Scotch eggs, a simple recipe for success

Total: 35 min Diners: 4

Scotch Eggs, which are also known as Scotch Eggs, are more English than anything else, so much so that their origin (one of the stories) takes us directly to one of the first gourmet stores in the world: Fortnum & Mason in the heart of London’s Piccadilly. We go back to the eighteenth century when these minced meat balls – whose secret lies in putting a not very thick layer of meat well seasoned – saw the light in 1783.

Ingredients

. Country eggs, 4 u Minced veal, 320 g Minced Iberian pork belly, 60 g Salt, 1 teaspoon Ground black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard, 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 teaspoon Garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon Dried oregano, a pinch

.For breading

Wheat flour, 200 g Egg, 1 u Fine breadcrumbs, 300 g Mild olive oil for frying, 500 ml

Step 1

In a saucepan with plenty of boiling water place one by one the eggs carefully so that they do not crack and let cook for 6 minutes, not one more and not one less. As soon as the alarm sounds, take the eggs to a container with cold water with ice and cool them quickly to stop the cooking. Then, with great care and patience peel one by one, having tapped gently to break the shell but carefully so that it does not break. Set aside.

Step 2

Mix the minced meat with the minced bacon, season with all the spices and sauces and mix very well. Divide into four different balls and flatten each one. It is very useful to use a plastic wrap and stretch the meat on it, it will help us to handle it. Put the egg in the center and close the package, jacketed our scotch eggs completely and sealing well all the circumference.

Step 3

Make an egg in a deep dish, place the flour in another and the breadcrumbs in another. Dredge the scotch eggs first in the flour, then in the egg and finally in the breadcrumbs. They are now ready to fry.

Step 4

Place a saucepan with the oil to heat over medium heat and when it is hot, add the eggs one by one. If we want them lightly done we will raise the temperature of the oil slightly so that they brown before outside, if we want them very done we will do it the other way around but always bearing in mind that the oil cannot be cold when we start frying. Once well browned, we will drain them on absorbent paper.

Tricks and suggestions

Actually, the original recipe consists of using the meat of the sausages themselves that are left over by taking it out of the sausage and amalgamating it to cover the boiled eggs, something that here we evolved using minced beef mixed with a little Iberian bacon that will give us juiciness and allow us to leave our egg undercooked as if it were the best hamburger.

Whatever the case, there are many versions about the origin of scotch eggs but the reality is that they are a delight if they are well prepared and also, they are simple to prepare.

Using minced veal allows us to leave our scotch eggs undercooked without any problem, which we will not be able to do if the meat that surrounds them is pork or directly from pork sausage as the original recipe states.

The breadcrumbs can also be seasoned with spices to give them a special touch and we could even use ready-made flavored hamburgers to be the egg container: pistachio burgers, trumpets of the dead … in gourmet butcher shops sell them and they are a very fun alternative for Scotch eggs with a suggestive and different point.

There may be infinite types of sauces to dip our eggs in, but in reality we should obtain a sufficiently seasoned and flavored meat so that, together with the juiciness proposed here, it does not require any further additions.

Once you have seen the idea… it is also possible to make them with turkey, chicken or any mix of Vegetable Recipes that we would use to make hamburgers or vegetable meatballs. The possibilities are endless for eggs that would also succeed in Spain as they have done in their native country.