Not Awful Offal!

Haggis, that is. 



I've heard haggis described as "a sheep, turned inside out".  Traditionally consisting of all the bits of a sheep you weren't going to serve up in recognizable form (the "offal") made into a sausage and cooked in the sheep's stomach.  Well, you asked.    And before you get disgusted, set down that forkful of breakfast sausage you have in hand, and give it a good, hard think:  its ingredients aren't a lot different.

Anyway, I've enjoyed haggis from and in Scotland.  Sadly, it's not the sort of thing that is easily importable, anywhere, labeled as food.  As I've only ever managed to get to Scotland once, it occurred to me that the only way to get a haggis fix would be to figure out how to make it myself...  though I drew the line at having to cook it in a sheep's stomach.

Pictured above is Haggis the Second.  Haggis the First was pleasant, but really more of a  lamb hash -- made with ground lamb and rolled oats, it tasted far more of, well, lamb than my recollection of something slightly chewy, spicy, and oaty.  I decided I needed to tackle the oat problem, as well as introduce some of the more "intense" bits of meat (offal).

First up, the oats.  And, here's a visual aid:




Clockwise, from the top left: 

• old fashioned rolled oats, made from oats that have been parcooked and pressed through rollers
• Irish, or steel-cut oatmeal, oats that have been literally sliced into pieces
• Scottish oatmeal, stone-ground oats
• Quick-cooking rolled oats, same as old fashioned, but flaked into smaller pieces

Naturally, I decided I'd better go Scottish for this application.  Unfortunately, I didn't have any in the cupboard.  Wasn't really sure where to find them around here, either.  So, I took the simple route, and ordered online from the MegaOnlineEmporium.   I was only mildly put off by the fact that I had to purchase 4 20oz packages (5lbs).  Then there was an unfortunate collision betweent their choice of CutRateShipper and some bad weather in our area, which lead to me exercising my Angry Customer Rights when the 2-day delivery still hadn't shown after 5 days, and another box was sent (free of charge, overnight, free of charge, with ReputableShipper).  Never mind that there was more weather -- the second box was on my doorstep the next day.  And a few days later (making it a week late), the first box.  "Sorry, no returns on grocery items".  I had 10lbs of Scottish oatmeal (in convenient store display boxes):



For reference, that is enough for Haggis the 2nd through 16th.

Moving on.  To get that nutty flavour, I toasted the 2 cups of oats:




And then the trick was to get the proper meat texture.  Apart from the 1lb of ground lamb pictured above (beside the toasted oats), I boiled 1/2 lb beef liver and 1/2 lb beef heart, with onions.  That essentially cooked the meats, and made a broth.

Offal about to be chopped --




Mixed all together with ground lamb, toasted oats, spices, and ready to go (cheesecloth, not sheep stomach):




A couple of hours of steaming (using that fine broth) -- voila!




My (completely non-authoritative) opinion:  the texture really worked, and I need to work on the spices.

Of course,  I'm going to have to get some proper haggis soon to do some taste comparison!