Kottu, Kool, and Kalu Dodol

Passport & Plate - Highland Burger

USA | Friday, February 20, 2015 | 3 photos

Ingredients
Traditional Scottish Haggis, sliced (not available in the U.S.)
Scottish bison, ground
Egg
Bun/ Morning bread roll
Onion (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil

 

How to prepare this recipe
Form ground bison into a patty. Brush with oil or sauce to prevent drying. Because there is minimal fat content, high temperatures are not needed and only serve to dry and scorch the meat. Bison burgers will cook faster than beef burgers as they are much leaner than beef. There is virtually no shrinkage with bison.
Heat oil in a non-stick pan. Fry the haggis slices for 3-4 minutes on each side until golden and cooked through. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Heat oil in a small frying pan, crack the egg in and fry for a few minutes, or until set.
Warm your bun or bread roll in the oven.
Layer bun, burger, haggis. and fried egg in that order. Add onion or onion ring before topping with bun.
Serve with a Tennents and a dram of Scotch whiskey.

 

The story behind this recipe
In 2012 I spent a month in Edinburgh, Scotland as part of a writers conference. Visitors to the land of the thistle are often challenged to try two national delicacies: haggis and Scotch. The timid turn their noses up to haggis, a sausage that is illegal in the U.S. due to its lung content (eating hearts, livers, and oats is okay). My first experience eating haggis was atop the towering Highland Burger at The Standing Order. Even with a mouth as big as mine, I had to smash the burger to fit it into my mouth. The firmness of the bison, crunch of the fried haggis, and runny egg yolk played football in my mouth--gooooooooaaaaaaaaaal!
After not only trying the haggis but cleaning my plate, the uninitiated pestered me with questions like, "What was it like?" or "Did you really eat it?" I would tell them that it is like Cajun boudin, only less spicy and made with oats instead of rice.
"What's boudin?" some would ask. It just tastes like a really rich sausage patty, I would say, only thicker and softer and bolder and...it tastes like haggis. There is an earthiness to haggis. While not spicy, its savory body makes for a perfect pairing with "neeps" and "tatties" or a proletariat burger in a pub.
As I continued my Scottish writing adventure, I made sure to try haggis in its various forms. None fed my craving quite as well as that first bite in the Highland Burger. Before leaving the country, I stowed a couple of illegal tins in my carry-on bag so I could make that most-tasty burger back home.

As Robert Burns wrote:
Ye Pow'rs wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o' fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinkin ware
That jaups in luggies;
But, if ye wish her gratefu' prayer,
Gie her a haggis!