Scotch-Eggs-msg - 3/6/05
The sausage-coated hardboiled eggs commonly called "Scotch Eggs". A fairly common lunch food and fingerfood in the SCA.
NOTE: See also the files: eggs-msg, sausages-msg, meat-smoked-msg, Scotland-msg, cl-Scotland-msg, haggis-msg, chicken-msg, fd-Scotland-msg.
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From: caradoc at enet.net (John Groseclose)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: breakfast poll
Date: Wed, 01 Mar 1995 10:10:11 -0700
Suze.Hammond at f56.n105.z1.fidonet.org (Suze Hammond) wrote:
<snip>
>Usually called Scotch Eggs. I've tried to make them, and no matter what I
>do (and what advice or recipe) I can't keep the meat covering from cracking.
>
>I've tried three Scottish cookbooks so far... This is one of my favorites...
>
>HHHHHHELLLPPPP!
>
>... Moreach NicMhaolain
Well, if you make the covering too thin, it'll crack, and if you make it
too thick, it'll crack... Between 1/4" and 1/2" is what works for me...
Deep-frying cooks the meat more evenly so there's less chance of cracking.
If you pan-fry, you need to keep the eggs moving so their covering cooks
evenly.
The last batch of these I did was a dozen, and I cracked the coverings on
two of those. Practice makes perfect.
Also, don't forget to dip them in the beaten egg, as it helps to hold the
whole delicious mess together.
--
John Groseclose <caradoc at enet.net>
From: Corbie <corbiegirl at aol.com>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.scottish,alt.scottish.clans,rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Scottish Eggs was Haggis
Date: Sun, 27 Apr 1997 14:27:01 -0700
Peterson wrote:
> I just went to the Ozark Highland Games yesterday and had Scottish Eggs for the first time. All of us agreed
> these were great. I was wondering if anyone had a recipe out there. It was a hard boiled egg rolled into some
> type of sausage with added spices. Kind of spicy. Any suggestions. Cheers
>
> Cory
I make Scotch Eggs for breakfast all the time. My recipe is a little
different from the previous posted recipe; I take loose country sausage
or ground pork (the lower the fat content, the better, as a high fat
content will cause the meat to shrink too much). Spice the sausage to
taste (I use hot sauce, pepper, salt, and various spices).
Hard boil some eggs and peel them. Wrap them in sausage. Bake in the
oven for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.
Two pounds of sausage will cover about eight to ten boiled eggs,
depending on how thickly you cover the eggs with the sausage.
That's it!
I like them better baked than fried, as they taste a lot less greasy. I
also find they're great to take to events -- a compact, portable,
filling little meal.
Cheers,
Mara
From: Brian Annesley <brian at scotbooks.demon.co.uk>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.scottish,alt.scottish.clans,rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Scottish Eggs was Haggis
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997 21:32:48 +0100
Robert Gurley <robert.l.gurley at worldnet.att.net> writes
>Peterson wrote:
>>
>> I just went to the Ozark Highland Games yesterday and had Scottish Eggs for
>the first time. All of us
>> agreed these were great. I was wondering if anyone had a recipe out there.
>It was a hard boiled egg rolled > into some type of sausage with added spices.
>Kind of spicy. Any suggestions. Cheers
>>
>> Cory
>
>Cory,
>
>It's a very basic recipe. Wrapped hard-boiled eggs in sausage dip in
>beaten egg and roll in flour. Deep fry til golden brown. The spices
>usually come from the sausage, from what I've tasted.
>
>Robert
They are known as Scotch eggs
nothing to do with Scotland
take:
4 eggs
2 tablespoons of flour
8oz of Sausage meat
breadcrumbs
1 egg for coating
1/2 teacup milk for coating
Deep fat for frying
Hardboil 4 eggs cool & shell. divide sausage meat into 4 fold evenly
round lightly floured eggs, coat with blended egg & milk roll in
breadcrumbs. Fry till sausage meat is cooked (this is important if you
don't want a sick tum) Half each egg with sharp knife (mind the
fingers) serve hot or cold.
