepper
a pinch of cayenne
150mls of stock/gravy


Clean the stomach bag thoroughly and soak overnight. In the morning
turn it inside out.

Wash the pluck and boil for 1.5hours, ensuring the windpipe hangs over
the pot allowing drainage of the impurities.

Mince the heart and lungs and grate half the liver.

Chop up the onions and suet.

Warm the oatmeal in the oven.

Mix all the above together and season with the salt, pepper and add
the cayenne.

Pour over enough of the pluck boiled water to make the mixture watery.

Fill the bag with the mixture until it's half full.

Press out the air and sew the bag up.

Boil for 3 hours (you may need to prick the bag with a needle if
it looks like exploding!) without the lid on.

Serve with neeps and tatties.


An easier recipe

2 lamb kidneys
350g lamb shoulder
125g beef suet
250g beef liver
1 cup of oatmeal
1 cup of stock (tastier if you reserve this from when you boil the meat)
2 pureed onions
salt and pepper




Boil the meat for about an hour and allow to cool. Then chop the
meats into small pieces but grate the liver.

Toast the oatmeal in the oven in a shallow dish and shake occassionally.

Mix all the ingredients together.

Put into a well greased glass bowl and cover with several layers of
foil and steam in a pan of boiling water for two hours.