Printable Version of Topic
Click here to view this topic in its original format
Celtic Radio Community > Scottish Recipes > Haggis


Posted by: scottish2 21-Apr-2002, 05:33 PM
Am surprised this one has not already been posted.

Quote
Haggis  

1 sheep stomach
1 sheep liver
1 sheep heart
1 sheep tongue
1/2 pound suet, minced
3 medium onions, minced
1/2 pound dry oats, toasted
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried ground herbs
Rinse the stomach thoroughly and soak overnight in cold salted water.

Rinse the liver, heart, and tongue. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook these parts over medium heat for 2 hours. Remove and mince. Remove any gristle or skin and discard.

In a large bowl, combine the minced liver, heart, tongue, suet, onions, and toasted oats. Season with salt, pepper, and dried herbs. Moisten with some of the cooking water so the mixture binds. Remove the stomach from the cold salted water and fill 2/3 with the mixture. Sew or tie the stomach closed. Use a turning fork to pierce the stomach several times. This will prevent the haggis from bursting.

In a large pot of boiling water, gently place the filled stomach, being careful not to splash. Cook over high heat for 3 hours.

Serve with mashed potatoes, if you serve it at all.


Yield: Depends on how much you throw out from the get go
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 5 hours
Difficulty: Expert

Posted by: kylassie 21-Apr-2002, 07:13 PM
Yum! Yum!  :D  I like haggis! (h)

This recipe reminds me of a recipe my grandmother had for chitlins  ;) .

Posted by: maggiemahone1 21-Apr-2002, 08:50 PM
You can have your haggis and your black pudding.  I guess if you get hungry enought a person will eat anything.  I do believe I would eat tree bark first.  Yuck!!  
When I was growing up we always raised our own pork, beef and chickens.  Fresh meat is really good, better than what you buy in the store.  But I have my limits when it comes to entrails of a hog.  I know my Dad always gave the intestines away to an old lady who fixed chitlins.  I know people who make blood pudding!  This is what the Irish call black pudding.  Well leave me out!  Just give me steak, ham or a chichen leg.  :D

maggiemahone1

Posted by: Aon_Daonna 22-Apr-2002, 05:58 AM
You can spare me with Haggis. It maybe utterly Scottish but my taste says: NO!
Not everything coming from a land that I like is good... although I use to raise everything that's scottish up into other spheres.... ;)
I'd rather have a good piece of Steak... or some deer...
There was a fantastic scottish recipe for deer in a creamy red-wine-sauce (yumm)... I have to search that... :D

Posted by: kylassie 22-Apr-2002, 07:16 PM
Okay y'all -I found a recipe for homemade hotdogs/frankfurters. Now someone tell me how really different the hotdogs are from haggis? The only real difference that I see is in the type of casing that it is cooked in - sheep intestines instead of sheep stomache!  :D

Homemade Frankfurters (Hot Dogs)

Ingredients

3 feet sheep or small (1-1/2-inch diameter) hog casings
1 pound lean pork, cubed
3/4 pound lean beef, cubed
1/4 pound pork fat, cubed
1/4 cup very finely minced onion
1 small clove garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon finely ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/4 teaspoon ground mace
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard seed
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon freshly fine ground white pepper
1 egg white
1-1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 cup milk


Instructions

Prepare the casings (see instructions below). In a blender or food processor, make a puree of the onion, garlic, coriander, marjoram, mace, mustard seed, and paprika. Add the pepper, egg white, sugar, salt, and milk and mix thoroughly. Grind the pork, beef, and fat cubes through the fine blade separately. Mix together and grind again. Mix the seasonings into the meat mixture with your hands. This tends to be a sticky procedure, so wet your hands with cold water first.

Chill the mixture for half and hour then put the mixture thorough the fine blade of the grinder once more. Stuff the casings and twist them off into six-inch links. Parboil the links (without separating them) in gently simmering water for 20 minutes. Place the franks in a bowl of ice water and chill thoroughly. Remove, pat dry, and refrigerate. Because they are precooked, they can be refrigerated for up to a week or they can be frozen.

