Why it works: Onion and pepper 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
Wash the pluck thoroughly and boil for 1 hour, letting the windpipe hang over the edge of the pot.
When cold, cut off the windpipe, grate the liver, and mince the heart, lights, suet, and onion very small.
Fill and cook
Add the toasted oatmeal, pepper, salt, and the liquor from boiling the pluck. Mix well.
Fill the bag more than half with the mixture and sew it up.
Place in a large pot of boiling water and boil for 3 hours, keeping plenty of water to cover it.
Prick the haggis occasionally to prevent it from bursting.
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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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
- Oatmeal
- Absorbs liquid and bulks out the filling, giving it a soft, crumbly texture.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the filling moist and rich as it cooks.
- Onion
- Adds savoury sweetness and aroma to the filling.
- Sheep's pluck
- Supplies the main meat in the filling, with the liver and heart giving depth of flavour.
The step that matters
Prick the haggis occasionally. Steam builds up inside the sealed bag as it boils, and without pricking the casing can burst. Keeping the haggis fully covered in water keeps the cooking even.
“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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