Heaven: 2023 Food, marvellous food! Recipes we enjoy...or not!

2456789

Comments

  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I'm inclined to agree, Nick - I think the spiciness of a good haggis would work rather well with the mildness of Mozzarella cheese.
  • Haggis quesadilla is pretty good and that's basically an inside-out pizza.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I'm happy to report that the deep-fried haggis was quite delicious, and the company and entertainment excellent - a very jolly evening.
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    What is a good haggis please?
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    One with just the right balance of herbs and spices, and a good, crumbly but not too dry texture.
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    That's a good answer to the question, but now to the next: does a good haggis exist outside the realms of fiction. And a third: if so, where can it be found? A haggis is in the same area of cookery as a terrine and all its cousins. In touring France, we've come across many good terrines and only a couple we'd describe ås bad. We've yet to come across a good haggis - but perhaps it's our expectation of what a good haggis should be thats at fault.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    Gee D wrote: »
    That's a good answer to the question, but now to the next: does a good haggis exist outside the realms of fiction. And a third: if so, where can it be found? A haggis is in the same area of cookery as a terrine and all its cousins. In touring France, we've come across many good terrines and only a couple we'd describe ås bad. We've yet to come across a good haggis - but perhaps it's our expectation of what a good haggis should be thats at fault.

    I've never had a bad one. In what way are you thinking it in any way resembles a terrine? What are you expecting?
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Currently the best mass-produced haggis are probably McSween's and Simon Howie's, though I would say both - based on several decades of sampling - are blander than they used to be.

    So my yardstick is probably a 1980s McSween - not too dry and very markedly peppery.

    As @KarlLB says, what are you judging the haggis by?
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    My brother and sister-in-law are coming to stay for a few days all of which will probably be over 25C. I'm OK with recipes for cold weather, but not so good for hot.

    I'm after salads and dressing recipes/combinations that are simple and easy to do. The only vegetales off the menu are cucumber and artichokes.

    I would be grateful for any help. Thanks.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    I'm not so keen on creamy/mayo type salad dressings, so prefer to make my own.

    My vinaigrette is -

    Salt
    Black pepper
    Dijon mustard
    Sugar
    Balsamic vinegar
    Olive oil

    (Proportions to taste: mine is 1:2 vinegar/oil)

    This can be made lighter by substituting lemon juice and walnut oil - plus add walnut halves to the salad leaves.

    Keep the salt, pepper, oil and vinegar and add a tbsp of ketchup and a good few dashes of Tabasco (or other hot sauce) and dress potatoes while they're still warm.

    For a really simple but zingy dressing for anything with avocado - fresh lime juice, sugar and shop bought sweet chilli sauce.

    Pretty well anything is saladable in my book - all lettuce and lettuce-adjacent leaves, peppers, tomatoes, shallots, scallions, fresh peas, mange tout and sugar snap that have been given the minimal amount of cooking (1 min in microwave), new potatoes, home-cooked beetroot, shredded carrot, celery (de-string), apples, pears. Additional scatters - walnuts as mentioned, feta, blue cheese, crispy bacon, croutons fried in the bacon fat.

    I'm getting salad cravings.

  • NenyaNenya All Saints Host, Ecclesiantics & MW Host
    I am no fan of salad but think I've been missing a trick with the dressing so I'll be trying that one. Thank you @Firenze .
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    New potato salad with the following dressing:

    Crush a chopped clove or two of garlic in a mortar with a good pinch of salt, then add a splash or two of lemon juice and a generous grind of pepper. Add a few tablespoons of mayo and mix well, adding chopped chives or spring onions.

    Dress the boiled potatoes while they're still warm, then cool and refrigerate until needed.
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    KarlLB wrote: »
    Gee D wrote: »
    That's a good answer to the question, but now to the next: does a good haggis exist outside the realms of fiction. And a third: if so, where can it be found? A haggis is in the same area of cookery as a terrine and all its cousins. In touring France, we've come across many good terrines and only a couple we'd describe ås bad. We've yet to come across a good haggis - but perhaps it's our expectation of what a good haggis should be thats at fault.

    I've never had a bad one. In what way are you thinking it in any way resembles a terrine? What are you expecting?

    The similarity is that both consist of chopped diced or minced meat (although that meat in the case of haggis is such bits of the beast as lungs, brains and other bits often discarded) mixed with seasonings and onions, stuffed into a casing and cooked. I'm expecting something enjoyable to eat, as have been almost all terrines have been for us.
  • Why don't you just say that you don't like haggis and be done with it? You don't have to like it - some people don't. It is not a terrine, so the comparison has limited value.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    Gee D wrote: »
    KarlLB wrote: »
    Gee D wrote: »
    That's a good answer to the question, but now to the next: does a good haggis exist outside the realms of fiction. And a third: if so, where can it be found? A haggis is in the same area of cookery as a terrine and all its cousins. In touring France, we've come across many good terrines and only a couple we'd describe ås bad. We've yet to come across a good haggis - but perhaps it's our expectation of what a good haggis should be thats at fault.

    I've never had a bad one. In what way are you thinking it in any way resembles a terrine? What are you expecting?

