Many holidays have a meaty main attraction — corned beef on St. Patrick’s Day, roast goose at Christmas and, of course, turkey for Thanksgiving. There is just one dish that is even more of a special occasions only performer. Naturally, I mean haggis the traditional centerpiece for a Robbie Burns Night feast.
To prepare for January 25, the day set aside to honour Scotland’s best-known poet, we got in touch with Andrew Poulsen from Bespoke Butchers and had him walk us through everything haggis.
Let’s get the offal part out of the way first. What goes into your haggis and then does it actually get stuffed into a sheep’s stomach?
Traditionally, yes, but in our shop, no. We actually have a hard time getting our abattoir to save and clean the stomach appropriately. So we substitute, and instead use beef intestine (as I’m always partial to a natural casing). I haven’t ever noticed a big difference between the two. Most of the flavour comes from the seasoning and the other offal that we use (liver, heart and tongue).
I’ve heard many times that, like most sausages, it’s the spices that make haggis actually taste good. Can you give readers any idea of what you’re using?
I don’t entirely agree that the flavour only comes from the spices. I would make the case that if using good quality meat and fresh offal, this allows you to use less spice, thereby creating a greater complexity of flavour that you don’t otherwise achieve. Often times, I hear about people having haggis that only tastes of spices. To me, thats a sure sign of low quality ingredients. For our spice mix, we use a pretty basic mix of ingredients: onions, sage, coriander seed, bay leaf, nutmeg, salt and black pepper.
On a scale of one to butchering your own pig, where does making haggis at home fall? Is it even possible to buy a sheep’s stomach?
Probably in the neighbourhood of “2”. It’s actually quite straight forward: you just need to have some patience and the right ingredients. Stomach isn’t a complete necessity either (we use beef intestine). Plus, you could always make a form of haggis that doesn’t use a casing at all. You’re not going to end up with the same texture or presentation, but the flavours will still be great.
How big of a deal is haggis for you as a butcher shop? Are you actually selling more than a couple?
It’s not a major seller at this point, (I think a lot of people get weirded out by the stories of lamb stomach). On the other hand, we have a very large following for our Black Pudding. As people start to discover (or rediscover) some of these traditional dishes from the British Isles, they get hooked on just how delicious and nutritious these dishes are.
I have some of the black pudding in my freezer and I can definitely see why it’s a big seller. Other than whisky, neeps and tatties what do you recommend customers serve with their haggis?
I’ve served haggis with caramelized onions and gravy, which both work well and are very basic. Plus, they complement neeps and tatties. Of course, you can always put any spin on it that you want and serve just about any potato dish.
Bespoke makes haggis based on orders placed ahead of time. The deadline, this year, is January 20.
Bespoke Butchers, 171 East Liberty St. Unit 155, 647-349-4911
