Haggis for Burns Night 2002, 2003
From: Irene Gray and Chris Shenton
Date: 2003-01-31

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.


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. :-)