--
Brian Annesley books of Scottish Interest
26 Duchess Drive
HELENSBURGH
G84 9PR
Scotland
01436 676222
http://www.scotbooks.demon.co.uk
returns ok within 10 days but first please
email:brian at scotbooks.demon.co.uk
From: mikepat at backhaulnet.com (Micheil Rob Mac Phàdruig)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.scottish,alt.scottish.clans,rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Scottish Eggs was Haggis
Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 13:14:39 GMT
Organization: HookUp Communication Corporation, Vancouver, BC, CANADA
Brian Annesley <brian at scotbooks.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>They are known as Scotch eggs
>nothing to do with Scotland
I wonder why nobody told us. I shall go through my Scots cookbooks and
rip out the offending pages immediately.
Mìcheil Rob MacPhàdruig
Drùidh:duine-uasal
Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 20:48:25 -0800
From: "Anne-Marie Rousseau" <acrouss at gte.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Scotch eggs
Hi all from Anne-Marie,
While I don't believe they're period per se (I know of no medieval recipes
involving a hard boiled egg wrapped in meat and bread crumbs and fried or
baked), they are tasty little tidbits.
I find that if you start with small eggs, not large you'll be much happier
and have much fewer blowouts.
thanks for the idea of baking them! I never thought of that.
- --AM
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 00:10:07 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: SC - More on Scotch Eggs
> You are quite welcome! These are still *very* rich, but I am sure that baking
> or roasting (ooh on a skewer over the fire pit!?) would make them a little
> leaner, your choice or make of sausage coating would probably control the fat.
> Somebody eating with us also suggested making "scotch devils" by cutting them
> in half and mixing the yolks with the mustard and then refilling them.
> The kids could probably *make* them too!
> - -brid
Another possible way to reduce the fat slightly is to use lean raw ham,
ground up. I recall reading somewhere that the original dish was made
with ham, and that the sausage version was introduced later. Don't
recall offhand where I ran across this info.
I believe the dish was originally used by 19th-century English chefs
(yes, they did exist) as a garnish for roast game, and entered the Pub
Food repertoire later.
Adamantius
troy at asan.com
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 08:13:32 -0600
From: Wes Will <wwill at siu.edu>
Subject: Re: SC - Scotch Eggs
>think I would like to try this baked version, sounds like something that
>would not be as hazzardous to my health!
Healthier version, minor amendments.
Use a 1-pound roll of turkey breakfast sausage; add to it enough (usually
about 3/4 cup) of seasoned bread crumbs, and work it all together until it
will hold up easily when wrapped thinly around a soft-boiled (4-5 minute)
egg. Roll the coated egg in more of the bread crumbs. I sometimes like to
lightly dry and toast these for the outside layer. Place on a jelly-roll
pan (baking sheets without lips are a bad idea. Eggs love to roll.) and
bake at 350 about 20 minutes, or until the sausage is completely done.
Cheap way to feed a lot of hungry folks, and they're quite portable if
wrapped in foil or such, for lunches. Or even a hand-held breakfast.
Eoin
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 09:20:45 -0700 (MST)
From: Sabia <sabia at unm.edu>
Subject: SC - Scotch eggs
Sabia here: this is the recipe Mistress Kathryn used at St Cecilias Feast
Day a year ago. They went over well, although as noted at the end the
switch to oven baking was comtemplated.
<Snip>
Recipe from "A Feast of Scotland" by Janet Warren
Makes 5:
1 lb sausage (2 cups, firmly packed)
5 hard boiled eggs, shelled
1 large egg, beaten
a dusting flour
dry white breadcrumbs
deep fat for frying
Dust each egg with a little flour. Divide the sausage into 5 and on a
floured surface work each piece into an oval. Place an egg in the center
of each one and mould the sausage round it making sure the surface is free
from cracks. Put the beaten egg and breadcrumbs onto separate plates and
coat each egg first with the egg and then in the breadcrumbs so that the
surface is completely covered. Coat each egg again if you like to ensure
a really good surface.
