Burns Night….
Burns Night
Why not celebrate Burns Night with your very own homemade "haggis" which is surprisingly easy to make.
A simple receipe is below for anyone that fancies trying it out.
Ingredients
Traditional haggis
- 1 ox bung
- 1.4kg lamb's pluck, (heart, lungs and liver)
- 500g of beef, or lamb trimmings or stewing steak
- 200g of suet
- 500g of oatmeal, (coarse)
Seasoning (adjust to taste)
- 2 tbsp of black pepper, ground
- 1 nutmeg, finely grated
- 4 tbsp of coriander seeds
- 4 tbsp of fine sea salt
Method
- Rinse the whole pluck in cold water. Trim off any large pieces of fat and cut away the windpipe
- Place in a good sized pot and cover with cold water. The lungs float, so keep submerged with a plate or a lid. Bring to the boil and skim the surface regularly. Gently simmer for 2 hours
- Lift the meat from the pot with tongs or a slotted spoon, and rinse in cold water to remove any scum. Place into a bowl and leave to cool
- Strain cooking liquid through a fine sieve and put back on the stove to reduce until you have roughly 500–1l of stock. Leave to cool
- Whilst the stock reduces, finely dice the cooked heart and lungs. Grate the liver using the coarse side of the grater. Finely dice the trimmings. Mix together in a large bowl, along with the suet, oatmeal and spices
- Measure how much stock remains from cooking the pluck, and make up to 1l with cold water. When cool, add to the haggis mixture
- To check the seasoning, pan fry a tablespoon of the mixture for 2–3 minutes and taste. Add any extra salt, pepper or spice if needed
- Spoon the haggis mixture into the soaked, rinsed ox bung. Be aware the filling swells as it cooks, so pack quite loosely, and keep a little bung at each end
- When the haggis is the size required, expel any extra air, pinch, tie with string and cut with scissors
- Tie the new end of the bung, and continue stuffing. Freeze any spare haggises
- Before cooking, pierce the haggis several times with a needle. Place in a pan of cold water, and bring to the boil. Simmer for 1.5–2 hours. When ready, the internal temperature should read at least 74°C
- Serve with mashed potatoes and swede. Or neeps and tatties