MacSween Haggis, with Potato, Carrot and Coriander

I've been experimenting with the ingredients  of the basic haggis dish. This time, instead of using turnip or swede as a component, I used semi-mashed carrots, dressed in a little coriander leaf. Works pretty well if you don't have a turnip available. 

So, I steamed half a MacSween haggis, along with the potato pieces and the carrot. Half an hour all told, before serving the dish. 

 

Haggis in the Neolithic

Hard to know a lot of things about Neolithic culture. However the cooking strategies that we know about point to a way of cooking and eating which tell us how they might have prepared various dishes. Modern haggis in Scotland is made to be cooked in boiling water, as it was in the neolithic. Some of us now steam it instead, along with the vegetables which traditionally accompany the dish (turnip or swede, and potato). I commit heresy by adding mashed carrot to the turnip, because it needs to be sweetened a little. 

There were no carrots available in the neolithic (they arrived with the Romans), and potatoes didn't arrive until after Columbus. So how did they eat haggis in the neolithic? The turnip was easily available, though not the most attractive root vegetable.. It needs to be sweetened. What they did have was pease pudding (essentially mushy peas). That adds sweetness to the dish. So this experimental dish may be close to how they actually served this food.  Absolutely gorgeous!.                                                      

 

 

Haggis, with Potato, and Carrot and Turnip Mash

This dish has appeared on this blog before, Traditionally, it is haggis, plus potato and turnip or swede mash. I like to sweeten the turnip mash with carrot, but I love it in most forms. This was a MacSween haggis, which is, by general agreement, the best haggis available. I'm not sure however if they include some minimal amount of wheat in the recipe. I'd like to know. Haggis needs oats, but it doesn't need wheat. 

One of the great things about this dish is how it is possible to do the whole thing in a single steamer. No extra herbs, no extra salt, no added stock. 45 minutes cooking time all told, and ready to serve on the plate.I've had deep fried haggis (in the distant past), which is also quite delicious. But that was decades ago, and I won't revisit that.  

 

MacSween Haggis, with Potato and Turnip and Carrot Mash

A MacSween Haggis cooked in a steamer for fifty minutes. Allowed to stand for fifteen minutes, and then was cut in half with a sharp knife. The vegetables were cooked in a pan of salted water for half an hour. Each of the vegetables was cut in a different way to allow their easy separation, before mashing the carrot and turnip together. 

 

Haggis, Hash Browns, and Caramelised Spring Onion

Deeper into heresy! Slices of haggis served with hash browns and caramelised spring onions.

All three components were cooked in a large and glass-lidded flat pan. I started with the flat cut hash browns, because they would take up to twenty minutes to cook. The hob was set to a high heat and a drizzle of sunflower oil was added. Once the potato started to sizzle, I added the diced spring onions after that, followed by the slices of haggis.

Once the haggis began to brown, the heat was turned down to a low heat, and the ingredients were cooked under glass for ten minutes. The potato pieces were turned over, and the haggis slices, and the spring onions were given a stir occasionally.

The final five minutes of cooking were at a medium heat with the lid removed.

Served with tomato ketchup and a little ground white pepper. 

Haggis and Chips, with Fried Turnip

This delicious dish is slightly heretical.  Normally haggis is served with boiled potatoes (sometimes mashed), and mashed turnip. However the main component of the dish has a history much older than the advent of potatoes in Europe, so the dish has already undergone changes.

Traditional Scottish cooking is based on three basic processes, which were standard all the way back into the neolithic, and beyond: griddle cooking (oatcakes, pancakes, etc.), cauldron cooking (puddings, haggis, and meat preparation in general), and pan cooking (porridge and soups).

This version of the haggis dish involved the steaming of slices of haggis prepared as a sausage, the roasting (griddling) of the chipped potatoes, and the frying of very thin slices of turnip.

Normally the turnip is cooked in much the same way as the potato, by boiling. I find this way of preparing the turnip lacking in sweetness. A friend in London told me about the transformation of the flavour of the turnip if fried in thin slices: it is much sweeter.

So this version of the standard combination of ingredients features thinly sliced turnip. Don't do it any other way!

The haggis was steamed for fifty minutes before serving. The chips were marinaded in a salsa of oregano, sunflower oil, ketchup, vinegar, cornmeal and black pepper, and roasted on the middle shelf of the oven at 180 deg for twenty five minutes, after which the heat was turned down. Watch carefully at this point. The chips will brown nicely because of the cornmeal coating, but the potato will cook properly at a lower temperature.

The thinly sliced turnip was cooked in a lidded casserole dish at the same time as the chips, but at the bottom of the oven. The turnip slices were drizzled in a little sunflower oil, and I added some water. Cooked for the same length of time as the chips.

Haggis, Turnip and Potatoes

A variation on haggis, neeps and potatoes, the Scottish national dish eaten on the 25th of January (Robert Burns' birthday), and any other time you feel like it. Haggis was a favourite dish of Serge Gainsbourg, which he sought out nearly every time he visited London. He found it exotic. It is.

I've never made an actual haggis, largely because it is easy to get ready made in both traditional and vegetarian forms. Essentially it is made with minced sheep lungs, oatmeal, pepper and spices, and used to be sold in the form of a large sausage made from sheep offal.

Traditionally served with boiled potato and boiled turnip or swede. It is fine just like that, but I prefer to serve the combo with the turnip leavened with mashed carrot, which makes it a sweeter dish.

Preparation is straightforward. The potatoes should be boiled for twenty minutes, and the same for the chopped turnip and carrot. Mash the turnip and the carrot together in a bowl, with a knob of butter, The potatoes can be mashed also (separately), but I prefer to mash them as the meal proceeds. Traditionally the haggis is boiled for forty-five to fifty minutes, but these days I tend to cook it in a steamer for fifty minutes to an hour, at a low heat.

I lived for years in London, and eating haggis there was a reminder of home. A cosmopolitan friend lived close by, with an enormous collection of cookery books and a fabulous kitchen, and sometimes cooked haggis.  She once served (without warning) a heretical variation of the dish, which involved substituting the turnip with baked beans, with a little red wine mixed in. It worked. I did some cat-sitting for her, which was a great opportunity to explore her books. I've been riffing on some of those recipes ever since.