Heat a deep fat fryer half full of oil to 360 degrees, lower in the eggs
and cook them for about 5-6 minutes. If the fat is too hot the outside
will brown before the sausage is cooked. Drain when cooked and leave to
cool.
Serve with a salad for lunch or as a picnic food
- ---------------------
Cealte and Kathryn tricks/changes: Make sure the egg is completely dry
and wrap the sausage around it w/o the flour. Dip into the beaten egg,
but roll alternately in fine Scottish oats. Bake the eggs in the slow
oven 10-12 minutes or until sausage is cooked. Less fat and they taste
better I believe with the scottish oats inside of the breadcrumbs
<SNIP>
Sabia (sabia at unm.edu)
Date: Sun, 8 Mar 1998 20:07:21 EST
From: LrdRas <LrdRas at aol.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Frozen Scotch Eggs
themorrigan at softhome.net writes:
<< The
>texture was a little tougher than fresh, but the taste was fine. Also, the
>outside was a little wet. >>
Heating them for a half hour at 350 degrees fahrenheit, would crisp the
exterior and freshen the product. A wet exterior would indicate to me, IMO,
that the technique used for reheating was not the correct choice.
Ras
Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2000 17:20:42 -0500
From: Christine A Seelye-King <mermayde at juno.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Scotch Eggs
On Tue, 7 Mar 2000 10:27:03 EST Seton1355 at aol.com writes:
> I am going to make Scotch Eggs for Friday. I've read the recipe but
> never actually made them before. Some advice please.
>
> 1. Wrapping a 5-6 minute egg in ground beef / turkey sausage....
> How hard boiled is the egg at that point? Wouldn't it just gush
> out, OR do you just wrap very carfully & gingerly?
I would not necessarily under-boil the egg just because it will be
cooked again. The main trick when frying them is to get the sausage to
cook long enough without burning, and to heat the egg inside all the way
through, but I wouldn't count on it really adding doneness to the egg .
Using a frying temp of 300 - 325 is best. You can also cut your eggs in
half and then wrap them, as the whole ones tend to be quite large. This
is an especially good idea if you are going to be serving these with
other foods.
And yes, wrap very gingerly. I have never seen this done with beef
sausage, only pork and turkey.
> 2.How thick a coating of ground sausage do you give each egg?
About 1/3 - 1/2 inch. You want to make sure it will not break open and
expose the egg underneath to the frying oil. By the way, something I
rarely see in S.E. recipes that I consider a very important step. When
you are assembling them, dip the egg itself in egg wash, and then apply
the sausage. This holds true even if you are doing half or quarter eggs.
(Most recipes take you from there to then dip the whole thing in egg
wash, and then roll in breadcrumbs - a step you can omit if you want.
The breadcrumbs tend to burn, anyway.) The eggwash layer between the egg
and the sausage will keep the whole thing stuck together as a unit.
Without it, you get the egg rolling around inside the sausage casing, and
it becomes difficult to eat it. Remember to serve this with a mild
mustard sauce, mmm, where did you say you would be serving these on
Friday? ;)
> 3 Is another name for Scotch Eggs: "hedgehogs"?
Nope. Those are meatballs with almond slivers, made to look like
bristling hedgehogs. As far as I know, Scotch Eggs are not period.
Tasty, but not period.
Good luck,
Christianna
Date: Tue, 18 Apr 2000 13:10:45 -0400
From: Lurking Girl <tori at panix.com>
Subject: SC - [OOP] Vegetarian Scotch Eggs
Some while ago, people were discussing vegetarian variations on Scotch
eggs. I went out pub-crawling with a friend last night who inclines
that way, and she mentioned she had an excellent recipe for same.
Finally, it has been unearthed...
Vika
share and enjoy
********************************
Here's that Vegetarian Scotch Eggs recipe I've been promising:
Scotch Eggs Vegetarian-Style
From: The Complete Vegetarian Cuisine by Rose Elliot
Serves 4
4 Hard-Boiled eggs, shelled
1 egg, beaten
1/2 quantity Brown Lentil Bake mixture (see recipe below)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Whole-wheat flour and fresh whole-wheat breadcrumbs for coating
vegetable oil for deep frying
Dip each egg into beaten egg, then coat with a quarter of the lentil
mixture, pressing it around smoothly and firmly.
