Vegan Recipes: Scotland
[This page is in the earliest
stages of development: 3 February
2005 ]
Burns’ Night meal
The traditional Burn’s Night meal consists of haggis, mashed neeps and tatties, and Scotch whiskey. Haggis, traditionally made from oatmeal and various minced parts of a dead sheep, is traditionally rolled into a ball, wrapped in the poor animal’s intestine, and cooked by boiling the grapefruit-sized ball in a dish of water. This does not sound like a promising vegan dish. I assume that most Scottish people do not make their own haggis, but like most English people, buy their haggis from either a supermarket or a dead animal shop. McSween’s is a well-known brand of dead sheep haggis. McSween’s also make a vegetarian haggis, that is labelled as suitable for vegans. To date I have had no success at making my own haggis, and resort to buying the McSween’s version. Their instructions suggest either boiling the haggis in its plastic wrapping in a pan of water (the traditional way), or else removing its plastic wrapping and cooking the haggis in the microwave oven (not very traditional, but much quicker). I prefer to bake the haggis in a convection oven as this enhances a kind of nutty flavour. One haggis will serve two to three people. I enjoy roast potatoes, along with the mashed potato. I am uncertain whether Scottish people traditionally eat green vegetables with their haggis, but I like to serve either broccoli (calabrese) or Brussels sprouts. I have not progressed as far as steaming vegetables, although I am thinking about buying a vegetable steamer. I choose to boil broccoli or sprouts. I am uncertain whether Scottish people traditionally serve gravy with their haggis, but I would find haggis too dry without gravy.
Haggis
Roast potatoes
Mashed potato (taters, tatties)
Mashed swede (neeps, neepies)
Boiled / steamed broccoli or boiled / steamed sprouts
Gravy
To drink, Scottish people traditionally serve whiskey. In
the
