Hairy Bikers haggis is their Burns Night plate of baked haggis, potato and swede clapshot, and a creamy whisky and mustard sauce. And from their BBC series Food Tour of Britain, it feeds 4 at 1,210 calories each and about 80 minutes, by my sums.
BBC Food sums the dish up as “haggis, neeps and tatties drizzled with a delicious creamy whisky sauce”. And the haggis is ready-made, so the real work goes into the clapshot and that sauce.
Wrapping the haggis tightly in foil matters most to me, because I’d expect the foil to keep it moist for up to an hour. That leaves the hob free for the vegetables and the sauce, which both come together while it’s in the oven.
Hairy Bikers Haggis Recipe
Description
A ready-made haggis bakes in a foil parcel while floury potatoes and swede boil, then get mashed with butter, cream and chives. Then double cream, two mustards and a splash of whisky make a quick pouring sauce, sharpened with lemon at the end.
Ingredients
For the haggis
For the clapshot
For the whisky sauce
Instructions
- Bake the haggis: Heat the oven to 180°C/Fan 160°C/Gas 4, then wrap the haggis tightly in foil and put it on a baking tray. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until cooked through, which I take as piping hot all the way through.
- Boil the vegetables: About 30 minutes before the haggis is ready, by my timing, boil the potatoes and swede in separate pans of salted water. And give them 15 to 18 minutes until tender, then drain them well.
- Make the clapshot: Mash the potatoes and swede together thoroughly, then add the butter and cream and mash again until smooth. Season with salt and white pepper, stir in the chives and keep it warm.
- Make the whisky sauce: Heat the cream in a pan over a medium heat, then stir in both mustards and the whisky. Bring it up to a simmer and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
- Finish the sauce: Take the pan off the heat and season with salt and white pepper. Then stir in the chives and whisk in the lemon juice.
- Serve: Unwrap the haggis, split the skin and spoon out the filling, which is my way of serving it. Then divide the clapshot between 4 plates, add a spoonful of haggis to each and spoon over the warm sauce.
FAQs
Can I make haggis from scratch?
I haven’t found a from-scratch haggis from the Hairy Bikers, so this recipe uses a ready-made 500g one. That way the effort goes into the clapshot and the sauce instead.
For a vegetarian Burns Night, I’d buy a vegetarian haggis and cook it as its pack says, which is my suggestion. Then their Veggie Feasts carrot and swede purée makes a side that “goes really well with vegetarian haggis”, in their words.
How do I get the whisky sauce right?
Keep it at a gentle simmer, since the BBC Food tips warn that boiling it hard can make it grainy instead of silky. And the recipe takes the pan off the heat before the lemon goes in, which I’d guess helps it stay smooth.
The recipe doesn’t name a whisky, so any Scotch you’d happily drink will do, which is my suggestion. And if you’d rather leave it out, I’d just skip it, though that’s my call rather than theirs.
What’s the difference between clapshot and neeps and tatties?
Clapshot mashes the potatoes and swede together into one smooth mash, here with butter, cream and chives. But neeps and tatties often means the two served as separate mashes, though BBC Food uses that name for this plate too.
The recipe asks for floury potatoes like Maris Piper or King Edward, which to my mind make it fluffier than waxy ones. And white pepper keeps black flecks out of the mash, which is my reading of why it’s used.
What else can I make with haggis?
In Mums Know Best, their shepherd’s pie version of a cottage pie uses two parts minced lamb to one part haggis. And that’s “for a good gamey flavour”, while the same book lists haggis among samosa fillings to try.
Our lamb shepherd’s pie is a different one, from One Pot Wonders, but its method would take the haggis, which is my suggestion. Or try it inside Hairy Bikers samosas, or go for Balmoral chicken, which stuffs chicken breast with haggis and wraps it in bacon.
Can I make it ahead?
The recipe doesn’t say, so this is my approach: make the clapshot ahead, cool it within 2 hours and chill it. Then reheat it once until piping hot, though I’d still make the sauce fresh.
Cool any leftover haggis and sauce within 2 hours too, and follow the haggis pack’s guidance on how long it keeps once cooked. And reheat them only once, the sauce gently but until steaming hot all the way through.
