🥃 Burns Night Tipple Anyone? - A Not-So-Traditional Haggis Bolognese for January 25th (or whenever)

A Not-So-Traditional Haggis Bolognese for January 25th (or whenever)

You may or may not have heard of Burns Night before, but if you have, you will know that it’s one of those beautifully stubborn traditions that Scotland has held onto with both hands and a whisky glass.

Burns Night is celebrated annually on or around the 25th of January… or close to my birthday, whichever way you want to remember it 😎🤣. It commemorates the life of the bard Robert Burns, born in 1759. Poet, romantic, rebel, national treasure, the man who gave us Auld Lang Syne and a body of work that still sits at the heart of Scottish culture… and one I’ve definitely made a hash of whilst in drink on a New Year’s Eve somewhere… 

Traditionally, the evening involves:

• Toasts,

• Poetry,

• Someone confidently (and loudly) reciting Address To A Haggis

• The ceremonial cutting of the haggis,

• Neeps, tatties, and a wee dram

(turnips, potatoes, and whisky, because Scotland doesn’t mess about).

It’s part poetry night, part feast, part controlled chaos.

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A Day Late, But Right on Time

This year, I actually missed Burns Night itself.

I was in Barcelona, and by the time I flew back, January 25th had already slipped past. But honestly? That feels kind of perfect.

Because tradition isn’t about the date, it’s about the ritual.

So I came home, unpacked the bags… well… I didn’t… I got in the way apparently, whilst I was trying to make a coffee or two, shook the travel dust off, but then… I did what felt right, I made haggis bolognese anyway. A day late, on a Monday, knackered, but… who cares… and yes… I will be having a whiskey or two to wash it down. Please, whatever you do, don’t tell the Scot’s that the whiskey I’m having is Welsh Whiskey… the bottle of Penderyn Whisky has been sat in my cupboard for a few years after I was given/stole it from one of my favourite cooperators on one of our first EDCCooperative camps.

Anyway, what a better way to land back at home than a pan full of comfort food, the smell of spices and tomatoes in the kitchen, and a quiet, well earned dram?

Burns Night might be once a year, but good traditions don’t need calendars.

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How We Do Burns Night in Our House

We do things a little differently.

Don’t get me wrong, as I said, I love tradition. There’s something grounding about rituals passed down through generations. But I also believe tradition should live, breathe, and evolve, not just get stagnated and fossilise.

And besides… ‘You can take our neeps, you can take our tatties…

but you’ll never take our creative licence…’ That is what he said wasn’t it..?

So instead of the classic plate of haggis, neeps, and tatties, Haggis Bolognese is usually on the menu in our house.

It’s comfort food with heritage.

Familiar, but unexpected.

Italian soul, Scottish heart.

I’ve made this for guests over the years, including people who had never tried haggis before, and it has always gone down well. In fact, it has often been their first haggis experience, which feels like a small cultural victory. If someone’s first bite of haggis is in a rich tomato sauce over pasta with parmesan on top, I’ll take that as a win.

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A Reshare Worth Doing

I actually wrote this recipe years ago for our original website, but in a moment of digital tragedy (or perhaps overzealous button clicking), the post was deleted. Gone. Vanished. Lost to the internet void.

Which honestly just makes this feel even more right.

This year marks our tenth year, and if there’s ever a time to reshare, revamp, and retell old stories properly, the time is now. Not as an archive piece, but as something living again. Updated. Rewritten. Reclaimed.

Some traditions live on plates.

Some live in words.

Some deserve a second life.

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A Small Note for Friends Across the Pond 🇺🇸

Sadly, if you’re in the States, traditional haggis has been illegal to import since the 1970s due to a ban on foods containing sheep lung (which makes up about 10–15% of the traditional recipe). The ban covers all lungs, due to contamination risks during slaughter.

That said…

If you’re ever in the UK on Burns Night, or anytime for that matter, I will happily make you some.

My last guest from the States loved it, and lived to tell the tale.

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🍝 Burns Night Haggis Bolognese Recipe

This is simple, rustic, forgiving cooking. Nothing fussy, nothing precious, just good ingredients, good timing, and a glass of whisky within reach.

Ingredients

For the sauce:

• 1 traditional haggis

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 1 onion, finely diced

• 2–3 cloves garlic, crushed

• Fresh basil – 20g (or 2 tsp dried - fresh is always best in these dishes)

• Dried oregano – 1 tsp

• Chilli flakes – 1 tsp

• 1 tin chopped tomatoes

• 1 tsp tomato purée

• Whisky – two measures (one for the pan, one for the chef… thank me later!)

To serve:

• Spaghetti or… or… if you want to buck the trend, tagliatelle, just don’t tell my nonna

• Parmesan

• Fresh basil (optional)

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Step 1 — Cook the Haggis

Cook your haggis according to the packet instructions.

I usually place mine in a covered oven dish, almost filled with boiling water, and cook it at 180°C for around 1 hour 45 minutes.

This slow, gentle cook keeps it moist and crumbly, perfect for sauce but can sometimes be tricky to remove and not pop… 

Step 2 — Build the Base

Heat the olive oil in a large, deep frying pan.

Add:

• Onion

• Garlic

• Basil

• Chilli flakes

• Oregano

Cook gently over low heat for about 5 minutes, until everything softens and becomes fragrant. This is your flavour foundation, do not rush it!

Step 3 — Tomatoes & Whisky

Add the tinned tomatoes and tomato purée. Stir well.

Pour in one measure of whisky to the pan.

Pour one measure into a glass, remember, balance is important in life.

Let the sauce simmer gently while the haggis finishes cooking.

Step 4 — Pasta On

Boil your spaghetti in a large pan of lightly salted water. Nothing fancy, just good water and some good timing.

Step 5 — The Marriage

Once the haggis is cooked, remove it from the oven, take off the casing, and crumble it directly into the tomato sauce.

Toss everything together well.

Let it simmer for a few minutes so the flavours meld, the spices from the haggis, the acidity of the tomatoes, the warmth of the whisky. This is where the magic happens.

Step 6 — Serve

Drain the pasta.

Plate it up.

Spoon over the sauce generously.

Finish with:

• Grated parmesan

• Fresh basil

• Optional extra chilli flakes

• Optional extra whisky (internally administered)

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Why This Works

Haggis already carries spice, depth, richness, and warmth — it’s basically a ready made flavour bomb. In a tomato base, it behaves like a deeply seasoned mince, but with far more character.

It’s familiar enough to feel like comfort food yet, different enough to feel special, all the while, still traditional enough to honour Burns Night as well as being modern enough to feel like your own tradition.

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Tradition, But With Soul

Burns Night doesn’t have to be rigid, It doesn’t have to be formal.

Sometimes tradition looks like poetry and ceremony but sometimes it looks like pasta, haggis, and a good bottle of whisky shared with friends and family. 

But, honestly, as Robert Burns was a man of the people, I think that he would approve of a big pan of haggis bolognese and a noisy kitchen.