Scotch Eggs

May: National Egg Month

Scottish festivals are fun! We enjoy watching the parade performances of the bagpipe and drum corps; meeting Highlander’s possible long-lost (royal?) relatives at the clan tents; looking at the lovely lightfooted lassies dance the fling; being amused with the athletes overturning a tree trunk at the caber toss tournament; petting the terriers, collies, deerhounds and sheepdogs; wondering what the Scotsmen are wearing underneath their kilts; and eating a variety of Scottish foods (except haggis, a traditional organ dish cooked in the sheep’s stomach). We usually graze on meat pies, sausage rolls, shortbread cookies and Scotch eggs.  For National Egg Month, we feature the latter for our blog recipe post. Our home-cooked Scotch eggs taste just like those at the Scottish festivals, and they are “eggs-cellent” as a quick breakfast, hearty snack or savory side dish!

Recipe

(Adapted from The Book of Afternoon Tea by Lesley Mackley)

Ingredients

• 6 small hard boiled eggs, shelled
• ½ pound ground pork sausage
• salt and pepper to taste
• ½ cup flour
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• oil for frying

Directions

Boil, cool and shell the eggs. Season the ground pork sausage with salt and pepper then divide into six patties. Prepare an “assembly line” work station with three mixing bowls—one for the flour, another one for the beaten egg and the last one for bread crumbs. Dust the hard boiled eggs in flour before covering them with the ground pork sausage.

Mold the ground pork sausage around the eggs, sealing the seams well. Dredge each of them in flour.

Next, dip the meat-covered eggs in the beaten egg.  Finally, cover the entire egg with bread crumbs.

Deep fry the eggs in hot oil for 5-10 minutes. The outer covering may turn brown, but make sure that the sausage meat is cooked through. Drain the eggs on paper towels. Slice in half or in wedge quarters. Serve with hot mustard, ketchup, gravy, ranch dressing or hot sauce (optional).