Gie Her a Haggis!

Burns' Night, one of the few times of year where haggis is readily available in equal measure in all parts of the UK. Haggis virgins out there have no excuse as 25th January rolls around and even the most offal-averse has, in my experience, discovered that haggis is actually jolly nice, thank you very much.

Macsween's haggis has been served at Gleneagles, for crying out loud, and you can find some in most big supermarkets and pretend that you're an important world leader or wonderful golfer. Or, y'know, something less weird. Ramsay of Carluke have a rather special haggis that you can buy online, but obviously it won't be with you in time for the Address to a Haggis tomorrow. If you're located in Lanarkshire, do head over to the butchers' shop itself for your haggisy fix or, if you're in London, get yourself to Allen's of Mayfair, who stock the very same haggis.

I have some bad news; haggis is not gluten free! The oatmeal used in the recipe is just your run of the mill (pun intended) oatmeal that's open to cross contamination during farming and processing, so haggis is off the gluten free menu, I'm afraid. I'm fully aware that some of you are barely concealing your delight at this news, "oh dear, I can't eat the minced offal cooked in a sheep's stomach, what a shame". For the rest, help is at hand from Findlay's of Portobello, the fabulous Edinburgh butchers, where you can purchase your very own made-from-GF-oats haggis. Of course, if you don't live in the vicinity then yours won't arrive in time for Burn's Night celebrations, but you can order one online for another day. If you're an Edinburnian, Edinburgan, Edinburgundian, Edinburger(?) then you can call in and pick up your very own gluten free haggis. (I checked, they have some in stock.) While you're there, I highly recommend their GF black pudding and sausages, too.

Of course, you could make your own. I'm not brave enough to try it, even though I've gutted rabbits and cooked with liver, kidneys and heart, a sheep's pluck is just a bit too visceral for me. Stronger stomached individuals can get this haggis making kit for £15 from Sluttery favourite, Sous Chef.

If all of this haggis talk is too awful (get it?! Awful…offal! Fine, suit yourself) then there are vegetarian options out there. Macsween make an award winning veggie haggis that you'll find in most supermarkets, north and south of the border. Fans of the homemade stuff will be please to recall that Sara created a wonderful offering last year (pictured above) that has earned her honorary Scot status and I'm in the process of weaving her very own tartan, as soon as learn to weave.

If you've left your sgian-dubh (wee dagger) in your other socks, but you still want to get patriotic and Walter Scottish tomorrow, why don't you try making Hazel's Slow Braised Boozy Venison or mixing up a Penicillin cocktail instead?