Haggis

Method
Prep:1hr  ›  Cook:4hr  ›  Ready in:5hr 

1. Grind all spices together, reserving the peppercorns to ensure they stay ‘just cracked’.
2. Grind the herbs together separately. If using dried, stop just before they become powder. If using fresh, chop them finely.
3. Finely chop the onion or shallot. Cook the onion in a knob of butter, or in a little water or white wine, till soft without browning.
4. Mince the meats together along with the suet. The suet should weigh half as much as the combined weight of your meats. Place the meat and suet mixture in a saucepan, and just cover with water. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 minutes per pound (450g) of meat. Skim any foam off the top as needed. The point of this is not to cook the meat, but to extract the juices.
5. Drain the meat, reserving the liquid, and add the onions. Add another quantity of suet, equal to what you added before.
6. Soak the barley in the reserved liquid, simmering if needed, until the liquid is absorbed and the barley is soft (do not cook or over-soak the barley; just soften it slightly). After soaking, measure out the same amount of barley, by volume, as your meat mixture.
7. Mix the spices and herbs into the meat mixture, then add the barley and combine thoroughly. Chill at least 30 minutes.
8. Okay, that’s the filling – if you know a friendly butcher, ask them to do some ‘sausages’ with it.
9. Now the stomach: Turn it inside out and scrape it gently. Try to remove all loose 'bits' then soak it in cold water, rinsing it and washing it, changing the water until it is clear after a rinse. Pop in a pan, covered with water and bring to the boil; simmer for 10 minutes, skimming again, then plunge into cold water.
10. Now 1/2 turn the stomach back the right way, and start to fill with the meat and barley mixture, gradually packing it in, and turning the stomach more as needed. Eventually there will be a full stomach. Trim off the tubes, leaving enough to tie. Use a noose at each end, with a sort of 'string handle' between them. If a large haggis, tie one end to the other leaving a sort of 'horseshoe' shape.
11. To cook the haggis: place in a pan with water to cover, and bring to the boil. Lightly prick the surface of the stomach (stops it bursting, and lets a lot of the suet out), then simmer for 3 hours keeping it covered with water.

For your Burns supper...

Serve the haggis with my punchnep and end on a good note with my Highland flummery!