Preparing the Casing
Snip off about four feet of casing. (Better too much than too little because any extra can be repacked in salt and used later.) Rinse the casing under cool running water to remove any salt clinging to it. Place it in a bowl of cool water and let it soak for about half an hour. While you're waiting for the casing to soak, you can begin preparing the meat as detailed below. After soaking, rinse the casing under cool running water. Slip one end of the casing over the faucet nozzle. Hold the casing firmly on the nozzle, and then turn on the cold water, gently at first, and then more forcefully. This procedure will flush out any salt in the casing and pinpoint any breaks. Should you find a break, simply snip out a small section of the casing. Place the casing in a bowl of water and add a splash of white vinegar. A tablespoon of vinegar per cup of water is sufficient. The vinegar softens the casing a bit more and makes it more transparent, which in turn makes your sausage more pleasing to the eye. Leave the casing in the water/vinegar solution until you are ready to use it. Rinse it well and drain before stuffing.

Credits
From: Home Sausage Making by Charles G. Reavis


Now remember this is the homemade stuff - the hotdogs made at food processing plants are made from the lips, eyelids, snouts, etc. and all of the other meat "by-products" that is not used to make other meat products.

Think about that the next time you have a foot-long hotdog with relish and mustard!  :O

Posted by: Aon_Daonna 23-Apr-2002, 08:26 AM
My great grandfather always used a hog's intestines for his Frankfurters.

Well... I think the main difference are the ingrediences.. there's no sheeps guts in it... :D

Posted by: aklassie 24-Apr-2002, 12:53 AM
Aon,
I hope you'll post your deer in wine sause recipe.  I wounder how it would taste with moose meat?

Posted by: Falachaidh 25-Apr-2002, 12:34 PM
I had read a haggis recipe that the esophagus is left attached so the stomach can breath while cooking. it was helpful to leave the esophagus out of the edge of the pot to prevent the stomach from bursting.
ok... GROSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'll take my italian noodles any day over that stuff! I've had haggis and it just isn't my liking.
I've also had alligator, crab, lobster, doe, stag, shrimp, and now kangaroo soaked in a red wine. YUMMY!!!
Looking forward to reading your post Aon!!

Posted by: kylassie 26-Apr-2002, 07:43 PM
I have been researching "Haggis" on the Internet and I am afraid we have had this whole discussion regarding the "recipe" all for naught! Check this article out that I found! :D

Quote
What is a Haggis ?



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


A haggis is a small animal native to Scotland. Well when I say animal, actually it's a bird with vestigial wings - like the ostrich. Because the habitat of the haggis in exclusively mountainous, and because it is always found on the sides of Scottish mountains, it has evolved a rather strange gait. The poor thing has only three legs, and each leg is a different length - the result of this is that when hunting haggis, you must get them on to a flat plain - then they are very easy to catch - they can only run round in circles.
After catching your haggis, and dispatching it in time honoured fashion, it is cooked in boiling water for a period of time, then served with tatties and neeps (and before you ask, that's potatoes and turnips).

The haggis is considered a great delicacy in Scotland, and as many of your compatriots will tell you, it tastes great - many visitors from the US have been known to ask for second helpings of haggis!

The noise haggis make during the mating season gave rise to that other great Scottish invention, the bagpipes.

Many other countries have tried to establish breeding colonies of haggis, but to no avail - it's something about the air and water in Scotland, which once the haggis is removed from that environment, they just pine away.

A little known fact about the haggis is its aquatic ability - you would think that with three legs of differing lengths, the poor wee beastie wouldn't be very good at swimming, but as some of the Scottish hillsides have rather spectacular lakes on them, over the years, the haggis has learned to swim very well. When in water, it uses its vestigial wings to propel itself forward, and this it can do at a very reasonable speed.

Haggis are by nature very playful creatures, and when swimming, very often swim in a group - a bit like ducks - where the mother will swim ahead, and the youngsters follow in a line abreast. This is a very interesting phenomenon to watch, as it looks something like this :



                                 ---

                                / /

                              / /

     \\  /-\  /-\  /-\  /-\  / /


From a distance, I'm sure you'll agree, the tourist can easily mistake a family of haggis out for their daily swim, as Nessie, this of course gives rise to many more false sightings, but is inherently very good for the tourist industry in Scotland.

