Blog Post
Haggis Burger you say? I’ve got a tasty treat for you!
Milly Fyfe • 22 February 2022
Beyond Burns Night Burger!
Haggis Burger you say? I’ve got a tasty treat for you!
Over the past month, I’ve been taking part in a #burgeroff competition organised on Twitter by @RateMySausage
Back in January, I was asked to submit photos and a description of a burger that I’d made from scratch to enter into the month-long competition against 31 entries.
The ethos behind the competition and previous rounds have been to support independent butchers, local food producers and source ingredients with low food miles.
Competitors from across the globe have taken part, from the USA and Australia as well as the UK. Of course a burger is a dish celebrated across the world and everyone has a slightly different take on what they enjoy to eat.
As part of the competition, we also had to prepare and cook two side dishes, which proved quite controversial with rules being set for what constituted a side or not, to be fair to all. Coleslaw or wedges were acceptable for example but a sauce wasn’t.
So I set about planning what I might cook for my entry. My life motto is ‘dare to be different’ so I wanted to think outside the box.
Having recently written an article in my local newspaper about haggis ahead of burns night and how versatile a dish that could be, I was inspired to explore the possibility of making a haggis burger. With our family roots firmly connected to Scotland, as well as being farmers and food producers ourselves, it lent itself to be a dish of champions… surely!
I came across a recipe on the Macsween Haggis website and wondered if I could replicate something similar. Being social media and PR savvy, I thought why not drop the company a line and tell them what I’m doing in case they could help me with some advice or top tips.
Well, you’ll never guess that Managing director James MacSween himself gave me a call to chat through my plans. From that conversation the ‘Beyond Burns Night Burger was born’.
A burger combined with Macsween’s haggis and lambs mince from our farm with some oil was all that was needed for the actually burger. Teamed with a homemade whisky sauce and mozzarella cheese and lettuce served in a toasted scotch roll bun.
The sides were inspired by the other elements of a burns night supper (neaps and tatties) so I made some salt and pepper potato wedges and some poached tatties with cheese and bacon, which made the most wonderful side to dip the wedges into!
My entry appeared on the @ratemysausage twitter feed on 6th February and followers and judges had to rate my burger from 1 – 10 and give some feedback.
What’s really tricky is photographing your burger so that everyone can see what you’ve made, how it was put together and how mouth-watering it could potentially be, along with a short description.
As we all know, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, but with this competition that was not possible. So I spent a while tarting up my cooked burger and side dishes to make it social media worthy, before serving up the rest to my hungry boys.
As a Farmers Wife and busy mum of two I love to cook but I’m no professional. I like good, honest food and support local producers where possible as well as growing / rearing our own. I hoped that my burger conveyed this as I neatly displayed in on a plate with some tartan around the plate and in the background was one of our sheep grazing just out in the Orchard. Perfect.
Well, I’m pretty chuffed to say that my burger made the cut with an overall score of 8.26 out of 10, where I ended up being 8th out of 31 on the scoreboard.
I had some wonderful comments, with many people saying what a different take on a traditional burger and that they’d love to have a try of it.
I couldn’t be happier.
The 2022 RMS Winter Burger-Off
— Rate My Sausage (@RateMySausage) February 17, 2022
Day 31 Overall Champion - Final Score
1 Iain @drunkenbutcher 9.14
2 Pete @BabyRhi19016061 9.02
3 Rhys @RCMtuning 8.79
4 Paps @pappa_mole 8.55
5 Sean @seanwells 8.50
6 Sinead @Indy_Sinead 8.40
7 Scott @ScottyFmWashy 8.28
8 Milly @MillyFyfe 8.26
>>> pic.twitter.com/lhJZlBlsAV
Other News / Blog Stories
Northamptonshire Farming Entrepreneur Milly Fyfe® ARAgS will head up a new radio show called ‘Tastes of the Shire; exploring Northampton’s food and farming scene from field to fork’ airs for the first time on Saturday 1st June. The show will feature a variety of interviews with grassroots farmers, producers, makers and foodies from Northampton and the surrounding countryside, to discover what is made, produced, sold and available to enjoy around the local area. Milly commented ‘I have a real passion for sharing amazing stories interviewing inspiring people who grow, rear, and process the food and drink we can enjoy, found right on our doorstep. I hope to take you all on a culinary journey exploring the people behind the farm gate, shop counter, restaurant kitchen and factory wall to discover what makes Northampton taste great.’ The show launch coincides with Northamptonshire Food and Drink Week , which is a campaign to bring people together to celebrate the food and drink scene across the county. Available on 106.9FM, NLive Radio is Northampton’s local radio station and hosts a variety of different music, business and specialist shows including Open4business, 90’s, R&B, rock and the Golden Hour. Station Manager Martin Steers commented ‘We are very excited to welcome a new food and farming show to our station, packed full of engaging conversations with local businesses, producers and food brands. Milly has really grasped the opportunity and we hope that many people tune in to learn more’. The Tastes of the Shire radio show with Milly Fyfe will air on the 1st Saturday of each month, 3-5pm on NLive Radio, the station that loves Northampton. Notes Who is Milly Fyfe ® ARAgS? Milly is from Yelvertoft ( Northamptonshire) and farms with her husband Andrew alongside their two young sons, where they rear beef cattle, sheep, arable crops a few pigs and a kitchen garden. Milly has a background in Marketing and PR and also founded a social enterprise called No Fuss Meals for Busy Parents CIC , helping more people to cook from scratch using local, seasonal produce. In 2023, Milly was awarded an associateship from the Royal Agricultural Societies , farming’s equivalent of an MBE, for her work connecting consumers with UK food production. She is also the current NNBN Northamptonshire business person of the year, a silver Local Food Hero through Northamptonshire Food and drink awards, has a podcast called The Countryside Kitchen meets and was recently recognised by Small Business Britain as a top 100 female entrepreneur in the UK. You can find out more about Milly on social media using the handle @ MillyFyfe on Twitter and Instagram or @MillyFyfeOfficial on Youtube , Facebook and Tiktok . About NLive radio NLive Radio is the local radio station for all the people of Northampton, it operates under a not-for-profit community radio license from Ofcom which is held by and run in partnership with the University of Northampton. All the presenters are volunteers made up individuals from across the community, including staff and students from the University. The station broadcasts on 106.9fm across Northampton, online at nliveradio.com and it's on dedicated smart phone app, as well as on smart speakers via “Launch N Live Radio”
Somerset and former politician Neil Parish launches a new podcast today
A collaborative farming industry event taking place on 27th February at 1 birdcage walk with TIAH, CARAS, IAGRM, FCN and the Farmers Club under 35's
Here is is the 2 minute clip which was produced and shared across social media to highlight the harvest on our farm - Enjoy!
