The Hirshon Royal Haggis for Burns Night

Citizens – for those of you who are not of Scottish blood, be advised that tonight is that most sacred Scottish holiday: Burns Night!

Celebrating that most famous son of Scotland, the poet Robert Burns, all good Scots tonight partake of the pomp, circumstance and rituals surrounding the holiday: bagpipes, toasts, oration and of course the eating of Haggis, aka “the Great Chieftain o’ the Pudd’n race”.

This most infamous of Scots recipes usually sends Sassenachs (non-Scots) screaming back to the English border and beyond. Yes, it uses parts of the sheep like finely minced cooked liver and heart cooked in a stomach. It also includes oatmeal, whisky, herbs and spices.

If you have a problem with this…

…get over it. 🙂

Your average hot dog has all those organ meats in it plus snouts, ears and assholes – haggis is a cleaner and nobler sausage by far! You don’t eat the stomach, by the way…

As to the history of haggis, allow Me to quote from historytoday.com:

Haggis’ origins are shrouded in mystery. There is no telling where – or when – it came into being. Some believe that it was brought over by the Romans. Although evidence is scarce, their version – made from pork – probably began as a rudimentary means of preserving meat during hunts. Whenever an animal was killed, the offal had to be eaten straight away, or preserved.

This wasn’t an easy thing to do in the middle of a field or forest, so the offal was simply chopped up, packed in salt, stuffed into the animal’s stomach or wrapped in caul fat and then boiled, sometimes in a rudimentary basin made from the hide. It wasn’t pretty, but it lasted for a couple of weeks – and ensured that nothing went to waste.

Others think that a similar type of proto-haggis may have been imported from Scandinavia by the Vikings at some point between the eighth and 13th centuries. In support of this, the Victorian philologist, Walter Skeat, suggested that the root, hag, may have been derived from the Old Norse haggw or the Old Icelandic hoggva – both of which mean ‘to chop’. As such, the name would have meant something like ‘chopped up stuff’ and referred to the method of preparing the offal before it was stuffed into the stomach or caul.

Others still claim it as a French innovation. As Walter Scott pointed out, hag is also surprisingly similar to the French verb hacher, which – like haggw/hoggva – means ‘to chop’ or ‘to mince’. Given the historically strong relationship between France and Scotland (the so-called ‘Auld Alliance’), it is possible that some sort of precursor – not dissimilar to the modern crépinette – might have been brought over at some point after c.1295.

This recipe is delicious. Try it. Just once. Or not – but you’ll be missing out. For the bravest amongst you, who will try the recipe – I salute you!!! My recipe is without question the finest that can be tasted and is totally authentic with one exception: lungs cannot be sold legally in the U.S. so I’ve instead substituted minced lamb’s tongue.

To make my recipe “royal”, I have added in some wild venison meat, which was reserved for nobility and royalty in Scotland for hundreds of years! You can purchase actual wild venison meat from this fine purveyor, or just use venison meat sourced from a local hunter or provider. If you prefer a “common” haggis, just omit the venison and replace with beef liver. I – of course – prefer the Royal version! Using the finest Scotch whisky in the recipe is also My hallmark!

Serve this recipe with the classic “neeps and tatties” (mashed rutabaga mixed with mashed potatoes) – I personally prefer this classic recipe from the Orkney Islands!

Battle on and Happy Burns Night – The Generalissimo

The Hirshon Haggis for Burns Night

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 lamb’s paunch (stomach)
• 1 lamb’s heart (cleaned and trimmed)
• 1 lamb’s liver (cleaned and trimmed)
• 1 lamb’s tongue (cleaned and trimmed)
• 7 lbs. beef liver (cleaned and trimmed)
• 3 lbs. minced venison meat (cleaned and trimmed)
• 1 lb. steel cut coarse oatmeal
• 1 lb. beef suet, shredded
• 3 large onions, peeled and finely chopped
• Lots of lamb or beef stock
• 3 tsp. freshly-grated nutmeg
• 6 tsp. sea salt
• 6 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp. mace
• 6 tsp. fresh parsley (leaves only chopped fine)
• 6 tsp. fresh thyme (leaves only chopped fine)
• 6 tsp. fresh sage (leaves only chopped fine)
• 3 tsp. allspice
• 3 tsp. marjoram
• 3 tsp. pennyroyal (the traditional Highland herb for Haggis – use it if you can, otherwise omit
• 3 tsp. summer savory
• 2 tsp. cayenne
• 3 tsp. minced fresh rosemary
• The Macallan 12 whisky, as needed

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Instructions

1. Prepare the lamb’s paunch (stomach) by washing it out under clean running water, then stirring 3 tablespoons of salt into 10 1/2 cups of cold water in a clean plastic bucket and soaking the paunch in it overnight.
2. Prepare the lamb and beef liver, tongue and heart.
3. Wash the livers, tongue and heart under clean running water and place them in a large saucepan, cover with lamb or beef stock and a tablespoon of sea salt, bring to the boil, turn the heat down and simmer for 45 minutes.
4. After 45 minutes drain the liver, tongue and heart well and place into a bowl (reserve 3 ½ cups of stock for later!), when cool put them in the fridge to be used the next day.
5. The next day:
6. Turn the soaked paunch inside out and rinse under cold running water for at least ten minutes, to wash all the salt water off it. Then set aside to drain as you make the filling.
7. If you are using fresh beef suet shred it very small, almost to breadcrumbs (it should shred easily) and reserve in a very large mixing bowl – if using packet suet add it into the bowl.
8. Coarsely mince the livers and add to the suet in the large mixing bowl.
9. Cut the tongue and heart up very small or coarsely mince. Add this to the large mixing bowl with everything else. Add the venison meat.
10. Into the bowl add and thoroughly mix each ingredient in – the fine chopped onions, the herbs and spices and then stir in the reserved stock with any fat that has hardened.
11. Make sure everything in the bowl is mixed thoroughly and no one ingredient is clumping together. Bake the oats so they are completely dry (take out before they brown) and add to the mixture.
12. Add The Macallan 12 whisky (to taste) to the mixture then grind everything together once in a sausage grinder.
13. Using a spoon put the Haggis filling into the prepared lamb’s paunch (turned back the right way out). Once put in sew up the opening with linen thread or thin butchers string. Note: The paunch must not be too tightly packed or it will burst as the oatmeal swells during cooking after absorbing the stock.
14. Put the Haggis in a large saucepan of boiling water and simmer gently for 3 to 4 hours. Using a sharp needle prick the paunch once or twice in the first hour to allow steam to escape and prevent the Haggis from bursting.
15. After 3 or 4 hours serve the Haggis turned out of the paunch on to a large dish and serve with neeps and tatties (turnips and mashed potatoes). Needless to say, serve with single malt whisky and stout or bitter ale.
16. Praise the Pudd’n!

• Prep Time: 0 hours
• Cook Time: 0 hours
• Category: Recipes

Nutrition

• Calories: 2492.62 kcal
• Sugar: 33.59 g
• Sodium: 1567.38 mg
• Fat: 177.51 g
• Saturated Fat: 92.92 g
• Trans Fat: 0.03 g
• Carbohydrates: 102.71 g
• Fiber: 12.58 g
• Protein: 46.09 g
• Cholesterol: 609.28 mg