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The Saga of the Ohio Haggis: Burns Night 2012

This year I decided to host a Burns Night party, which requires serving haggis. Having eaten organ meats in various forms, thanks to my experience with Russian and Ukrainian food, I was confident that haggis couldn’t possibly be as awful as purported (in the end, I was correct!). Part of wanting to make a haggis was to prove to my friends that there is nothing especially awful about it (as offal as it is). After all, people all over the globe include organ meats in their diets, and no one makes quite as much a fuss about that as they do with the mere mention of haggis.[1] As it were, attitudes toward haggis are rooted in ethnic politics over a century old.[2]

Knowing that the key ingredient, sheep tripe, is illegal in the United States did not deter me, although it certainly made the endeavor of preparing the haggis difficult. By posting my experiences I hope that I can save Ohioans embarking on this endeavor time, stress, and maybe some money. My recipe for Ohio haggis concludes the post.

My initial search for haggis in Ohio only led me to Caledonia Kitchen and Jungle Jim’s. For someone who has plenty of money and little time, purchasing a Presentation Haggis (upwards of $70-$80, including shipping costs to Ohio) might be the way to go, as preparing it “from scratch” is a two-day process. Caledonia Kitchen’s canned haggis is available ($6/can at Jungle Jim’s), but I didn’t want to take a risk with its taste, and it presents a problem for presentation without a casing.

The search for ingredients began: sheep offal/tripe (organ meats), suet (animal fat), and a casing (traditionally a sheep’s stomach). Unfortunately, to make a haggis purely out of sheep parts in Ohio is impossible. Before feeling we must settle for a lesser, “impostor” haggis, realize that some beef parts are used in Scotland as well. I purchased suet and a beef tripe from Jungle Jim’s, only to find out later that what is included can vary by butcher – I ended up with the reticulum, and really recommend it for flavor. You may not need the entire thing, unless you are making a real monster haggis! I recommend cooking the entire tripe, and deciding on proportions at the grinding stage (see below). Bethia advises that La Plaza Tapatia in Columbus also sells tripe.

I used two lamb hearts (for deeper color) and roughly a pound of lamb liver, which I purchased from Lisa at Fox Hollow Farm in Knox County (totaling $5). Bethia got her heart and liver from Blues Creek at Columbus’ North Market. Thurn’s in Columbus is a wonderful butcher, and would probably provide the tripe, heart, liver, suet and beef bung cap (for casing) if you call ahead. If you go to Fox Hollow or Thurn’s, bring cash. There are likely other Columbus butchers, such as Carfagna’s, who could provide some combination of these parts.

Haggis recipes vary by region and taste, and mine is based on Bethia’s and Rampant Scotland’s recipes. All amounts are approximate, and vary based on the amount of organ meat.

Ohio Haggis

You will need:

Two lamb hearts[3]                                    Meat grinder

1 beef tripe (reticulum)                               Dutch over or large pot

1 lb lamb Liver                                           Thermometer

1 beef bung cap                                         Cooking twine

3 Cups suet

2 Cups pin/steel cut oats

2 medium onions

Salt

Pepper

1 ½ tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. mace

Trim any extraneous fat from the hearts and tripe. Bring hearts, tripe, and liver to boil in salted water, let simmer for 1 to 1 ½ hours. Keep them in the cooking water, and, once cooled, keep in the fridge over night.

On the following day, remove the organs from the water (keep the water again). Chop them and pass them throw the meat grinder along with the suet. Depending on your meat grinder, the smallest setting may be too fine. The texture should be even.

Soak the beef bung cap for at least 10 minutes, and take comfort that its particular smell will dissipate with cooking. While the bung cap is soaking, dry the oats in the oven, at350F for about 10 minutes – do not brown them.

Finely chop the onions, and add them to the meat mixture, along with all spices.

Stuff the bung cap with the haggis mixture, pressing the mixture through the tube to the closed end in a way that stuffs it compactly. The mixture will expand while cooking, so calculate roughly the size haggis you would like, and leave just less than double the amount of mixture to allow for expansion. Squeeze out the air, and tie of the open end with the twine; tie tight and well. Trim off any extra bung cap.

Bring the cooking water, which you saved, to about160F. Add more water if necessary. Keep the thermometer in the water. Place the haggis in the water and cook for 3 hours, not allowing the water temperature to rise beyond170F- your dear haggis might burst if you do! The internal temperature needs to reach at least150F evenly. If you notice that pressure is building up (and some is necessary), piercing one with a sharp pin will release the pressure.

Serve with neeps (mashed rutabagas) and tatties (mashed potatoes). On Burns Night, the haggis should be paraded to the serving table accompanied by pipes. Recite Robert Burns’ To a Haggis, and cut the haggis with an ‘X’ or equal-armed cross.

ENJOY!

My brother and I, getting ready to serve the haggis.

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