The largest known recorded haggis (caught in 1893 by a crofter at the base of Ben Lomond), weighed 25 tons.

In the water, haggis have been known to reach speeds of up to 35 knots, and therfore coupled with their amazing agility in this environment, are extremely difficult to catch, however, if the hunter can predict where the haggis will land, a good tip is to wait in hiding on the shore, beacuse when they come out of the water, they will inevitably run round in circles to dry themselves off.

This process, especially with the larger haggis, gives rise to another phenomenon - circular indentations in the ground, and again, these have been mistaken by tourists as the landing sites of UFOs.

I hope this clears up some of the misconceptions about the Haggis, that rare and very beautiful beastie of the Scottish Highlands (and very tasty too).

I have included here as much factual material as possible, although there are many gaps in this subject, and some of the information has to be mere speculation.

No-one has as yet been able to ascertain the sex of captured Haggis, and partially because of this, scientists assume the haggis is hermophroditic.

This may also be a product of evolution, and does explain the logistic problems of bringing two haggis together - after all, sure footed though the beast is, if two were to mate on a Scottish hillside, it is a long fall down, and a slip at the wrong time may very well result in a reduction by two of the total haggis population.

What is known about Haggis breeding is that, several days prior to giving birth, the Haggis make a droning sound - very much like a beginner playing the bagpipes for the first time - giving rise to the speculation that the bagpipes were indeed invented in Scotland, simply to lure unsuspecting haggis into a trap. At the onset of this noise, all other wildlife for a five mile radius can be seen exiting the area at an extremely high rate of knots (wouldn't you if your neighbour had just started to play the bagpipes?). The second purpose of the noise seems to be to attract other Haggis to the scene, in order to lend help with the birth. This also gives rise to the assumption that Haggis are tone deaf.

Haggis normally give birth to two or more young Haggis, or "wee yins", as they are called in Scotland, and from birth, their eyes are open, and they are immediately able to run around in circles, just like their parent.

The wee yins are fiercely independant, and it is only a matter of weeks before they leave the parent, and go off foraging for food on their own, although it is perhaps a two or three year period before they are themselves mature enough to give birth.

Most Haggis hunters will leave the wee yins, due simply to their size, but when attacked by other predators, they are still able to emit the bagpipe like sound, which again has the effect of very quickly clearing the surrounding area of all predators, and attracting other Haggis to the scene. This results in a very low infant mortality rate, with most wee yins actually making it to adulthood.

The lifespan of the Haggis is again an unknown quantity, but from taggings done in the Victorian era, we know that some haggis live for well over 100 years.

Information provided by [email protected]

Posted by: maggiemahone1 26-Apr-2002, 09:19 PM
Oh No,  A 25 ton Haggis!  That is a scary thought.

That was real good reading Kylassie.  :D  Real amusing. A chuckle every now and then is good for the body and soul.  :D

maggiemahone1

Posted by: kylassie 27-Apr-2002, 06:09 AM
Quote
Haggis and the ancient Romans



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


It is a well known fact that the ancient Romans built two walls across the country here, called Hadrians Wall, and Antonines Wall. Historically, these walls were built to keep the marauding Picts out of "civilised" Roman "England", but perhaps there was another more sinister motive.
While out on a reconnaissance mission one day, a group of Roman soldiers stumbled on to a haggis during the mating season, and in the ensuing panic, they ran back to the camp and reported they were being pursued by the devil.

The camp commander, being an unimaginative type of Roman, not given to all this namby pamby philosophy that was all the rage at the time, slapped them in irons for a few weeks. Unfortunately, rumours began to circulate round the camp that the devil was alive and well, and living just up the road. Discipline wore a little thin, and the commander decided to do something about it.

It so happened that in the camp at the time was a Greek slave, who among his many other duties, was employed as a part time interrogator of prisoners because he seemed to be able to understand the locals a lot better than the Romans.

