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A Good Scotch Haggis

A traditional Scottish haggis made with sheep's pluck, liver, beef, suet, onions, oatmeal, spices, and stock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

A Good Scotch Haggis

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Parboil the draught and boil the liver until it can be grated.

  2. Dry the meal over the fire.

  3. Mince the draught and the beef very finely.

  4. Grate half of the liver and mince the suet and onions.

  5. Mix all ingredients well with a handful or two of dried meal.

  6. Season the mixture with salt and mixed spices.

  7. Make about 1 quart of good stock using scraps of beef and the water from boiling the draught.

Bag and boil

  1. Put the haggis mixture into the bag along with the stock.

  2. Sew up the bag, ensuring to remove all air before sealing.

  3. If the bag is thin, wrap it in a cloth.

  4. Boil the haggis for at least two hours.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Liver + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,420 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Liver + beeftop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Draught (sheep's pluck)
Provides the main meaty body and texture of the haggis filling.
Dried meal (oatmeal)
Absorbs liquid and fat, giving the filling its crumbly, binding structure.
Beef
Adds savoury, meaty flavour and extra body to the filling.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the filling moist and rich during boiling.
Liver
Adds depth and richness to the filling's flavour and texture.

The step that matters

Remove all air before sealing the bag. Trapped air can expand during boiling and cause the bag to burst or leave pockets in the filling. Pressing out air before sewing keeps the haggis intact and evenly cooked.

“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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