Which Came First, the Pig or the Egg? - Scotch Eggs

"If heaven ain't like EPCOT, I'm not going."  Yep, I used to say things like that.  As you might have guessed that was before I took my first cruise.  Back then, it made me happy just to have Scotch eggs and an Irish coffee for a mid-afternoon snack at the Rose and Crown Pub. These days, if I want a Scotch egg, I'm going to have to make it myself.  My recipe is based on one I found in an old Disney cookbook.  I only changed almost everything (grin).

1 pound hot sausage meat (I use Publix)

1 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 teaspoon rubbed sage

1 teaspoon dried thyme

6 hard cooked eggs, peeled and lightly patted dry

1 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon poultry seasoning (I use Bell's)

2 eggs, lightly beaten with 2 tablespoons half-and-half

1 cup fine dry breadcrumbs (I mixed half plain with half seasoned because that's what I had available in the pantry)

canola oil for frying

In a medium bowl, combine the sausage with the parsley, sage, and thyme.  Divide the sausage into 6 equal portions.  With your hands, shape each portion of sausage into a patty, place a hard cooked egg in the center, and work the sausage around the egg to cover it completely.  

Set out a breading station.  Add salt, pepper and poultry seasoning to the flour.  Take one of the sausage covered eggs and roll it in the flour,  then the egg, and then the bread crumbs.  Use your hands to gently pat the breading and shape the egg.  Then run each egg through the breading station line one more time.  When all of the eggs are double-breaded, place them in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

In a medium sauce pot, heat 2 inches of canola oil to 375 degrees.  Gently place 3 of the eggs in the oil and fry until brown on one side, then turn to brown the other side, frying a total of 5 minutes. With the tip of a sharp knife, carefully pierce the breading and check to make sure the sausage is completely cooked. Set on a rack to drain; repeat and finish the other 3 eggs.

Let the eggs cool before trying to cut them in half.  These are usually served with a mustard-mayo or remoulade type sauce; having run out of energy, I mixed 1 tablespoon of McCormick's Tartar Sauce with 1/2 tablespoon of Goya's Salsa Rosada and 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard.  Not bad.  Then I stirred in 4 drops of fresh lemon juice and 2 drops of Tabasco.  Even better!

Just a side note - As you can see, I double-breaded the eggs.  While it kept the sausage from breaking through, I thought the breading was too heavy.  Could just be me.  Both Robert and Cory tasted the eggs and thought the breading was just right.  I googled around and saw that Jamie Oliver also recommended a double breading, but skipped the flour in the second go-around.  He also undercooked his eggs, so that they were done enough to peel, but underdone enough that the frying stage did not make them too hard.  Lovely idea.  Here is the link to Jamie Oliver's version, I am definitely going to try this again, undercooking my eggs as he did.  This article, also from a British chef, expounds on the whole idea of undercooking and gives her recommendation for the best egg (put eggs in a pan with cold water, bring to a boil, reduce to simmer for 5 minutes, then remove the eggs to a bowl filled with ice water and let them stay there a full ten minutes before shelling.)  Oh, and she uses panko crumbs instead of regular bread crumbs!  No recipes with matzo meal, though ...