Why it works: Pepper and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Scotch Haggis
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pluck and stomach
Wash the pluck well and boil in a pot for 1.5 to 2 hours, allowing the windpipes to hang out to release impurities.
Clean the sheep's stomach thoroughly, then boil it to contract, scrape it well, and soak in saltwater until needed.
Make the filling
Mince the best parts of the lungs and heart, and grate the liver; combine in a large bowl.
Toast the oatmeal well and add it to the meat mixture.
Finely chop the suet and add it along with the chopped onion, salt, pepper, and the liquor from boiling the pluck; mix well.
Fill and boil
Fill the stomach bag with the mixture, leaving some space, then sew it up.
Boil the filled stomach in water for 3 hours, pricking it several times to prevent bursting, and place a plate underneath to avoid sticking.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Oatmeal
- Absorbs liquid and fat, giving the filling a crumbly, binding texture.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the filling moist and rich as it cooks.
- Sheep's stomach
- Serves as the casing that holds the filling together during boiling.
- Onion
- Adds savory aroma and sweetness to the filling.
The step that matters
Pricking the filled stomach while boiling. Steam and expanding air build up inside the sealed casing as it cooks, and without pricking it can burst. A plate underneath keeps it from sticking to the pot.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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