He was kitted out with all the latest designer gear - leather skirt, Roman Army Approved safety helmet, sandals, the lot, sent to the chariot pool, where he was issued with the new model Fiat single horse power chariot, and sent off to scorch the rumours.

Off he went, marvelling at the air conditioning in the new model chariot, the fixed axle suspension, and the acceleration of the single horse power plant. The handling too was superb - a lot better then the standard issue Skoda models he had previously driven.

Eventually, he arrived at the place the soldiers had described earlier, and crawling through the heather, came upon a wonderful scene - a haggis with four wee yins!

This man, being a slave, and far from his own family, was touched by the scene, and decided such a noble beast should be allowed to live in peace, so he slowly backed out of hiding and back to the chariot.

Imagine his dissapointment when he found the #### thing wouldn't start - no amount of kicking or poking would help, it the power plant had died, and he was now faced with a long walk back to the camp.

Off he set, but as luck would have it, he was caught by a group of Picts returning from a Picts versus Celts football match. Fortunately, the Picts had won on this occasion, and were in good spirits, so he was allowed to live, with only a few superficial bruises, and flesh wounds.

Suddenly a sound rent the air - the sound of a Haggis call - sensing a carry out around, the Picts disappeared in the direction of the noise, shouting, "Haggis", "Cairry oot", and "We are ra boyz", leaving the little Greek lying in the road.

Shortly after that, he was rescued by a fleeing Roman patrol who had just encountered a group of disgruntled Celts who had also been at the match, but as their team had not been so successful, had not been in quite such a forgiving mood.

The Greek, and the battered patrol arrived back at the camp, and were interrogated by the commander, but in view of his weakened condition, all the Greek could say was, "Hags". (His command of the local dialect was still poor).

Now, as everyone knows, at the time, hags in Roman terms referred to witches, and this, combined with the state of the returning patrol, convinced the commander the devil indeed was living in this strange land, so he command a wall be built to keep these evil creatures from invading civilisation. The Greek, in honour of his bravery, was awarded an honourary plebiscite, and given a new model twin horse Lancia chariot. The Romans never could pronounce his name of Onissopolis however, and took to calling him Hagis instead.

The name obviously stuck, and perhaps your friend is a descendant of this brave little man.

Information provided by [email protected]

Posted by: Aon_Daonna 27-Apr-2002, 09:34 AM
braw...  :)

But I heard that the Haggis is a small three-legged animal with a wooly brown fur and four big eyes. It is seldom found in the Highlands now because of intense hunting... :D

Posted by: kylassie 27-Apr-2002, 12:03 PM
But wait - there's more! ....  :D

Quote
The breeding habits of the haggis



-----------------------------------------------------------


Now, here's an intelligent question (at last!;). I've been wondering how long it would take someone to ask this one, so I have already researched the reply.
When the wee yins are born, the female haggis, like all aquatic, avian animals, suckles her young. Haggis however are sticklers for protocol, and the male wee yins suckle on the left side, while the females are restricted to the right side. (In the very few instances where all the wee yins are of one sex only, this does cause the odd little problem).

The effect of this is for the male legs to develop in such a way that when they mature, they run in a clockwise circle, while the females run in anti-clockwise circles. (I say circles here, but really, it's only when a haggis finds flat ground that it runs in circles).

Now of course, mating couldn't be easier - perhaps I should draw a diagram:

                  --------\
Male Haggis - /         \ - Female Haggis
                     /           \
                    /             \
                  /   Hill        \
                 /                 \
                /                   \
    _/                     \_


As the above two are quite innocently going about their daily foraging, it is a certainity they will meet, beacause as the male forages in a clockwise direction, while the female goes anti-clockwise, provided they are at the same level, they will shortly meet, and the inevitable courtship ritual ensues - the male asks her out, gives her a box of chocolates, a bouquet of flowers, and takes her to the pictures. (Just joking actually - Haggis don't go to the pictures - they don't have any money).

