Lamb Haggis

Preheat the oven to 400F. Tackle the stomach bag first. Turn it inside out; then scrub and scrape it in several changes of cold water. Scald it and leave it to soak for a few hours in water and salt. Put the oatmeal, well spread out on a baking tray, to toast golden brown in the oven for 10 minutes. Wash the pluck well. If you cannot get the lungs, the kidney or tongue will do instead. Put the pluck into cold salted water, boil, then skim and simmer for 1 hour. Drain the pluck and check it, removing the black bits and veins. Grate the liver and chop the rest of the meat. (You maynot need all the liver, half is usually enough) Chop the suet, and rub out the membrane scraps with well-floured hands. Mince the onions fine. Mix the meats, suet and onions together and spread them out on the table. Sprinkle the oatmeal on top. Season with salt and a heavy hand on the pepper mill. Here some add lemon juice, cayenne pepper, and a selection of herbs. Mix the whole lot together and stuff it into the stomach bag, or the sausage skin, that is available in some specialty stores in North American. The stomach bag will be a little over half filled, but this is to allow room for the oatmeal to swell. Moisten with good stock. Put the haggis on an upturned saucer in a pan of boling water or stock. Heat gently; do not allow to reboil. Prick the bag with a needle when it first swells. Simmer for 3 hours if the haggis is a large one. When you want to reheat it, simmer it for an extra hour. Serve the haggis with a well-seasoned and buttered puree of mashed rutabagas and potatoes <"tatties">. Keep the fire blazing in the hearth. Pour a dram of whiskey on the haggis, and before serving, address the haggis with the traditional poem.