Scotch Eggs

Here's a party trick that will shock and awe:

1) Wrap a hard boiled egg in a thin patty of venison sausage.

2) Roll the sausage-wrapped egg in flour, dip it in egg wash, then coat it with crushed corn flakes.

3) Fry it up in hot oil.

4) Serve it up hot with mustard.

Sausage wrapped egg magic in progress

I had never heard of Scotch eggs until our little trip this year to the Dickens Festival in Garrison, ND (relive the magic here).  Scotch eggs were one of the "ye olde English" style food offerings.  One bite of that fried sausage-and-egg magic and we were hooked.  Then at the YMCA, waiting for husband and child to come out of the boys' locker room after a family dip in the pool, I was flipping through a back issue of Bon Appetit that someone had left behind and saw this:

So I did what any Scotch egg minded person would do: I glanced around to see if anyone was watching, and proceeded to rip out the recipe.  My apologies to anyone who picked up that issue looking for page 20.  It was me.  

Just a little wrap will do ya

This recipe may seem like a lot of steps, but you can do it in stages.  Boil the eggs and store them in the fridge for a day or two.  Wrap the eggs in sausage and roll them in the corn flakes in advance, then keep them in the fridge for a day, covered with plastic wrap, ready for frying the next day.  Or just do it all at once - once you get started, it goes quickly...especially if you already have a cold Summit brew in the fridge, ready and waiting for its perfect pub food match. 

Scotch Eggs

Adapted from Bon Appetit, January 2012. At first, I was tempted to skip the corn flake step and just fry them wrapped in only sausage, but so glad I included the corn flake coating - perfect crispy coating.  Original recipe here - I used a thicker layer of sausage than the original recipe states, so needed to lower the oil temp a bit to allow it to cook through.  I also boiled them longer than their soft-boiled egg recipe dictated - I like the yolks hard, but not crumbly dry. 

8 eggs

1 pound venison sausage, casings removed

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 hearty cup finely crushed corn flakes

Vegetable oil, for frying

Salt, pepper and a good mustard, for serving

First, boil six of the eggs (you'll need the other two later):  place the six eggs in a pot and cover with cold water.  Cover and bring to a boil; simmer for five minutes, then take off the heat, let sit for another three minutes, and then gently drain. Fill the pan with ice water to cool eggs.

Peel the eggs (cooled eggs are easier to peel than warm eggs).  Place flour on a plate, and crushed corn flakes on another plate. Whisk two eggs in a bowl and set along side the plate of flour and plate of corn flakes. Split the sausage into six portions.  Pat one portion of sausage into a thin patty over the length of your palm. Lay one egg on top of sausage and wrap sausage around egg, gently working to seal and completely enclose the egg. Repeat with remaining sausage and eggs. 

Working gently, dip one sausage-wrapped egg in flour, then dip in egg wash, then roll in corn flakes to coat. Repeat with remaining eggs. 

Attach a deep-fry thermometer to side of a large heavy pot. Pour in oil to a depth of 2" and heat over medium heat to 350 degrees. Fry eggs, turning occasionally and maintaining oil temperature of 325 until sausage is cooked through and breading is crisp and golden brown, 5-6 minutes. Use slotted spoon to transfer eggs to paper towels to drain. Season lightly with salt and pepper, serve warm with mustard.