Every 25th January, we in Scotland celebrate the birthday of our National Poet Robbie Burns. As part of the celebration we eat Haggis, a dish that is probably peculiar to Scotland.

The recipe for our beloved Haggis goes like this:

1 sheep stomach
1 sheep heart
1 sheep liver
1/2 lb fresh suet (kidney leaf fat is preferred)
3/4 cup oatmeal (the ground type, NOT the Quaker Oats type!)
3 onions, finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup stock

Wash stomach well, rub with salt and rinse. Remove membranes and excess fat. Soak in cold salted water for several hours. Turn stomach inside out for stuffing.

Cover heart and liver with cold water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Chop heart and coarsely grate liver. Toast oatmeal in a skillet on top of the stove, stirring frequently, until golden. Combine all ingredients and mix well. Loosely pack mixture into stomach, about two-thirds full. Remember that oatmeal expands in cooking.

The sheep’s stomach can be replaced by using 3 beef CAPS (talk to a sausage shop about these). Rinse the beef caps in cold water. Turn them inside out and soak them in cold water with some salt and vinegar for 1/2 hour. Drain them and rinse very well, inside and out. Divide the meat mixture into three parts. Fill the beef caps with the meat mixture and tie the ends off with string

Press any air out of stomach/caps and truss securely. Put into boiling water to cover. Simmer for 3 hours, uncovered, adding more water as needed to maintain water level. Prick stomach several times with a sharp needle when it begins to swell; this keeps the bag from bursting.

Place on a hot platter, remove the trussing strings and serve with a spoon. Ceremoniously served with "neeps, tatties and nips" (mashed turnips, mashed potatoes, nips of malt whisky).

100g (3.5 oz) of Haggis (3.5 oz) provides 310Kcal, 10.7g Protein, 19.2g Carbs, 21.7g Fat and a fabulous taste.

Please do not pass this recipe onto MacDonalds, they are best sticking to hamburgers and fries!

Question:
Does anyone know how to convert this recipe into a low-carb haggis? Remember, Robbie Burns Night is on the 25th January so there isn’t much time left!

A sheep's skin rug goes to the winner of the best suggestion.

Yours in low-carb deperation, Scotsman

Can you find pork rinds? They're deep fried puffy pig skins and often used as a binder.

I would add about 3 cups of them, ground and 4 eggs. Without the rinds, I would use ground lamb meat and eggs. You might also want to use one less onion.

It won't have the same texture as traditional haggis, but it will stick together.

There is a Greek dish that is similar in a way to haggis, which I think is called kokoretsi. It's the innards: lungs, liver, kidneys, etc. wrapped in the intestines and spit roasted. Almost as good as haggis!

You can have the neeps, but no tatties and just a wee nip.

Karen

Dear Scotsman, fascinating recipe but I'd dearly like to know how many of those 100g (~3.5 ounces) servings your recipe provides? The yield, that would be. It would help in determining counts ...

That being said, Karen has provided an good selection of suggestions to cook up a very low carb haggis.

At first glance, though, I would myself prefer to halve the steelcut oats, and increase the 'sheep' content (add 1/2 to 1 full pound of ground lamb). I think the stomach and steaming will hold the contents together sufficiently (well, I hope so).

Replace the tatties with "fauxtatoes" (well-buttered and nutmegged cauliflower), enjoy the neeps in moderation (also well-buttered and nutmegged) and celebrate with the smokiest of nips from Islay.

Happy Robbie Burns Day!

So, ScotsMan, what DID you end up doing for Robbie Burns Day?! Enquiring minds want to know!