Traditional Scotch Egg
This deletable British staple starts with layer of tender, creamy egg, wrapped in seasoned sausage, and rolled in scrumptious breadcrumb coating then fried until golden and crispy. Every bite is a burst of flavor on your taste buds.
Equipment
- 1 Deep fat fryer or saucepan
- 1 Pot to boil eggs
- 1 Cast iron fry pan or baking dish
Ingredients
- 8 X-Large Eggs
- 1 lb Pork sausage meat Any choice
- 1 tbsp Olive oil
- 1/2 cup Mild or Sweet onions finely chopped
- 1 clove Finely minced garlic
- 1/2 tsp Fresh ground black peppercorns
- 5 sprigs Thyme finely chopped If you can use fresh do so
- 1 tbsp Parsley finely chopped
- 1 tsp Fresh sage Optional but did add a nice flavor
- 1 tsp English mustard Any form of hot mustard like Colmans
- 1 /2 cup All purpose flour May need more so have for standing by
- 2 tbsp Milk
- 3/4 cup Plain dried breadcrumbs Avoid panko, browns very dark
- 1/2-1 cup Cooking Oil with a high smoke point If you can fully submerge the egg that is ideal but not required
Instructions
- Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Carefully lower in 8 eggs and cook for 6 1/2 minutes for a runny yolk, or 7 1/2 minutes for a slightly more firm yolk. Lift out with a slotted spoon and place into an ice water bath immediately or run under a cold tap until completely cold. Peel and set aside. They seem to peel better from an ice bath and fully cooled.
- Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and gently cook the onions and garlic for 8-10 minutes until soft and translucent. Do not brown. Set aside to cool slightly.
- Place the onions and garlic in a large bowl with the sausage meat, black pepper, herbs, and mustard. Season with salt and mix everything well with your hands, almost into a paste. Divide into 6 balls.
- Place the peeled eggs in a bowl with some of the flour. Make sure they are well coated.
- Flatten the sausage meat mixture between 2 sheets of saran wrap, parchment paper, or tin foil until it’s as flat as possible. Place a floured egg in the middle of the sausagemeat. Using your hands, shape the meat evenly around the egg until completely sealed. Place the eggs on a baking tray. Repeat with the remaining eggs. Cover and chill for at least 30 minutes.
- Beat the 2 remaining eggs with the milk. Line up 3 bowls – one with the remaining flour,, another with the egg mixture, and a third with the breadcrumbs. Roll each sausage-encased egg in the order of the bowls – first in the flour, then egg mixture, and finally in the breadcrumbs. Chill again for 15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350.
- Heat oil to 170 degrees and put in 2-3 eggs at a time as soon as the oil gets heated. In my our case we used a small saucepan so the eggs could be fully submerged so we did one egg at a time. Deep fry the eggs covered with sausage for 5 minutes until crisp and golden brown. Do not let it get dark brown. Drain on paper towels and repeat with the remaining eggs.
- Place the eggs in a cast iron pan or a baking dish. Place in the preheated oven for 8 minutes.
- Enjoy hot with a little sea salt and a dipping sauce. Can be served at room temperature as well.
Notes
Serving size is 1-2 Scotch eggs per person. It would be a meal if you had two.
Prepare to the end of step 6 the day before frying. The yolks do remain runny.
Once cooked and cooled, the Scotch eggs can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days and should be brought to room temperature to serve.
Frying and then baking the fried scotch eggs will result in perfect cooking of the inner meat and that brings a fluffiness to the Scotch Egg. If you wish to save that step you can fry eggs for 7-8 minutes and do not bake.
For those who wish to avoid frying you can bake the eggs in the oven at 300 degrees for 30 minutes.
Several recipes we saw only had salt and pepper added to the sausage meat. It seemed bland to us but that is an option.
If you can get hold of some farm-fresh local eggs it will make for a much darker yolk which will enhance the presentation.
Serving the Scotch Egg on a bed of greens or julienned pickled vegetables adds a lovely touch.