Coat the eggs first in the remaining beaten egg, then in seasoned
flour; then repeat egg and breadcrumbing.
Heat the oil in a deep fryer to 325 degrees F., or when a small cube
of stale bread browns in one minute. Put the Scotch eggs into the oil
and fry gently until golden.
Remove the Scotch eggs with a slotted spoon and drain on paper
towels. Cut the eggs in half and serve hot or cold.
Brown Lentil Bake Mixture
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, peeled and finely chopped
1 large garlic clove, crushed
1 cup dried green or brown lentils, cooked until tender, and well
drained
2 tablespoons chopped parsely
1 teaspoon herbes de Provence
2 tablespoons soy suace
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Heat the oil in a large suacepan and saute the onion for 10 minutes
until soft and lightly browned, stirring occasionally.
Add the garlic, lentils, parsley, mixed herbs and soy sauce. Mash by
hand or puree roughly in a belnder or food processor, until the
mixture holds together. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
********************************
Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 12:01:05 -0000
From: nanna at idunn.is (Nanna Rognvaldardottir)
Subject: Re: SC - Help!!!
Gwynydd wrote:
>Umm, I feel really bad saying this, but I have a nasty feeling that "Scotch
>Eggs" are neither Scottish nor Period. (The first is from a quick wander
>through the Florigieum, the second is something which one of the cooks on
>this List said to me - she suggested that they are 17th or 18th century.
According to John Ayto, that is probably correct:
"The Scotch egg - a hard-boiled egg enveloped in sausage meat and then
fried - appeared on the scene at the beginning of the nineteenth century,
although whether as a new invention or simply as a wider dissemination of an
ancient traditional dish is not altogether clear. The first known printed
recipe for it appears in M.E. Rundell¹s New System of Domestic Cookery
(1809)." (A Gourmet¹s Guide). Alan Davidson supports this and adds that the
Scotch egg may possibly be a descendant of a form of Indian kofta. The
recipe first appeared in a Scottish recipe book in 1826.
Nanna
Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 14:38:57 -0500
From: <kingstaste at mindspring.com>
Subject: RE: [Sca-cooks] Scottish Eggs revisited
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
The steps that seem to be left out by most folks is re-dipping in the egg
wash on every level. Dip the hard boiled egg in the egg wash before you
apply the sausage layer and it will stick together. Apply egg wash on the
outside and then roll the whole thing in bread crumbs for a consistent
coating, which I would think could help keep them from cracking as well.
Christianna
>>>
I made Scottish Eggs, for the first time, last week for Estrella War. They
were very well received and very convenient, as they are a nice food to prepare
ahead and pack in the cooler. However, the sausage coating on the egg had a
tendency to crack, and I realized the subject had been discussed on this list
in the past. I don't recall the preferred remedy. Was it baking them rather
than frying, or was it, perhaps, freezing them a bit first?
Beathog
<<<
Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 11:50:38 -0800
From: Susan Fox-Davis <selene at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Scottish Eggs revisited
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Beathog wrote:
>I dusted the hard boiled egg in flour, coated it with the sausage, dipped it
>in an egg wash and finally in bread crumbs. Still, they cracked.
>
>Beathog
Hmm. Maybe the sausage layer was not thick enough? I use a 12-ounce
chub of breakfast sausage for four eggs.
I also deep-fry them for an even exterior treatment.
My low-carb version, which nobody seems to have noticed yet, was to
substitute a mixture of half soy flour and half wheat bran for the
breadcrumb exterior. Browns up nicely and supplies some fiber, a Good
Thing when living la vida lo-carb!
Selene, Scotch Egg Veteran
Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 15:43:50 -0500
From: "Mairi Ceilidh" <jjterlouw at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Scottish Eggs revisited
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
What I was told by a Scot was that they crack because they are being cooked
too hot. Cooking oil should not exceed 345 Deg. F.
Mairi Ceilidh
<the end>