“Although I cannot lay an egg, I am a very good judge of omelettes.” -George Bernard Shaw
Scotch Eggs
Our Thoughts
Being great fans of British food, we absolutely love Scotch Eggs. I mean, hardboiled egg, wrapped in sausage, and fried? YES. And when you can use any size egg for these, the options widen considerably. We made bite-sized versions with quail eggs, and nearly ate them all before we got the photographs taken. For an amazing variation, try using white or black pudding instead of regular sausage meat.
Why it should be in the Next Book:
Because it’s decadent, delicious, and entirely in keeping with the food aesthetic in A Song of Ice and Fire. They would be best suited to one of the Northern regions, although now that winter really is coming, they could be tasty anywhere in Westeros.
Scotch Eggs Recipe
- 8 Medium Eggs, hard boiled
- Plain flour, mixed with some salt and pepper
- 1 pound Sausagemeat
- 1 Egg, beaten with a dash of water
- Breadcrumbs
- Deep fat or oil, for frying
Peel the eggs and dust with flour-salt-pepper. Coat each with sausagemeat, keeping it in a good eggy shape. The egg is slippery, so start with a large, flat disc of sausagemeat, then work the edges around to meet one another until the whole egg is covered. Roll the sausaged eggs in flour, then brush with beaten egg, coat with breadcrumbs and fry in deep fat for about 7 minutes. Place on a plate with paper towels to allow to drain, and allow to cool. Serve cut in halves with salad or as part of a cold buffet.
I vote that, in the books, they be renamed as “Umber Eggs.” Because wrapping something in sausage, then frying it, seems like a typical Umber thing to do.
House Umber – for when you don’t just need to compensate, you need to overcompensate.
haha! I like it. :)
I concur. I love the Umbers.
You can also bake them at 400 for 30 minutes, if you’d rather not deep fry.
I used this method on the batch I made today and they were quite tasty but I think that was because I used good quality Italian sausages for the meat. The excess fat drained through the rack so I was able to persuade myself that they were healthier than the deep fried version (I’m just too lazy to deep fry).
It only took me 30 yrs to finally get around to making them. :)
I just made them that way yesterday for the first time. Mainly due to the fact that I have trouble digesting fried food. They were wonderful. Absolutely amazing!
I make a couple variations on these. For the first one, wrap a slice a cheese around the still-warm egg before wrapping it in sausage (because cheese makes everything better). For the second, try using a small boiled/baked red or butter potato instead of an egg. Enjoy! I love scotch eggs!
One day, I hope to actually eat one rather than just salivating over the pictures I’ve seen. :) But it looks like I’ll have to be the one to cook them. (sigh)
Oh you definitely should. We do them for Christmas morning every year. They are easy and so good. We do the baked method.
Well darn it – now I have to go buy sausage! Thanks – I wasn’t already busy enough this week!
I got to be a taste tester…and they are excellent!
By the Seven, that looks and sounds amazing!
Down in TX, we’ve got a variation called “armadillo eggs.” (It’s fun to watch people’s faces when you tell them that, and they actually believe that these things come from armadillos) There’s no actual egg involved here, and instead uses a sliced jalepeno half stuffed with cream cheese and cheddar to get the same visual effect. Sometimes it’s fried, sometimes it’s just grilled, but if you really want to overdo it, smoking it can bring about a whole new level of nirvana.
Best recipe I’ve seen, courtesy of Homesick Texan in New York: http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/2011/02/armadillo-eggs-recipe-jalapeno.html
Sounds awesome!
Mixed results…
When I ran across Inn at the Crossroads earlier this year I bookmarked the site for ideas for tailgate recipes. And yesterday for our opening game I decided on Scotch Eggs for my first attempt. Friday night I prepped a batch of a dozen for my tailgate group, and took a big 12-quart stock pot and a gallon of peanut oil with me to deep fry these on the grill at the tailgate so we could eat them fresh.
I cooked the first six and they came out OK, but I realized quickly that trying to deep fry something in a pot on a grill is not the easiest task in the world–without consistent heat contact to the bottom of the pan from a stovetop, it takes a long time to get the oil to boiling, and then for safety sake I let the eggs stay in the oil for about fifteen minutes instead of seven to make sure the sausage was cooked through.
They got good reviews from my tailgate group, but I had to throw the second batch of six out because the grill ran out of gas about two minutes after I dumped the second six eggs in, and I didn’t trust that they would cook through enough to be safe to eat.
Two things I noticed that I’d like ideas to improve on if I do these again:
1. The eggs started to “fall apart” when I took them out of the oil–two of the eggs slipped completely out of the sausage casing when I grabbed them out of the oil with tongs, and most of them were falling apart when we tried to slice them. Any ideas on how to make everything stick together better? I saw the comment about adding cheese today and I wonder if that might help everything stick together better.
2. I suppose I should have guessed this from the ingredient list, but they seemed a little bland to me, even though my tailgate group seemed to like them. With no seasonings but salt and pepper and using mild breakfast sausage they were just sort of there. I’m not a big “hot” spicy food eater, but I wonder what others have done to add more flavor? Should I try something other than breakfast sausage for the wrapping?
Everyone was glad to have something a little different in addition to the burgers, brats, and hot dogs that others brought for tailgate, and our team won 62 – 0 so I think the eggs definitely were a good idea. I’ll be looking for more recipes from the blog that I can fix for the tailgate, and maybe things that will work better on the grill than the deep-fry idea…
Kenneth, to help keep the eggs from slipping out of the sausage and to get the sausage to seal around the egg better, I add a raw egg to each pound of sausage meat I use. Then, since that really moistens up the sausage meat, I add breadcrumbs until it’s just moist enough that I can seal the sausage around the egg (typically around a cup to a cup-and-a-half of breadcrumbs per pound). To add flavor without having to measure out seasonings, try using Sage sausage and/or seasoned breadcrumbs. If you don’t make the sausage seal better, adding the cheese DEFINITELY won’t help keep the egg from slipping out! Haha
Also, these are traditionally served with a spicy mustard condiment. However, they also taste good if you serve them cut in half and topped with pepper gravy (white breakfast gravy).
You know… Traditionally (at least where I come from in Britain) Scotch eggs are served cold. They are a traditional pic-nic food. So there is no need to make them at the tailgate party. You can make a bunch the night before, leave them in the fridge overnight and bring them out the next day. Cut them in half and spoon on a healthy dose of Colmans English Mustard. All problems solved. :)
Next Pennsic, you must stop by House Ragnesfolke in the bog. . . we have an annual Frynight which pretty well ALWAYS features scotch eggs. Ask for Gavin. :)
OOH! Will definitely do that. :D
Took me a while but I finally made a batch of Scotch eggs using your recipe. They were very tasty and ended up as supper that same night. :)
Thank you for your always fascinating posts. :)
Well 3 large eggs went into fryer. The coated cheese fell apart and I was left with mush. Worried about oil bubbling over as I’ve not got deep fat fryer and only guessed after 10 mins that oil was hot enough. Got one left, so going to try in the oven. I used to cook these a lot when I worked in a school kitchen but 30 years later. But I don’t know why they’ve ended up mushy