Tamsin learned the tricks of the trade from cookery legend Delia Smith. A trusted recipe writer for the magazine for over 25 years, she is now our Senior Food Producer, overseeing testing and editing to ensure that every recipe tastes great, is straightforward to follow and works without fail. In her home kitchen, Tamsin creates fuss-free flavour-packed food for friends and family, with baking being her ultimate form of comfort cooking
See more of Tamsin Burnett-Hall’s recipes
Tamsin Burnett-Hall
Tamsin learned the tricks of the trade from cookery legend Delia Smith. A trusted recipe writer for the magazine for over 25 years, she is now our Senior Food Producer, overseeing testing and editing to ensure that every recipe tastes great, is straightforward to follow and works without fail. In her home kitchen, Tamsin creates fuss-free flavour-packed food for friends and family, with baking being her ultimate form of comfort cooking
See more of Tamsin Burnett-Hall’s recipes
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Ingredients
1 large swede, about 800g, peeled and diced
1.5kg Maris Piper potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
1 x 375g sheet ready-rolled shortcrust pastry
75g butter
3 tbsp milk
1 x 454g haggis
100ml whisky
2 tbsp chopped parsley, optional
For the gravy
2 small onions, finely chopped
3 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp light brown sugar
2 tbsp plain flour
1 tsp tomato purée
600ml chicken stock
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp grain mustard
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Prepare to the end of step 5 up to 24 hours ahead. Allow an extra 10-15 minutes cooking time, to heat through completely from chilled.
Start off by cooking the swede and potatoes in separate pans of salted boiling water until tender. The swede will take 30-35 minutes, the potatoes about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, use the pastry to line a deep 23cm tart tin or metal pie dish, rolling it out a little further first if needed. Trim off the excess, prick the base, and chill for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 190°C, fan 170°C, gas 5.
Drain the swede and potatoes and return them to their separate pans to steam dry for a couple of minutes. Add 25g butter and plenty of freshly grated nutmeg to the swede, and 40g butter to the potatoes, along with the milk. Mash the potatoes first, followed by the swede, seasoning to taste. Leave to cool slightly.
Place the tart case on a baking tray, and line with crumpled baking paper. Add some baking beans, then bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Lift out the beans and paper then return the tart tin to the oven for 10 minutes until the pastry looks crisp and dry. Remove from the oven.
Crumble the haggis into a bowl and mix in 50ml of whisky, and the parsley if using; stir to combine. Spoon into the tart case and press down to make an even layer. Add the swede as the next layer, followed by the mashed potato. Rough up the surface and dot with the remaining 10g butter.
Bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes until golden brown and piping hot in the centre; cover with foil if it is browning too much.
Meanwhile, for the gravy, cook the onions in the oil in a medium pan for 8-10 minutes until soft. Turn up the heat, sprinkle in the sugar and cook until starting to caramelise. Stir in the flour and tomato purée and cook for 2 minutes, stirring. Remove from the heat and gradually blend in the stock. Return to the heat and bring to a simmer, stirring until thickened. Leave to bubble for 10-15 minutes on a low heat. When ready to serve, add 50ml whisky, the Worcestershire sauce and mustard, and season to taste. Strain if you wish, then serve alongside the tart.
WHAT HAPPENS AT A BURNS SUPPER? Everyone enjoys a hearty Burns Night meal (which includes haggis, neeps and tatties, rounded off with drams of whisky), some of Burns' poems and songs are recited and tributes are made to the great Bard.
Haggis is traditionally served with tatties and neeps. For the non-Scots amongst us, "tatties" are mashed potatoes and "neeps" are mashed swede. To make things more confusing, swedes are known by many other names depending on where you are from. They are sometimes called yellow turnips and known as rutabaga in America.
You can't celebrate Burns Night without this classic Scottish recipe. We've served our haggis alongside its traditional side dishes 'neeps and tatties' aka mashed potatoes and swede. A rich whisky sauce is an ideal accompaniment to this flavourful dish too.
While it is eaten all year round, haggis is particularly associated with Burns Night, when it is traditionally served with "neeps and tatties" (Scots: swede, yellow turnip or rutabaga and potatoes, boiled and mashed separately) and a "dram" (i.e. a glass of Scotch whisky).
Those in the U.S. who'd like to try the dish are out of luck — assuming they want to try a haggis made with its traditional ingredients. It was long illegal to import the dish from its ancestral home of Scotland, and Americans have been forbidden by law from making dishes that include sheep lungs since 1971.
Bring a large pan of water to the boil, add the haggis and reduce to a simmer. Time according to weight – McLays recommends boiling a 1kg natural-cased haggis for an hour and 15 minutes. To serve, carefully slit open the casing and tip the filling onto a plate.
A short but important prayer read to usher in the meal, The Selkirk Grace is also known as Burns's Grace at Kirkcudbright . Although the text is often printed in English, it is usually recited in Scots.
What does haggis taste like? Haggis is like a crumbly sausage, with a coarse oaty texture and a warming peppery flavour. It's most commonly served with neeps (mashed turnip) and tatties (mashed potato) and washed down with a wee dram of your favourite whisky.
Is Haggis Healthy? It isn't unhealthy! The contested inclusion of offal like liver and heart in haggis means that the meaty version is high in vitamins and minerals like iron and magnesium. Haggis is usually quite healthy if eaten traditionally as a main meal as it's accompanied by mashed boiled potatoes and turnips.
Well, “neeps” is just the Scots word for swede – that hard winter vegetable that people also use in soups and stews. You might also hear Scottish people saying “nips”, which is much more obviously short for “turnips”. It's a hard job to peel and chop the neeps, and then we boil and mash, then add a bit of seasoning.
Neeps are what Scots, Irish and a lot of Northern English people call turnips - ie the big orange veg. Others call those a swede. The wee white ones - whether you call those a turnip or not - are not part of a 'neeps and tatties' recipe.
Traditionally, a Burns Supper consists of a meal of haggis neeps and tatties - topped with a creamy whisky sauce. Followed by a whisky infused, Cranachan dessert and washed down with a dram or three.
And as for the dubious habit of pouring neat whisky over haggis, we can only assume that has been a necessity when faced with extremely inferior haggis! Without sounding unpatriotic – we suggest that haggis should have a fling or two with a pint of beer.
Nothing compliments a great haggis better than a good whisky! Scotland's National dish and Scotland's finest whisky are combined in this haggis to produce Stahly Quality Foods' Whisky Haggis.
And it's in Scotland that the word dram was first used to describe a glass of whisky. It isn't an official measurement; a dram is most often referred to as “any amount of whisky that you could swallow in one mouthful.” The word originates from the ancient Greek word drakhme, used in reference to coins.
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Prep time: 45 mins
