3.11: Info on cooking and haggis

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3.11: Info on cooking and haggis

2 recommended books:

F. Marian McNeill - The Scots Kitchen, it's lore and recipies. A classic and as much a source of folklore and history as a culinary reference. First published in 1929. 300+ pages. Published by Grafton Books, 8 Grafton St, London, W1X 3LA. ISBN 0-586-20784-8. Grafton books is a division of Collins, Glasgow. Just about every recipie has a tale, saying, poem, song or bit of history printed with it (the occasional one in Gaelic; with translation). F. Marian MacNeill was a historian by profession.

Another book, rather more contemporary (no stories etc but probably biased towards modern eating trends and it also has US-UK conversions). Scottish Cookery: Catherine Brown. ISBN 0-86267-248-1. Published by Richard Drew publishing, 6 Clairmont Gardens, Glasgow G3 7LW. Really good traditional stuff and well laid out.

McNeill's book gives several recipies for haggis. The Traditional Cottage Recipe includes : "The large stomach bag of a sheep, the pluck (including heart, lights and liver), beef-suet, pin-head (coarse) oatmeal, onions, black pepper, salt, stock or gravy. Meg Dod's recipie includes "Sheep's pluck and paunch, beef-suet, onions, oatmeal, pepper, salt, cayenne, lemon or vinegar.". Haggis Royal includes "Mutton, suet, beef-marrow, bread-crumbs or oatmeal, anchovies, parsley, lemon, pepper, cayenne, eggs, red wine.". Deer Haggis includes "Deer's heart, liver and suet, coarse oatmeal, onions, black pepper, salt, paste." It takes about a day to make a haggis from scratch, but very very few people do this as it is particulaly gruesome. Most people buy their haggis from the butcher's. See next section for details of how to get some.

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