World's biggest haggis cooked in Ayrshire

Jun 5 2009 by Edwin Lawrence

THE biggest haggis the world has ever seen was cooked In Mauchline.

And it was half-ton highlight of the Holy Fair.

This great chieftain was truly the greatest of all time – a massive 1274 pounds.

That’s 534 pounds more than the previous record.

So the Mauchline record should stand for years to come.

Slow cooking of the haggis began two days before the fair.

It was boiled in a giant tank, and no-one could be sure what would happen.

Would the haggis burst open and provide the largest tank of haggis soup the world has seen?

And even if it held, would such a monster cook right through?

And would it survive being lifted out the tank?

Mauchline Burns Club member Peter Scally, an ex-army cook, was in charge of the process.

And he watched over the haggis like an expectant father.

By the morning of the fair, the haggis showed a slight split on top.

And Peter feared it might also be splitting at the bottom.

But his nerves were clamed when liquid was drained from the bottom of the tank – and it was clear stock.

The bag survived boiling and lifting, and was duly cut open and addressed by the Burns Club’s Andrew Cooper, before samples were passed round the crowd.

The great event took place on the Bleaching Green, where Burns met wife-to-be Jean Armour.

Mauchline Burns Club is now sending all the documentation on the event, along with a DVD, to Guinness World Records in London.

Witnesses included Chris McCarthy, managing director of old-established butchers McKechnie Jess of Greenock, who provided the haggis.

Others were Provost Stephanie Young of East Ayrshire and Torquil MacLeod, director of Homecoming Scotland.