Perfect Scotch eggs

 
 

Perfect Scotch Eggs

Recipe by Paul Phillips

Fortnum and Mason claim to have invented Scotch eggs as a luxury ready-to-eat meal in the days of horse-drawn travel. If true, every picnicker in the country owes them a debt of gratitude. I like to double coat mine to make them extra crunchy, but you can save time and miss this step out if you like. Buy sausage meat separately or just use your favourite sausages and remove the skins

Prep time: 20 mins, plus refrigeration

Cook time: 40 mins

Total time: 1 hour, plus refrigeration

Yield: Serves 4

Ingredients

  • FOR THE SOFT BOILED EGGS:
  • 4 medium free range eggs, at room temperature
  • FOR THE SAUSAGE MEAT MIX:
  • 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves, chopped
  • 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
  • 1 tbsp fresh chives, finely chopped
  • 250g good quality sausage meat
  • 1/3 tsp smoked paprika
  • 25g dijon mustard
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper
  • FOR THE BREADCRUMB COATING:
  • Plain flour
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 125g breadcrumbs (panko if you can get them)
  • Vegetable oil for frying

Cooking Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C (Fan 160C).
  2. Bring a small saucepan of water to a simmer, carefully add the eggs and cook for exactly six minutes.
  3. Once cooked, run the eggs under cold running water for 1 minute and cool in a bowl of iced water for a further 5 minutes.
  4. To peel the eggs, gently crack on a worksurface around the centre, and then ease off the shell piece by piece. Leave the peeled eggs in the cold water until required.
  5. Whilst the eggs are cooling, mix all of the sausage ingredients. Put in the fridge for twenty minutes to make the mix easier to handle.
  6. Cover each egg in 1/4 of the meat mixture, making sure there are no gaps (it can help to roll out the meat portions between cling film before wrapping the eggs). Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
  7. Dip the meat covered eggs in the seasoned flour, then the beaten egg and finally half of the breadcrumbs, shaking off any excess each time. Reshape and put back in the fridge for 15 minutes to set.
  8. Dip the eggs one more time in the beaten eggs and the other half of the breadcrumbs, making sure they're fully coated. Refrigerate for a final 15 minutes.
  9. Deep fry each egg separately in 160C oil for 3 minutes until golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper.
  10. When all the Scotch eggs have been fried, transfer to the preheated oven for 6-7 minutes to finish cooking. Serve hot or cold.
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Written by Paul Phillips On Tagged