The Hunting, Butchering, and Cooking of Wild Haggis

Wild Haggis is a close relation of the Finnish Moomin-troll and a distant relation of the north American Jack-a-lope. Burns night (January 25th) is the annual celebration in Scotland of the start of the short open season, where the scots read poetry while eating the first haggis of the year. Haggis that is found on sale in theUK aren't  generally the genuine wild haggis and contain normally no wild ingredients what so ever. These shop bought mass produced haggises are made from strange bits of domesticated sheep, bits so strange these haggises are actually banned from sale in the united states, and haggis smugglers face a higher fine than for smuggling most drugs. So yesterday I had the pleasure of hunting wild haggis during an urban forage on the streets of Llanelli.




I collected smooth sow thistle, lesser celandine, and several thistles. All three are very common plants locally and can easily be found in most urban areas.

Lesser celandine is a seasonal winter root veg, it is a bit fiddly but worth while. Once a large dense patch is found simply tease up a good few handfuls. Don't worry harvesting does very little damage to plants local population, as it is impossible not to leave bit of roots in the ground. These then sprout back next year, with bigger plants. It has a another name of pilewort as the tasty roots look like haemorrhoids.
To butcher celandine ready for cooking simply knock the nice bobbles of the root, off the rest of the plant remove the stringy bits of root. The roots are then washed very thoroughly. Replant the dis-guarded tops and stringy roots, and they will provide you with next years harvest.
It is shade tolerant and likes soft soil. So can go under trees where other plants dislike.





smooth sow thistle
The sow thistle was dug up from soft soil, keeping the root intact. The root was cut from the top and washed and a peeled like a carrot. The tops were thoroughly washed and keep aside for shredding and frying.


thistle
I collected several thistles including the roots. Thistles are quite difficult to identify down to exact species this time of year as most of them are flat rosettes and aren't going to have the full features which you identify them with until late spring when they grow taller and form flowers. Creeping thistle has small thin woody roots and isnt worth the effort of harvesting and preparing, however upright thistle and woolly thistle before they sprout upwards have roots which are the size of carrots and are excellent eating. All thistles are edible including the stems once peeled of spikes, however they can go woody once the flower heads start to form. I find it safer to hold the plant with fork while butchering it. Wild Haggis only requires thistle roots so the tops were dis guarded this time, however the peeled stems of the leaves are good stirfried in a month or so when they are larger and the spikes less dense.

We also found a plate from a hedgerow. I have no idea why there would be a plate hiding behind a holly bush, maybe it was out hunting the local wyverns and got lost. There was no cracks or chips, so we wombled it. Wombling is an english verb which means making use of the things everyday folks leave behind, it should really be in more common usage.














The Recipe for Wild Haggis.



roots of calendine and thistles with sowthistle tops
1 cup of washed celendine roots
1 cup of washed, peeled and grated thistle roots, and washed grated and peeled sowthistle roots.
1/2 cup of broken frozen chestnuts
a small handful dried wild mushrooms
5 Ramsons sprouting bulbs [I couldnt find any so omitted]
1 small leek
1/2 teaspoon of white pepper
2 teaspoons garam masala
1 tsp marmite or vegemite
1/4 cup barley
1/4 cup oats
1 300gm tin green lentils
1/4 cup veggie suet





rehydrate mushrooms with marmite and water
Rehydrate the wild mushrooms in marmite mixed with 200ml of hot water. Maggie seasoning or soy sauce could be used if marmite isn't locally available. Meanwhile fry the chopped leek in a pan until soft. Add the celandine, all the thistles roots. the chestnut and ramsoms, cook gently and season with the pepper and garam masala and a good pinch of salt. Add the mushrooms and the 200ml of marmite liquid. Add the barley and cook for a further 30 minutes until the liquid has being absorbed.

In a large bowl add the green lentils, suet and oats. Cool the contents of the pan and then add to the lentils, suet and oats. Place a pudding cloth in a bowl and spoon the mixture into the cloth. Tie the cloth tightly. Simmer for one hour until cooked. 


Serve with mashed potato, swede [rutabaga] and pan fried sowthistle leaves and rich onion gravy.

Pan fried sowthistle it is simply the finely chopped leaves and cooked in a little oil for two or three minutes, Best cooked just before serving.

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