Recipes for Adventure: A Wild Camp Haggis for Burns Night

Plus a West Highland Way taster to remind us of those warmer brighter days!

Turns out Haggis, mashed potatoes and gravy make an awesome, and very portable, wild camping dinner of long distance hiking dreams!

As it is Burns Night tomorrow on 25th January, it seemed like a fine opportunity to reignite my “Recipes for Adventure” series. The idea being, I share recipe on a regular basis inspired by adventure - these might be packed lunches for the hill, van life cooking ideas, and, as I’m sharing today, camping inspiration. (Just a heads up, the recipes are a feature for paid subscribers, so if you want to get in on the deliciousness, you know what to do…)

But first, my non-UK readers may be wondering what the heck is all this Burns Night and haggis about? So here’s the 4-1-1…

What is Burns Night?

Burns Night is a Scottish shindig where folks gather to celebrate the life and poetry of Robert Burns, Scotland's national bard. There's often a feast (see below), as well as poetry, songs, and a toast or two (probably more) to Rabbie Burns. It's a cultural hootenanny, and a chance to revel in all things Scottish! Slàinte mhath! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🥃

(Love note: grab a tissue! I also met Mark at a Burns Night supper, so the occasion holds special significance for us!)

What is haggis?

That quintessential of Scottish dishes, a delight to some, and cringe-worthy to others. Traditional haggis is a mix of heart, liver, and lungs (oh my!) from a sheep, all cozied up with oats, pepper, spices, and onions, bundled up in a sheep's stomach and cooked to savory perfection. It may sound iffy, but it’s actually really good. For me, the real powerhouse flavour in haggis is the pepper. This means it’s actually pretty easy to recreate the flavours and textures with all kinds of ingredients. I actually prefer a veggie haggis. MacSween makes a decent one, but we’ll be making our own following this recipe from Carl Legge.

Veggie haggis - the superior haggis? You decide!

But wait, there’s more! I also learned today that haggis is to some a small mythical animal of the Highlands! Learn more in this enchanting read from

The Crow's Nest

:

Great Chieftain o’ the Puddin-race!

Haggis, mash and gravy for a West Highland Way wild camping supper of dreams

Hiking the West Highland Way with a pack full of wild camping essentials, and haggis of course

I also discovered recently that haggis is fantastically portable. We took it along for a particularly long (and outrageously beautiful) stretch of the West Highland from Glencoe to Fort William. The haggis, alongside instant mashed potatoes (my new favourite wild camping guilty-not-guilty pleasure), instant gravy, and some pre-shredded cabbage, makes for a pretty epic, satisfying, and delicious wild camping supper.

Wild camping gourmets - we paired our haggis with a couple Sierra Nevada Pale Ales and a game of Yahtzee!

Here’s what you need for the haggis (plus a few extra bonus tidbits from the West Highland Way):