Great chieftain o' the pudding-race!
Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face, Great chieftain o' the pudding-race!
Today is the anniversary of the birth of Scotland’s National Bard, whose work is celebrated around the world. And on Burns Night it is traditional to entertain friends and read out the great man ‘s work and address the pudding. And he great chieftain o’the pudding race is the haggis, but have you ever tried to make it? Well here is a simple method, but be warned it’s quite a flog. It may be easier to pop down the butcher and try one of his and at the end of the recipe there is a link to some lovely tumblers for the essential whisky for the toast to the pudding. It may be a bit late for this year, but you can put that in your Letts or Collins diary for 2024, they are both made in Scotland. I buy onefor the wife every September direct from the factory.
To Make the Haggis you need the following
- A sheep's stomach or cow equivalent, go and ask your butcher. He or she will help.
- Clean it really, really well with boiling water. Overnight soak it inside out in brine in the fridge
- 1lb of lamb, that’s 445 grams lamb trimmings, you can use beef
- Get the lungs of a lamb, this is a real reason to know your butcher
- A couple of medium onions. Chop finely, I use my Pampered Chef chopper
- Half a pound of porage oats, you can do the maths it’s 225 grams
- A good grind of black pepper to taste
- A good pinch of salt
- Teaspoon of mace
- Teaspoon of ground coriander dried
- Some recommend a teaspoon of nutmeg, but I’m not so keen myself
- Meat stock, I buy mine from the supermarket in a plastic packet
Boil up the lungs, heart, and any meat you feel like adding, from cold for two hours, the longer the better, but not beyond the extra half an hour. Strain it all off. Save the stock if that’s your thing. Get your food processor out and mince up the heart, lungs and trimmings. Then add to the bowl the oats, onions and salt and pepper, moisten with the stock until it has a crumbly feeling. It’s at this point that you stuff the mixture into the sheep's stomach. Don’t overfill it, halfway will do! Get a needle and hefty thread and sew up the haggis. Use a skewer to make a few holes so we don’t have an explosion on the hob. Boil it up some water and pop in the haggis fully covered in the water, DON’T cover the pan and cook for three hours. Told you it isn’t quick. Make sure the haggis is always covered.
Drain well at the end and serve with a dram or two and neeps and tatties.
NOW HALF PRICE!
And if all that’s a heck of a faff and you can get a locally made haggis then you’ll be happy to take a look at our SALE. Take a gander at these Aviemore beauties from Royal Scot Crystal they are old fashioned tumblers in a presentation box. These beautiful tumblers are a joy to hold with a traditional hand cut diamonds and fan design