Now before I depart this subject, I must mention the puir wee yins where the whole family are unfortunate enough to be of one sex only. Well, the mother requires relief (like all mammals) in this situation, so she sets up a rota where some suckle one side one day, and then move over to the other side the next. The unfortunate results of this procedure are two fold. First of all, the puir wee yins don't know what sex they are, and grow up with a major identity crisis, but even worse, they grow up with three equal length legs.

Many years ago, these strange beasties did not survive long, but in more modern times, provided they manage to find a road, they will make their way down from the hills, into the towns and cities, provided they don't get flattened by passing traffic. Here they forage in dustbins, and get what food they can from passing kind hearted people, but alas, they will never find the joys of mating, as they are destined never to meet another haggis, and even if they do, they would be too embarrassed to say anything, because they are never quite sure whether it's a male or a female.

Sad, isn't it ?

Information provided by [email protected]

Posted by: free2Bme 21-May-2003, 09:07 AM
I KNEW I remembered having this discussion - it has been over a year ago, but bears repeating every now and again!  :D

Posted by: Catriona 13-Jun-2003, 04:31 PM
This site is just to let you see how closely we in Scotland follow the plight of the haggis.... Keep this bookmarked in time for next year's Burns' Night....

http://www.haggishunt.com/

In all seriousness, in the 60s, students at Edinburgh Uni (and I will neither confirm nor deny whether I was one of them) used to arrange 'haggis hunts' on Arthur's Seat for tourists.... laugh.gif It is a well-known fact that Arthur's Seat is an area where the haggis population is particularly prolific biggrin.gif

Here's a couple of views of the extinct volcano...... Edinburgh Castle and teh Royal Mile are built on the 'ridges' caused by the eruptions millions of years ago....
http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/features/moregpix249.html

Posted by: free2Bme 14-Jun-2003, 03:08 AM
biggrin.gif I love the Haggis Hunt website! I can't WAIT for Haggis season to begin - they are so YUMMY ! Better not let any of those Haggis migrate to to the Mountains here in the USA though or they will be hunted to extinction here! What a sight that would be though, especially in the Ozarks! Those people take their hunting SERIOUS! After all look what happened to the snipes...there are so few left these days that they are very difficult to catch, even in a potato sack...and I just LOVE snipe stew!

the photos of Authurs Seat are absolutely gorgeous! Thanks for the mini-vacation!

Posted by: Highlander 21-Jun-2003, 10:30 AM
Remind me to never try haggis, I stay with steak and potatos...

Posted by: Aon_Daonna 21-Jun-2003, 01:12 PM
Coward =)
even I tried it...! biggrin.gif

Posted by: Gaelic Bread 21-Jun-2003, 01:14 PM
For those in the Northeastern USA, it's really not that far off from the Amish's Scrapple. Haggis really isn't that bad... it's more a matter of knowing what's in it while it's in your face!
blink.gif

Posted by: Aon_Daonna 22-Jun-2003, 03:20 PM
hmm I don't have a problem with that.. you don't know what German people from the former province of Shlesia eat *euch*...
My GGrandparents were from there... I can give details but I'd rather not, because it's awful. And there is a dish called Lapskaus from northern germany.... *bleh*

I just hate the taste. But you're right. It's a problem when you eat it and think about what's in there...

Posted by: Roberto Phoenix 16-Sep-2006, 05:40 PM
Ah, now how can ye not love such adorable creatures
http://www.scottishstore.com/acatalog/Musical___Soft_Toys.html

Posted by: Roberto Phoenix 16-Sep-2006, 05:45 PM
And ye know that its only when they are used for horrible acts that they turn ugly really fast
http://scotwebstore.com/sr_macar_GHC0004.html

Posted by: zeryx 19-Sep-2006, 02:32 AM
Apart from being very tasty they are extremely cute aren't they wink.gif

user posted image

Posted by: sisterknight 19-Sep-2006, 07:41 AM
the scotsman had haggi hunting on line last year...had web cams set up in different parts of scotland,england and new york! you had to hunt them and then report the sighting!!!it was fun...hope they do it again this year!! thumbs_up.gif

Powered by Invision Power Board (https://www.invisionboard.com)
© Invision Power Services (https://www.invisionpower.com)