Exactly as printed, 1877
Still, for the benefit of the canny Scots who are scattered over the world, and who may be found eating sheep's head and every other morsel of the mutton on the South Seas, on the African sands, and on the Himalayan summits, I append a grand receipt for the Haggis furnished by Meg Dods. This receipt is historical, and is the result of a competition of Haggises held in Edinburgh. The Haggis herein described gained the first prize; the second being adjudged to one superintended by Christopher North, of Ebony fame.
The Edinburgh receipt. -"Clean a fat sheep's pluck thoroughly. Make incisions in the heart and liver, to allow the blood to flow out, and parboil the whole, letting the windpipe lie over the side of the pot to permit the phlegm and blood to disgorge from the lungs. The water may be changed after ten minutes' boiling for fresh water. The lights cannot be overboiled. A half-hour's boiling will be sufficient for the rest; but throw back the half of Hake the liver to boil till when cold it will grate easily. Take the heart, the half of the liver and part of the lights, trimming away all skins and black-looking parts, and mince them together finely. Mince also a pound of good beef suet. Grate the other half of the liver. Have four mild large onions peeled, scalded, and minced, to mix with the haggis-mince. Have also ready some finely ground oatmeal toasted slowly before the fire, till it is of a light-brown colour and perfectly nutty and dry. A large teacupful of meal will do for this quantity of meat. Spread the mince on a board and strew the meal lightly over it, with a high seasoning of black pepper, salt, and a little cayenne, first well mixed. Have a haggis-bag (that is, a sheep's paunch) perfectly clean, and see that there be no thin part in it, else your whole labour will be lost by its bursting. Some cooks use two bags or a cloth as an outer case. Put the meat in the bag with half a pint of good beef gravy or as much strong stock. Be careful not to fill the bag too full, but allow the meal and meat room to swell. Add the juice of a lemon or a little good vinegar. Press out the air and sew up the bag. Prick it with a long needle when it first swells in the pot, to prevent bursting. Let it boil slowly for three hours if large. "Observations. A haggis boiled for two hours may be kept for a week or two, and when cold gets so firm that haggises are often sent from Scotland to distant countries. They must in this case be made very dry, and covered with oatmeal; nor will a haggis keep so well if there is onion put to it. For some tastes the above receipt prescribes too much onion. Haggis meat, by those who cannot admire the natural shape, may be poured out of the bag and served in a deep dish. No dish heats up better. A ragout of cold haggis, heated up in a stewpan in which a little shred onion with pepper is first fried, is better than on the first day." HAKE is one of the cod family-a coarse cod. Very 5 Halibut few come to London, but they appear not unfrequently in Paris under the name of merluche or sea pike-which English visitors take to mean haddock. The French name for a haddock is not merluche, but aigrefin, sometimes spelt aiglefin.
The hake has a peculiarity which gives him a certain superiority over the haddock, and indeed over all fish-it is easy to get rid of his backbone. After the fish is opened and cleaned, as all fish of this kind are, take his backbone, from where it begins, between the finger and thumb.
Kettner's Book of the Table, 1877. Public domain; transcription unaltered.