Baked Scotch Eggs

The meat layer ingredients

The eggs cooling in iced water

Getting ready to get messy hands

About to be wrapped

Egg, crumbs, egg, crumbs

Perfect with Scrummy Chutney

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My daughter said that these should be called “Yummy, Baked NOT Fried, Non- Slip Scotch Eggs With Squishy Middles”. She is quite right but I did tell her I would have to  to swap the word “Yummy” for “Scrummy”.

This recipe is a true labour of love. Two months ago, my family and I ate more Scotch Eggs than was sane. To be entirely truthful, we all started to hate them. I was “on a mission” to find a Scotch Egg recipe that was delicious BAKED, not fried. Scotch Eggs are not brilliantly healthy at the best of times. But fried? For me that’s a step too far across the comfort line. Most of the recipes for home- made Scotch Eggs seem to be deep fried. I found a couple for baked specimens. So, I started with these two promising scripts and was met with utter disappointment. One tasted just like a bad sausage and they both resulted in the “Scotch” slipping off the egg. We were then left with grey, dried out eggs and a squishy mush of sausage- yuk. So, I gave up for a few weeks, abandoned the recipes and started my own experiments.

This weekend, I cracked it! I am ridiculously happy about this. To be completely honest, I feel a bit smug- and a bit full. They were so lovely, I ate two for tea yesterday and as you can see in the photo, they are not small.

Scotch Eggs are brilliant, in my opinion. They can be eaten hot from the oven or chilled and packed in baking parchment on a wonderful picnic. They are devoured by children and adults alike. My children (and Mango the dog) love pretending to be from “The Famous Five” (Enid Blyton) and a Scotch Egg and Ginger Beer picnic on heather- clad hills is idyllic- roll on the summer holidays.

In an ideal world, the egg should be boiled firm enough to remain intact and robust but still have a soft centre, even after baking. The Scotch should of course remain on the egg during baking. The meat should be perfectly flavoured, succulent but fully cooked. The coating should be crunchy and contrast with the succulence of the meat.

My recipe, my labour of love, that I share with you here, contains several essential steps to achieve the above desirables and hopefully furnish you with superb picnic fodder for many outdoor adventures. My top tip- these Scotch Eggs are amazing with a little home-made Tomato and Chilli Scrummy Chutney (recipe at: http://scrummywalks.com/2013/06/21/tomato-and-chilli-scrummy-chutney/ ).

This recipe makes 4 large Scotch Eggs.

Ingredients

6 medium-large, free range eggs

250g minced pork

225g sausage meat (about 4 large quality sausages, skinned)

2-3 spring onions very finely chopped

0.5 tbsp English mustard

1tbsp finely chopped fresh sage leaves (4-5 large leaves)

1tbsp finely chopped fresh thyme leaves, stripped from the stalks

4 tbsp plain flour

100g natural (unflavoured, uncoloured) coarse, dried breadcrumbs

1 tbsp milk

Ground black pepper

Tin

A baking tray lined with baking parchment or an unlined stoneware tray

Oven

Pre-heat the oven to 190C (180C Fan)/ Gas Mark 4

Method

1. Boil 4 of the eggs in a pan of simmering water for 5-6 minutes (5 minutes for large eggs, 6 if very large). Remove from the heat and immediately place the eggs into iced water. Leave them to cool like this for at least 10 minutes.

2. Lightly beat the remaining 2 eggs in a bowl with the 1 tbsp of milk.

3. Place the sausage meat, minced pork, fresh herbs, English mustard, chopped spring onions and a little grated black pepper, into a bowl. Combine thoroughly using your hands.

4. Carefully peel the eggs.

5. Measure the flour onto a plate and the breadcrumbs onto another plate.

6. Flour your hands and take about a quarter of the meat mixture. With your hands form a flat disc with the meat mixture. Roll a cooked egg in the flour and place it onto the disc of meat. Mold the meat around the egg, bringing it up the sides. Where the meat edges meet, squeeze the seams together and compress and gently squeeze the meat around the egg so that it evenly coats the egg and is secure. Repeat this for all of the cooked eggs until you have 4 meat covered eggs.

7. Dip a meat covered egg into the beaten raw egg/ milk mixture. Then place it on the breadcrumb plate and coat in breadcrumbs, compressing it gently with your hands. Dip the Scotch Egg into the raw egg for a second time, followed by a second coat of breadcrumbs. Repeat for all 4 eggs. So, the summarised procedure for each cooked egg is as follows- flour- meat- egg- breadcrumbs- egg- breadcrumbs.

8. Place the 4 Scotch Eggs onto the baking tray/ stoneware tray and bake in the centre of the oven for 25- 30 minutes. Serve hot or cold, preferably on a picnic taking a little Tomato and Chilli Scrummy Chutney with you in a little pot- it’s worth it, I promise (http://scrummywalks.com/2013/06/21/tomato-and-chilli-scrummy-chutney/ ).