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April 17, 2007
Haggis and Scones
Jack has a heritage project due and believes he is part Scottish by way of his mother who, I thought, was part Irish. Not that it matters, he's gone full-steam ahead with the Scottish theme and is now looking for a Scottish food to take to class. He'd like to take Haggis.
The ingredients are:
Haggis
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
I read about the cooking Haggis up to the point my gag reflex was engaged (and it wasn't because I don't like onions) and then I turned my attention, and Google, to other Traditional Scottish foods. The one I liked the most is Potato Scones. The ingredients are:
Potato Scones
Ingredients:
Half pound (225g) boiled and mashed potatoes
2.5oz (65g) flour
3 tablespoons melted butter
Half teaspoon salt
No hearts, no lungs, no spleen (which, while not listed above I'd seen mentioned elsewhere), and no beef bung (which I'm happy to report is not what I thought it was going to be).
We'll have to see if I can sell Jack on this idea.
Maybe I can convince Jack that I couldn't find nutmeg anywhere.
Posted by delmer at April 17, 2007 12:55 PM
Comments
You will be please to know that when you type "what is beef bung" WADLL is 8th in the list. And beef bung is an all natural casing, that would kick the gag reflex right into overdrive.
Posted by: Mikeo at April 17, 2007 10:12 PM
What about the half teaspoon of mace, do you spray that in the measuring spoon? or is that "a slightly long spray into the bowl"?
Posted by: Mikeo at April 17, 2007 10:16 PM
Sorry if this is going to make you feel just a little bit sick - but I have eaten real, proper, made-from-god-knows-what Haggis and it really is tasty! You just have to try really hard to NOT think about what you're actually eating. I absolutely couldn't ever make one myself though - like that makes this admission any better, right? I did eat the Haggis in Edinburgh (have fun with the pronounciation) on Hogmany night - real Scottish dancing and everything. Oh and the Haggis is always bought into the dining room with an escort of bag-pipers, I don't have a clue why...
Posted by: Pen at April 18, 2007 3:58 AM
Mikeo: It is good to know that WADLL comes in at a high level when 'what is a beef bung' is Googled. I'm familiar with the term 'bung hole' and have an awarness that a bung may be the fill hole on a keg of beer. When I Googled 'beef bung' I expected cow anus to come up ... the casings surprised me.
Pen: I'd say "Eh-din-boro" ... is it "Eh-din-burg"?
"Hogmany night?" Night of Many Hogs? It has a horror-movie sound to it. Much like "Land of Marys" does.
The thing that gagged me most was reading how some prepared the Haggis. Something had to lay up outside the rim of the pot or steam would fill it up and make it pucker ... blah blah blah.
Posted by: delmer at April 18, 2007 8:29 AM