    The similarity is that both consist of chopped diced or minced meat (although that meat in the case of haggis is such bits of the beast as lungs, brains and other bits often discarded) mixed with seasonings and onions, stuffed into a casing and cooked. I'm expecting something enjoyable to eat, as have been almost all terrines have been for us.

    Thing about a terrine is it's moulded and holds its shape. Haggis isn't and doesn't. Are we meaning the same thing by "Terrine" here?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrine_(food)
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    Cathscats wrote: »
    Why don't you just say that you don't like haggis and be done with it? You don't have to like it - some people don't. It is not a terrine, so the comparison has limited value.

    I have not said that it was a terrine.

    A couple of years ago, we spent a month in the Western Highlands. Eating lunch out almost every day, we tried to sample plenty of haggises thinking we were in the right place to do that.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    Gee D wrote: »
    Cathscats wrote: »
    Why don't you just say that you don't like haggis and be done with it? You don't have to like it - some people don't. It is not a terrine, so the comparison has limited value.

    I have not said that it was a terrine.

    A couple of years ago, we spent a month in the Western Highlands. Eating lunch out almost every day, we tried to sample plenty of haggises thinking we were in the right place to do that.

    You probably were. Perhaps you don't like haggis. Some people don't.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    I've recently come to the conclusion, incidentally, that people's sense of taste is vary variable - just like vision.

    For example, I can't taste anything in cream. It's just blank flavourwise. This can't be universal as otherwise it wouldn't be as popular as it is. But it's a mystery to me.
  • I think of haggis as being something like a large faggot, but with the addition of oatmeal. With more seasoning too, as the only haggis I have eaten was too highly seasoned for my palate (bought in an Essex supermarket, so possibly not the best example). I have the same seasoning problem with Scotch pies.

    I expect people who don't like haggis are not that keen on faggots either.
  • I think of haggis as being something like a large faggot, but with the addition of oatmeal. With more seasoning too, as the only haggis I have eaten was too highly seasoned for my palate (bought in an Essex supermarket, so possibly not the best example). I have the same seasoning problem with Scotch pies.

    I expect people who don't like haggis are not that keen on faggots either.
    I have learned a new meaning of the word “faggot”—one that almost certainly couldn’t be used in the US—as well as a food I’m unfamiliar with.

    As far as that goes, I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a terrine; another unknown food where I live, at least as such. Some sources tell me that livermush is kin to terrine and pâté. (Terrine doesn’t sound the least bit appetizing to me, I must confess.)

    True, traditional haggis cannot be sold in the US, as the US Dept. of Agriculture prohibits the sale of lungs for food. So haggis sold here is lungless unless homemade from an animal that wasn’t bought. A friend from church was making venison haggis last week; I haven’t heard how it turned out.

  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    @Gee D terrines aren't stuffed into a casing but poured/packed into a dish to be baked (or sometimes wrapped in pastry). I'm also someone who is puzzled by the comparison. Haggis has a much drier texture due to the oatmeal and is more comparable to a crumbly stuffing, or in US terms to a looser textured scrapple or goetta. You don't eat the haggis casing so you only eat the crumbly filling.
  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    @Nick Tamen personally I wouldn't say that faggots in this sense and haggis were similar in terms of texture. Faggots here are a Welsh and English Midlands dish made from liver, pork meat, and usually bacon made into large meatballs and wrapped in caul fat before cooking. Where I am from you usually eat them in a roll with mushy peas (they are popular from fish and chip shops this way) or with mashed potatoes and gravy.
  • jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host
    I had always wanted to try haggis, and had my opportunity when some friends and I were in Berwick-upon-Tweed. We had dinner in a nice restaurant near where we were staying and haggis came with the meal of one person in our group. He asked if anyone would like his portion since he had no intention of eating it. I took it and was pleased to find it tasted like a strong meatloaf. If we could have had a place to keep leftovers, I would have made a sandwich with the cold leftover haggis and mustard the next day!
    (That's how I like cold meatloaf sandwiches!)
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Heart, lungs, liver, fat but never brains.

    @jedijudy is right, haggis is texturally very much like meatloaf. Judy apart, I don't think anyone would eat it cold though, whereas it's essential to terrine that it is, since it's the setting and gelling together of the various ingredients that makes it.
  • DoublethinkDoublethink Admin, 8th Day Host
    I've eaten it cold, the morning after the night before as it were - its fine. But then I am happy to eat black pudding cold.
  • Thanks for the additional descriptions, @Pomona. Is the liver in faggots pork liver or some other kind of liver? Pork liver would make it sound similar to livermush, though livermush is typically sliced and pan-fried.

  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Thanks for the additional descriptions, @Pomona. Is the liver in faggots pork liver or some other kind of liver? Pork liver would make it sound similar to livermush, though livermush is typically sliced and pan-fried.

    Yes, pork liver - the texture varies between looser, more meatloaf-y types and tighter more sausage-y types, but it isn't as liver-heavy as livermush or liver sausage. It's mostly pork, just with liver added along with more typical meatball/meatloaf ingredients.
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    edited January 2023
    Thanks!

