Loosely based on the Scottish Women's Rural Institute Cookery Book, 9th Edition (1970s?). The original asked for 2 Lamb's Lungs but lungs are not available in the US due to archaic tuberculosis concerns. It asked for 1 heart, 1 liver, and 1/3 of the cooked lung, and half the amount of oatmeal we used; it also has a higher proportion of onion and less seasoning. We didn't have a traditional sheep's stomach to put the haggis mixture in, so we stuffed them into sausage casings to make individual haggii; the taste was very close to traditional haggii from Scotland. Makes about 40 individual 7-cm long by 3-cm diameter links.
| Qty | Measure | Ingredient |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lamb's Liver | |
| 3 | Lamb's Hearts | |
| 2 | Liter | Water |
| 200 | g | Rendered Beef Fat (originally Suet), coarsely chopped [7 oz] (for 2003 we used smokey fat rendered from smoked beef brisket) |
| 600 | g | Oats, US: steel cut, UK: pin head, not breakfast oatmeal [22 oz] |
| 1 | large | Onion, finely chopped |
| 3 | 15 ml | Black Pepper, freshly ground [3 Tbs] |
| 3 | 15 ml | Kosher Salt [3 Tbs] |
| 1 | 5 ml | Nutmeg, ground [1 tsp] |
| 2 | 5 ml | Allspice berries, ground [2 tsp] |
| 1 | 5 ml | Cayenne Pepper [1 tsp] |
| 4 | meters | Sausage Casings, hog (3 cm diameter when filled with water) |
Simmer the Liver and Hearts in covered pot for 2 hours with about 2 Liter water, covering the meat by about 5 cm. (Liver was very dry, but the heart wasn't -- perhaps could have cooked for less time).
Remove meats, cool slightly, retaining stock liquid; cut off any gristle from Hearts.
Grind Hearts and Liver through meat grinder on 1/4" (0.5 cm) followed by 1/8" (0.25 cm) die; we sent some of the Fat through the grinder with the meats, and followed with 1/4 onion to push out any remaining meats.
Reduce the retained stock to 1 liter to intensify the flavor, skimming any scum that develops.
Meanwhile, lightly toast oats on a cookie sheet (Scots: Swiss Roll tin); don't burn!
Combine oats, meats, stock, spices in a large bowl; it will be a soupy consistency until oats absorb liquid. Refrigerate overnight, oatmeal will absorb some of the liquid and be easier to stuff.
Stuff sausage casings loosely -- the oatmeal will expand and needs room. You can instead wrap large balls (e.g., 1/3 or 1/2 recipe) in cling film (plastic wrap, e.g., Saran) for later steaming in the film. You can refrigerate or freeze at this point.
Steam for 1 1/2 hours. Prick casings if they seem likely to burst.
Serve with "tatties and neeps": potatoes, turnips, separately boiled until soft and each chapped (mashed) with butter and black pepper. Don't forget the single-malt whisky and book of Burns poetry and a silly accent. :-)
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