With haggis, a melange of offal tied up in a sheep’s stomach, Scottish peasant cuisine reached its apotheosis. This delicacy had been on the menu for centuries, but in her comprehensive guide for housewives, Meg Dods, the stern landlady of Cleikum Inn near Peebles (whom Sir Walter Scott immortalized in his novel St Ronan’s Well), recorded a method that until then many had learnt only by word of mouth.
Sheep’s pluck [lights, liver and heart] and paunch, beef-suet, onions, oatmeal, pepper, salt, cayenne, lemon or vinegar.
Clean a sheep’s pluck thoroughly. Make incisions in the heart and liver to allow the blood to flow out, and parboil the whole, letting the windpipe lie over the side of the pot to permit the discharge of impurities; the water may be changed after a few minutes’ boiling for fresh water. A half-hour’s boiling will be sufficient; but throw back the half of the liver, and part of the lights, trimming away all skins and black-looking parts, and mince them together. Mince also a pound of good beef-suet and four or more onions. Grate the other half of the liver. Have a dozen of small onions peeled and scalded in two waters to mix with this mince. Have ready some finely-ground oatmeal, toasted slowly before the fire for hours, till it is of a light brown colour and perfectly dry. Less than two teacupfuls of meal will do for this quantity of meat. Spread the mince on a board and strew the meal lightly over it, with a high seasoning of pepper, salt, and a little cayenne, first well mixed. Have a haggis bag (i.e. a sheep’s paunch) perfectly clean, and see that there be no thin part in it, else your whole labour will be lost by its bursting.
Some cooks use two bags, one as an outer case. Put in the meat with a half-pint of good beef gravy, or as much strong broth as will make it a very thick stew. Be careful not to fill the bag too full, but allow the meat room to swell; add the juice of a lemon or a little good vinegar; press out the air and sew up the bag, prick it with a large needle when it first swells in the pot to prevent bursting; let it boil slowly for three hours if large.