20061025

scotch eggs

scotch egg

the portable provision: scotch eggs--hard-boiled eggs wrapped in sausage meat, rolled in bread crumbs, then deep-fried. a traditional scottish breakfast item, ideal picnic item, and plastic-packed staple of petrol stations around the UK. for those of us who won't be cruising down the M1 motorway anytime soon, these are easy enough to make, they store in your fridge quite well and are very suitable for your bento or lunch box. unless you've got one like this one which pieman so thoughtfully rolled out for me....probably with a forklift.

i'm assuming that back in the day these were made with small or medium-sized eggs, which are near impossible to find in your average supermarket; if you use large-sized eggs, be careful with the amount of sausage meat you use, as you can end up with a brobdingnagian baseball of meat. also, try and find organic eggs for this, as they are tastier than your average cold-storage egg. you can use store-bought sausage meat, seasoned to your preference, or you can do what i did and make your own--i just bought ground turkey meat, seasoned it with dried sage, white pepper, salt, and the tiniest bit of maple syrup, and let it sit in the fridge overnight. although these eggs are quite delicious once fried up, oddly, they are almost irresistible at room temperature or even cold. hm. sounds like a scotsman i once dated. but that, nenes, is not for public consumption :P


scotch eggs

6 large or 8 small/medium hard-boiled eggs, well chilled (i try to cook them to just past soft boiled stage, then stick them in the coldest part of the fridge to firm up)
1 pound good quality sausage meat, homemade or store bought
1/2 cup AP flour
1 to 2 eggs, beaten
1 cup panko-style bread crumbs
Vegetable oil for frying

peel eggs. divide sausage into 6 portions for large eggs, 8 for small/medium eggs. roll each egg in flour then shape a portion of the sausage by pressing it gently but firmly around each egg. dip sausage-wrapped eggs into beaten egg and roll in panko. at this point you can refrigerate them to make them easier to handle or to fry at another time (up to 24 hours ahead of time). heat oil to 350˚F . cook each egg for 4-5 minutes (4-5 min on each side if shallow frying) or until sausage is cooked and browned.

17 comments:

Does it come with gravy? and where's the rice? ;)

I've always wanted to try one of these but thought I might keel over. Now that you've eaten one and survived, I guess it's safe for me to have one;)

reminds me of morcon/ embutido with the eggy. or meatloaf with eggy.

I've never heard of this before...thank you for featuring it. The Indonesians have something similar they call bakso.

Oh, scotch eggs! They look delicious.

I love them, but I've only ever eaten them in the UK. I like to put ketchup on them.

Oh my god I have not commented in your blog in A MILLION YEARS, WHYY!?!?

I've never had a scotch egg. I think I'm too lazy to make one though. Or 6 rather. But your's looks and sounds damn tasty.

Mm, scotch egg.

[WHISTLES]

michelle, i don't know, it seems positively healthy compared to a deep-fried mars bar!

acornbud, there's always gravy! i'll have to make a bento just for you.

tokyoastrogirl, try one! but a good one, first. a bad one really might make you keel over.

ana, it totally looks like a mini-embutido to me, too.

mita, do you know how the bakso is made?

michelle, HP rules!

shukumei, you should try HP sauce, very tasty.

robyn, i don't know WHYYYYYYYYYYY???? i might just have to lob these at your head IF YOU DON'T STOP WHISTLING. but catch them okay? because they're GOOOOOOOD.

wow, look at those! very cool :) i bet their delish cold, mmmm

hi aria! they are weirdly better cold, i think. don't know why that is. i guess it's like the whole fried chicken on picnics thing--it's just so much better cold.

"brobdingnagian"

Have they got a category for best adjective in a food blog, because this just won it.

They're perfect like the ones I used to eat in Edinburgh!

i'll take that accolade, thankyewverrrrramuch!

ah saffy, the ones i remembered from edinburgh were dry and shrivelly. oh, i hope i'm remembering the scotch eggs :P

While commuting between Edinburgh and Stirling I used to eat mini Scotch eggs on the train. As I'm now back home, I better learn how to make the proper thing myself!

Santos! I have risen from the dead... actually, just been trying to get settled in Schwingalingapore, meeting up with Chubby Hubby & Kuidaore, and eating too much. In other words no good excuse. Oh yeah and I'm lazy. Must start back on my blog. Anyhoo, love the new look and love the Scotch eggs, one of my favourite snack foods from the UK. The shrivelly ones you remember hopefully came from a petrol station and not some nice young Scot ;-)! You've got me remembering, may have to attempt them myself.

I love scotch eggs, I live in the south, in Texas, so we deep fry everything anyway. The're also very salty. I never made them though. I buy them at the Houston Highland Games each year. Most Celtic festivals in the U.S. have booths selling Scotch eggs, haggis, and meat pies. I'll have to try this recipe.

This is it! The recipe i have been looking for. I've tasted this kind of food which we bought from a fastfood chain. It tastes so Yummy!! Now, i can make our very own Scotch Egg. I can't wait till my next cooking...Thank you for featuring this stuff. It goes well with sweet chili sauce...Try it!

Those Scotch Eggs look pretty good.

I posted a link to this post and stole your pic for my blog