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Scotch Haggis

A savory mixture of beef, onions, oatmeal, and spices boiled in a bag.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Scotch Haggis

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Mix the minced beef and onions with the dried Scotch oatmeal.

  2. Season with salt, black pepper, and pounded cloves.

  3. Moisten the mixture with beef gravy or broth.

Cook and serve

  1. Fill a clean bag with the mixture, leaving space for expansion, and sew it shut.

  2. Place the bag in boiling water and pierce it with a needle to let air escape.

  3. Boil for 3 hours and serve without gravy or sauce.

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. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

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

  3. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Onion + clovetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,901 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Provides the main body and meaty texture of the filling.
Scotch oatmeal
Absorbs moisture and binds the filling so it holds together when cooked.
Onions
Add moisture and a mild sweetness that balances the savoury spices.
Beef gravy or broth
Moistens the mixture so the oatmeal softens and the filling stays juicy.

The step that matters

Piercing the bag before boiling. Air and steam trapped inside the bag can cause it to swell or burst. Leaving room for expansion and piercing it to release trapped air helps the bag stay intact during the long boil.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, onion, pepper):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, pepper. 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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