First of the season's haggis

**Pleater** · 27th October 10, 08:56 AM

As the nights draw in the haggis appear at the local supermarket, and having come down with a cold but having lots to do out in the cold, wet and windy weather this last week, today I cooked haggis, baked a potato and combined the two along with some butter.

Just the thing for a very late lunch on a cold afternoon - I am positively glowing and the spices and pepper have cleared my nose - now I can go out and brave whatever the weather can throw at me.

Does anyone else greet the first chills with haggis or any other meal suitable for the season?

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

**McClef** · 27th October 10, 09:36 AM

Must have been a farm bred Haggis - the wild wee beasties have not yet ventured from the hillsides looking for food!

**lethearen** · 27th October 10, 09:42 AM

I have yet to find a haggis at my local grocer

And not quite sure if I'm brave enough to cook one myself!

**Lallans** · 27th October 10, 09:49 AM

Lacking haggis skills, in my family the fall seasonal item would be baked beans- I guess you could specifically say Boston baked beans, baked with molasses, brown sugar, and pork hock- since if made traditionally they require too much oven time to make in the heat of the summer, and by now people are actually craving them. Now that I've said that, I have no idea of the dish's ethnic origins- would such beans be Scottish, Irish, North American, universal, or what I wonder?

**Pleater** · 27th October 10, 10:00 AM

I think the beans used for 'baked beans' are called Navy beans - and molasses and pork were staples of the British navy, so perhaps the combination began there.

The long cooking time could be reduced by the use of hay boxes - the pots were brought up to the boil, the lid put on, and then they were placed in boxes lined with straw to keep them hot as long as possible.

The same technique was used to transport hot food out to shooting parties, with carts divided up into suitably sized compartments with fancy tureens for the ladies and gentlemen and a gradation of lesser vessels for the servants and the beaters.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

**Lallans** · 27th October 10, 10:13 AM

Here "navy beans" refer to a specific variety of large dried bean- not that that means much. The dish is now normally made with smaller dried beans but my mother, who should know, insists that the only good ones are exclusively available in New England, not sold in Canada.

So when you make haggis, Pleater, do you use the fully traditional (alarming sounding) ingredients?

**JerseyLawyer** · 27th October 10, 02:16 PM

Originally Posted by McClef

Must have been a farm bred Haggis - the wild wee beasties have not yet ventured from the hillsides looking for food!

Funny, I thought they were in season all year long... Ah, well.

Be wery quiet. I'm hunting haggis!

**Tartan Tess** · 27th October 10, 02:50 PM

Is Haggis seasonal for the colder months and or holidays in the UK?
I only get it during the Robert Burns dinner and occasionaly at the Saint Andrews Society potlucks sometimes when one of the members who has a "connection" brings it. I love it!