Why it works: Lamb and beef match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 896 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Haggis, Lamb's
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the paunch
Sew up any thin places in the lamb's paunch and dry it with a soft cloth.
Boil the lamb's paunch in water until cooked, then mince it finely.
Make the filling
Mix the minced paunch with beef suet, oatmeal, chopped onions, salt, pepper, grated nutmeg, beaten eggs, and milk until well combined.
Stuff the mixture into the paunch, leaving room for swelling, and tie it in a cloth for safety.
Cook and serve
Boil gently for three hours.
Turn out onto a hot dish and serve as hot as possible.
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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Lamb + beeftop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together896 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + peppertop 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
- Lamb's paunch
- Forms the outer casing that holds the filling together during cooking.
- Beef suet
- Adds fat that keeps the filling moist and rich as it cooks.
- Oatmeal
- Absorbs liquid and gives the filling its body and crumbly texture.
- Eggs
- Bind the filling so it holds together when sliced.
- Milk
- Adds moisture so the oatmeal softens and the filling stays tender.
- Onions
- Add savoury sweetness and aroma to the filling.
The step that matters
Leave room for swelling when stuffing the paunch. Oatmeal and liquid expand as they absorb moisture and heat. If the paunch is packed full, it can burst during the long boil, so space must be left for the filling to swell.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, beef, pepper, nutmeg, egg, milk):
- Potatofits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, beef, pepper, nutmeg, egg, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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