    (And I’m impressed you’re familiar with livermush.)

  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    Oh I'm not familiar with livermush sorry, this is just guesswork! Or at least, I have heard of it but not tasted it.
  • Ah, got it. You’re not missing much, at least in my opinion. I’m not a fan of livermush at all, but plenty of people love it.

  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    Pomona wrote: »
    @Gee D terrines aren't stuffed into a casing but poured/packed into a dish to be baked (or sometimes wrapped in pastry). I'm also someone who is puzzled by the comparison. Haggis has a much drier texture due to the oatmeal and is more comparable to a crumbly stuffing, or in US terms to a looser textured scrapple or goetta. You don't eat the haggis casing so you only eat the crumbly filling.

    I know very well what a terrine is, thank you, and don't know how many I've made - let alone eaten - in my life. As to being stuffed into a casing: a galantine is first cousin to a terrine. I see real similarities between terrines, galantines and haggises and have trouble understanding why others have difficulties.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    I think the similarity - diced or minced ingredients reformed by the agency of casing or setting - is outweighed, for me at any rate, by texture, taste and temperature.

    A scoop of hot haggis and a slice of cold terrine don't occupy the same food kinship to me.
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    Thank you Firenze, that's getting to the sort of answer for which I was hoping.
  • Firenze wrote: »
    I think the similarity - diced or minced ingredients reformed by the agency of casing or setting - is outweighed, for me at any rate, by texture, taste and temperature.

    A scoop of hot haggis and a slice of cold terrine don't occupy the same food kinship to me.

    That and the fact that when served Haggis doesn't maintain the shape imposed by the casing. It's too loose and neither sticky nor set.
  • Gee D wrote: »
    Pomona wrote: »
    @Gee D terrines aren't stuffed into a casing but poured/packed into a dish to be baked (or sometimes wrapped in pastry). I'm also someone who is puzzled by the comparison. Haggis has a much drier texture due to the oatmeal and is more comparable to a crumbly stuffing, or in US terms to a looser textured scrapple or goetta. You don't eat the haggis casing so you only eat the crumbly filling.

    I know very well what a terrine is, thank you, and don't know how many I've made - let alone eaten - in my life. As to being stuffed into a casing: a galantine is first cousin to a terrine. I see real similarities between terrines, galantines and haggises and have trouble understanding why others have difficulties.

    I literally outlined the significant differences in my comment which include things like texture and the ingredients involved, not just having a casing involved.

    If everyone else is saying that terrines and haggises aren't similar then perhaps they are in fact not similar.
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    edited February 2023
    You certainly did so literally.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    edited February 2023
    When we lived in Canada, I decided to try my hand at making haggis, and after a spot of googling found a recipe for "Americanised" haggis. It was a mixture of minced lamb, lamb liver (or chicken liver - lamb liver was rather hard to come by), onion, oatmeal, herbs, spices and a dash of whisky, bound together with an egg. No squeamish-making offally bits!

    You whizzed it in a food processor and baked it in a loaf tin like a meatloaf, and broke it up with a fork on the serving dish.

    It maybe wasn't quite up to Mr MacSween's standard, but served with David's clapshot it was really rather good.
  • Rainy day here today so good time to go over old family recipes. Most I would not use but they sure are fun to read. One that is simply signed N says, Today is raining and cold. N's recipe is for meatballs and tomato sauce it reads, "You may like more or less salt and sugar, the same goes for water, you will have to work it out for yourself. Cover with half lid cause this is going to splatter and make a mess. " Another is called, "Sassy Chicken." My favorite name so far is " Italian Egg Foo Young." LOL
  • We have "American Bun Bao" (aka Cornish Pasties). Mr Lamb requests them every chance he gets.
  • MooMoo Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Does anyone have a recipe for a meat-free breakfast casserole made with mushrooms? I tasted one at a potluck, but I couldn't locate the person who had brought it
  • ArielAriel Shipmate
    edited March 2023
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Roll away the stonebaked...
  • Shame it was past its use-by date more than a week before Easter.
  • ArielAriel Shipmate
    I've been wondering whether you're meant to stick it in the oven or not.
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Purgatory Host, Circus Host
    A very easy and tasty recipe, given to me by an Australian friend yonks ago. I hadn't made it for ages but resurrected it last night upon finding half-price organic chicken in the fridge with the reduced stuff with short dates.

    Cut your chicken in chunks and brown it in a deep frying pan with some olive oil. Add about half a packet of instant onion soup powder, some apricot nectar and a handful of dried apricots. Put on a lid and simmer until the chicken's cooked and the apricots are soft.

    My friend used to serve it with rice, I used boulghour wheat.

    Quick, easy and delicious.
  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    Apparently this is something of an Australian classic!
  • Not any more; it was all the go in the 70s aling with orange shag pile carpet.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Was that instead of the rice? :mrgreen:
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    Piglet wrote: »
    Was that instead of the rice? :mrgreen:

    Instead of. Very good to serve those on a weight-loss diet as the carpet took away the wish to eat very much.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    :mrgreen:
Sign In or Register to comment.