Scotch Eggs are a British invention and are the original fast food: they are easy to carry and eat on the go, so they were sold to coach passengers as long ago as the early 1700’s. They are good hot or cold, fun for picnics or a nice addition to your family meal.
Ingredients:
1 lb sausage
6 hard boiled eggs
¼ C flour
1 C bread crumbs
1 egg
¼ C milk
vegetable oil
Directions:
Peel the hard boiled eggs.
Divide the sausage into six portions and flatten them out into patties.
In a shallow bowl, beat the egg with the milk.
Pour flour and breadcrumbs each into their own separate bowls or shallow dishes.
Assemble all your ingredients into an assembly line: eggs, flour, sausage, beaten egg and breadcrumbs.
Pour vegetable oil into a pan so that it’s about 2 ”-3″ deep and begin heating the oil.
Roll the egg into the flour. This will help the sausage to stick to the egg. Roll the sausage around the egg. You will have to roll it around and squeeze the sausage to try to get the sausage to cover the egg evenly with no cracks in the sausage.
Roll sausage-coated egg in the egg/milk mixture and then in breadcrumbs, coating the sausage evenly in breadcrumbs. Do this a second time if you want a thicker crust.
When you’ve formed all your balls, if your oil is 350°, then you are ready to start frying. Fry 2-3 eggs at a time, depending on the size of the pan. Cook 3-4 minutes on each side, turning it so that it is evenly browned. Total cooking time is about 8-10 minutes.
Try some variations
- The first recipe I saw called for hard boiled eggs, but most of the British recipes call for soft boiled. See which one you prefer.
- Use ground pork and season with salt, pepper and sage before forming into patties.
- Substitute hard boiled eggs with pickled eggs.
- Coat with flavored breadcrumbs, such as Italian Herbs or Cajun Spiced. (Recipe here.)
- For a gluten free version, dust the egg with corn starch instead of flour and coat with seasoned, crushed corn flakes instead of bread crumbs.
