Haggis In Colorado (or elsewhere in the US)

[ThistleDown]

Best I've had is from Macsween's in Edinburgh, but good luck in Colorado. Much is in the spicing, but much more in the cooking. Take great care with that. Mealy or soggy are not on. In a former life I often served as much as 80 pounds of haggis on or about January 25 and rapidly acquired experience. Best thing to do is buy a 2-pound one well in advance from a new supplier (if its frozen than take that into consideration) and thawed simmer it in tightly-wrapped foil for 45 minutes to the pound. Do not boil it or you will have a wonderful mass of porridge. If you are happy with the result, order what you think you need + a pound or two. Best to keep all haggi roughly the same size so you don't have to vary cooking times for each of multiples. I found 3-4 pounders were good. Multiply the total poundage by the 45mins/pound formula and reduce that by a bit. If you need two stockpots, keep that in mind. Unwrap the one you want to present, place it on your crockery, pewter or silver tray with, perhaps, a surround of green stuff such as parsley, and parade it at your chest level about the room (but so the assemblage can see it and not just you). Handles on the tray really help if you have a weight to carry and a distance to travel. Unwrap the rest and serve with salvers of whisky for those who prefer a damper haggis.

And the bare bits that are left to be scraped from the casing? With your fry-up in the morning.