Ingredients:
Set of sheep's heart, lungs and liver (cleaned by a butcher)
One beef bung
3 cups finely chopped suet
One cup medium ground oatmeal
Two medium onions, finely chopped
One cup beef stock
One teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
One teaspoon nutmeg
½ 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.
Some chefs toast the oatmeal in an oven until it is thoroughly dried out (but not browned or burnt!)
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.
NEEPS & TATTIES:
1kg turnip / swede / neeps (depending on what you like to call them!)
1-2 carrots for added colour in the neeps (optional)
1 kg potatoes (tatties). Use a good mashing variety like Maris Piper
Butter
Salt and pepper
Optional extras you could consider for serving are chopped parsley, diced beetroot (hot or cold) or a sauce such as whisky and cream, beer and onion etc.
Method
1. Prepare the vegetables by peeling both the potatoes and turnips. Dice the turnip into 1 cm cubes and cut the potatoes in half if large. If including carrots, peel and chop. Try and cut the vegetables into equal sizes so they cook evenly. Place the prepared potatoes in a pan of cold, salted water. You will need a separate pan of cold, salted water for cooking the turnip and carrot. 2.Bring both pans of vegetables to the boil, and then reduce to a simmer and cook until they are soft, about 20-25 mins. The timings will depend on the size of the chopped vegetables. Test the vegetables with a sharp knife before draining, especially the turnips as they need to be nice and soft in order to mash properly. Once the vegetables are cooked, drain them separately and allow all the steam and mositure to evaporate. This will ensure creamy potatoes and turnips that are not watery! 3. To mash the potatoes, add some butter, hot milk, salt and pepper to taste, and get mashing! How much of these ingredients to use is, to a large degree, personal taste, so add a little at a time until you have creamy, lump-free mashed potatoes. 3. To mash the turnips, add some butter, salt and pepper to taste. Turnips are really tasty with butter and black pepper so don't stint on these! Give the turnips and carrots a good mash, but it is recommended that you retain a bit more texture, so don't mash until creamy. This allows for a good contrast to the smoother, creamier texture of the potatoes in the finished result. 4. Keep the mashed vegetables warm. 5. Serve with haggis.
CULLEN SKINK:
Ingredients:
A large smoked haddock (weighing around 2 lb)
1 medium onion, finely chopped.
1½ pints (900ml) milk
2 tablespoons butter
8 oz mashed potato
Salt and pepper
1 bay leaf
Chopped parsley
Water
Triangles of toast (as an accompaniment)
Method
Cover the smoked haddock with water, in a shallow pan, skin side down. Bring to the boil and simmer for 4/5 minutes, turning once. Take the haddock from the pan and remove the skin and bones. Break up the fish into flakes, return to the stock and add the chopped onion, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Simmer for another 15 minutes. Strain, remove the bay leaf but retain the stock and fish. Add the milk to the fish stock and bring back to the boil. Add enough mashed potato to create the consistency you prefer (don't be afraid to make it rich and thick!). Add the fish and reheat. Check for seasoning. Just before serving, add the butter in small pieces so that it runs through the soup.
Serve with chopped parsley on top, accompanied by triangles of toast.
ATHOLL BROSE:
Ingredients:
3 rounded tablespoons of medium oatmeal
2 tablespoons heather honey
Whisky
Method:
The oatmeal is prepared by putting it into a basin and mixing with cold water until the consistency is that of a thick paste. Leave for half an hour and then put through a fine strainer, pressing with a wooden spoon to extract as much liquid as possible. Throw away the oatmeal and use the creamy liquor from the oatmeal for the brose.
Mix four dessert spoonfuls of pure honey and four sherry glassfuls of the prepared oatmeal and stir well. (A silver spoon for stirring!) Put into a quart bottle and fill with malt whisky; shake before serving.
Looking forward to seeing you there. Bring any trackables that desire a visit to the UK.
