Haggis recipe: Haggis for the soul

Published on Wednesday 10 February 2010 13:07

'Haggis for the soul', submitted by D.S Hamilton, is the winner of this year's Haggis Hunt recipe competition.

Ingredients:

Set of sheep's heart, lungs and liver (cleaned by a butcher)

One beef bung

3 cups finely chopped suet

1.1 cups medium ground oatmeal

Two medium onions, finely chopped

One cup beef stock

One teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

One teaspoon nutmeg

teaspoon mace

Method:

Trim off any excess fat and sinew from the sheep's intestine and, if present, discard the windpipe.

Place in a large pan, cover with water and bring to the boil.

Reduce the heat and simmer for an hour or possibly longer to ensure that they are all tender. Drain and cool.

Toast the oatmeal in an oven until it is thoroughly dried out.

Finely chop the meat and combine in a large bowl with the suet, oatmeal, finely chopped onions, beef stock, salt, pepper, nutmeg and mace.

Make sure the ingredients are mixed well. Stuff the meat and spices mixture into the beef bung which should be over half full.

Then press out the air and tie the open ends tightly with string. Make sure that you leave room for the mixture to expand or else it may burst while cooking. If it looks as though it may do that, prick with a sharp needle to reduce the pressure.

Place in a pot and cover with water. Bring to the boil and immediately reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for three hours. Avoid boiling vigorously to avoid bursting the skin.

Serve hot with "champit tatties and bashit neeps" (mashed/creamed potato and turnip/swede).

For added flavour, you can add some nutmeg to the potatoes and allspice to the turnip/swede. Some people like to pour a little whisky over their haggis - Drambuie is even better!

Don't go overboard on this or you'll make the haggis cold. At Burns Suppers, the haggis is traditionally piped in and Burns' "Address to the Haggis" recited over it.