Choosing the Method

• The meat used in haggis is cooked -- typically by boiling -- prior to being stuffed into the casing. Thanks to the precooking, haggis only needs to be heated thoroughly to be ready to eat. Haggis is traditionally boiled or baked. With these methods, the flavor of the haggis will depend primarily on the spices and meats used in the recipe. Smoking your haggis not only allows the flavors of the recipe to come through, but also adds another layer of flavor to the sausage.

Selecting the Temperature

• Unless your haggis has been cured, use the hot method of smoking. Cold smoking involves keeping the haggis at around 85 degrees Fahrenheit. With uncured meats, this temperature creates the perfect conditions for the growth of foodborne pathogens. In the hot smoking method, the haggis is smoked in a smoker that remains at 160 F throughout the smoking process. This temperature is hot enough to kill most pathogens. Hot smoking cooks the meat through and gives it a rich, smoky flavor.

Smoking Your Haggis

• Except for its larger size, smoking a haggis is similar to smoking any other sausage. If you choose to smoke your haggis, you'll need a smoker, wood and plenty of time. Hardwoods make the best choice for smoking since they burn longer and give a better flavor than softwoods. Light the wood and heat the smoker to 160 F and then add your haggis. Depending on the size of the haggis, smoking can take anywhere from 3 to 24 hours. During this time, you must maintain the temperature of the smoker at 160 F to prevent pathogens from growing. Rather than judging by time, use a meat thermometer to test your haggis. A thermometer inserted into the center of the haggis should read between 152 and 160 F. You can also partially smoke the haggis and then finish the cooking in the oven.

Using the Haggis

• To stick with tradition, serve your haggis with mashed turnips and mashed potatoes and wash it down with Scotch whiskey. This is also the standard menu for a Burns Dinner to honor Scotland's National Poet, Robert Burns. You can also use the smoked haggis as a poultry stuffing, crumbled over a plate of nachos, mixed into a batch of lasagna or in any recipe where you would use crumbled sausage. If you have any haggis left over, you can store it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. If you don't plan on eating the haggis soon, portion it out into individual servings and store the packages in the freezer. For the best flavor, plan on eating the frozen haggis within 3 months.