Haggis is a very old, traditional Scottish dish that combines meats, spices and oatmeal. A traditional recipe for Haggis would involve the boiled and minced liver, lungs and heart of a sheep mixed with chopped onions, toasted oatmeal, salt, pepper, and spices. The mixture would then be stuffed into the cleaned sheep’s stomach, sewn up and then boiled. Here is an updated version of Haggis, prepared with modern techniques. And rather than using a sheep’s stomach you can prepare the Haggis in a bowl or use the same type of casing most commonly used to make breakfast sausage.

Ingredients

½ lb minced lamb shoulder
½ lb minced beef
6 oz. beef suet
½ lb beef liver
1 cup of oatmeal
1 cup of stock (reserve this from the boiled meat)
2 finely chopped onions (or you can grate the onions if you choose)
½ tsp grated nutmeg
1 piece of mace or ¼ tsp ground mace
¼ tsp of cayenne pepper
¼ tsp ground coriander
Sea salt and ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

Preheat oven to 250 °-300°F. Place the liver in cold water, bring to a boil the liver for five minutes, allow to cool. Chop the liver with the onion as finely as you can. Boil the remaining meat in a large stock pot approximately one hour; then allow to cool. Reserve the stock. Meanwhile, toast the oatmeal in a sauté pan shaking occasionally to be sure all toasts equally and doesn’t burn. Chop the meats finely. Mix all ingredients together including the reserved stock. Transfer to a well greased oven-proof glass bowl and cover with a layer of foil or parchment paper. Place in a baie marie (a water bath) using a pan large enough to accommodate the bowl and add warm water to come ¾ of the way up the bowl. Check from time to time to replenish the water level. Cook for 3 hours. To serve, cut open the casing if you are using and spoon out the filling. Accompany with neeps and tatties (turnips and potatoes mashed together).

Happy Burns Night!