Haggis on the Menu

THE stalls at the Aberdeen Highland Games this weekend have specialised celtic and Scottish products and the food stalls are no exception, with two stalls selling Haggis, black pudding and other Scottish delicacies.

Charlie Cook, president of the Aberdeen Highland Games always has a haggis in the freezer and said it is ideal for breakfast.

The traditional Scottish fare-Haggis

“We get it at home and tend to cook it on the barbecue for breakfast with a bit of bacon and eggs,” said Mr Cook.

“It is like a large sausage, you cut it off in slices and cook it on the barbie, it’s great tucker,” he said.

“It’s a full breakfast, you have your oats and meat in one go,” he said.

“You basically you get an ox heart, liver and kidneys, you can use a sheep heart but it isn’t as twangy as the ox heart, then you put it through a grinder and mince it.

“Then put in steel cut oats which is the grain that has been cut.

“The first stomach of the sheep or the rumen is stuffed with the mixture before cooking by boiling or baking,” he said.

“Traditionally they used to use the paunch of a sheep and cook it in that, they would get the paunch of the sheep and clean it out and put the haggis mixture in that,” Charles Cooke said.

Flavourings added to the haggis vary, but traditionally there was not a lot of extra seasoning added.

Charles said haggis is a way of using the most of the animal and minimizing waste.

“It was a means of being prudent and not throwing any of the animal away that you could use, I was brought up where we killed on the farm and we ate everything, the only thing I ever balked at was the sheep’s eye but I ate everything else,”  Charlie Cooke said.

Charlie said they always have a loaf of haggis in their freezer and eat the delicacy regularly.

Haggis is served with a side dish of neeps which is mashed turnips with a bit of potato mixed in to take away the bite of the turnip, sauces are not a traditional part of the haggis meal.

On Saturday night at St Joseph’s High School in Aberdeen there is a Ceilidh (pronounced Kaley) which in gaelic basically means a gathering where you eat, dance and sing.

“We will be a bit more elaborate, we have a pipe band doing a display, we have highland dancers that will be doing a display and the remainder of the people will get up and a have a dance,” he said.

“We have quite an elaborate meal I believe and haggis will definitely be served on Saturday night,” Charlie Cooke said.

Plan your time at the Aberdeen Highland Games:

• Community Calendar – scone.com.au
• Aberdeen Highland Games website