How to Make Scotch Eggs

Intro: How to Make Scotch Eggs

In this Instructable, we're going to learn how to make Scotch Eggs. This little delicacy was made out of necessity in the Middle Ages by Scottish farmers and shepherds as a means of taking food out to the fields without having to return home for lunch. It was a portable means of having nourishment on the go, so to speak. Designed to be wrapped up in a napkin and put in your pocket or pouch, this snack, along with a small loaf of bread and something to drink, has now become a favorite pub meal, and while it looks extremely complicated when you first eat one, they are incredibly easy to make!

STEP 1: Ingredients

6 Hard boiled eggs, cooled and peeled. (Keep submerged in a bowl of water in the fridge)
1 pound tube sausage. (Use a good quality sausage with sage added to it. I prefer Jimmy Dean sage sausage. )
2 eggs
1 Tbl water
Salt
1 cup crushed bread crumbs

Good so far?

STEP 2: Preparation

Cut the round tube of sausage into six equal pieces and form loosely into a ball. After you form each ball, put it on a plate and keep them in the refrigerator at all times, until you are ready for each one. This is important, because the heat from your hands will warm up the sausage and make it hard to work with.

 Take one of the sausage balls out of the fridge, and with your thumb, make a big indentation in the ball. It should look like a cup-shape made out of sausage. Gently work it into a bowl-shape, keeping the sausage to an even thickness all the way around, like in the photo. Take one of the hard boiled eggs out of the bowl of water, and dry it off with a paper towel. Put the dried-off hard boiled egg into the sausage "bowl" and gently start forming the sausage completely around the egg. Try to keep the sausage an even thickness as you form a layer of sausage around each hard-boiled egg. When you finish, it should look like the photo of a totally sausage-encased egg. Put it back into the refrigerator, and do the other 5 eggs. When you have all 6 eggs done, put the whole plate of sausage-wrapped eggs into the freezer for the next step.

STEP 3: Preparation, Part II

Crack two new eggs into a bowl, add 1 Tablespoon of water, and beat until very frothy. Season with salt, and maybe a little freshly ground pepper, and set aside for the moment. Get two small bowls, and into one of them, put 1 cup of bread crumbs. Take your plate of sausage-wrapped eggs out of the freezer.

Do this part one at a time, otherwise it will get REALLY messy!  Take one sausage-wrapped egg, and roll it in the beaten eggs to coat and cover completely. Using a large spoon, take the egg out of the egg-wash, and put it in the bread crumbs.  Gently roll each egg around in the bread crumbs to completely coat each egg. Put each one back on the plate with the other eggs, as you do each one, until they are all coated with egg wash and bread crumbs. Once you have them all coated, repeat the process, until you have two layers of breadcrumbs.

Put the crumb-coated eggs back into the refrigerator, until you are ready to cook them.

STEP 4: Cooking

Heat 1.5 cups of vegetable oil in a deep frying pan to 375 degrees F.  I prefer to use a cast iron frying pan, as it distributes the heat more evenly, and is just better to use. Doing the eggs one at a time, carefully place one egg into the hot oil and leave it alone for 3 to 4 minutes. Using a pair of very long tongs, turn the egg until you have cooked all of the sausage on each egg, about 3 or 4 minutes between each turn. Be sure to cook the sausage all the way through without burning it. This is the toughest part of the whole dish. If you're not a very good cook, ask someone who is to help you watch the eggs, so that you don't burn them, or overcook the sausage to where it splits and exposes the hard boiled egg inside. This is why you carefully molded the sausage in an even coat around the eggs. Even coating of sausage makes for even cooking, and helps prevent the cooked sausage from shrinking and cracking to expose the egg. When you finish each egg, they all should be an even dark brown color, and look like the photo.

STEP 5: Eating

This is the best part!

Cool the eggs for at least 10 minutes, and then slice in two, the long way. You should end up with what looks like a hard boiled egg nestled in a coat of sausage. Put a couple of spoons of dark brown mustard on a plate, arrange the egg halves around the mustard, and if you like, you can even add some crispy fried potatoes or potato chips. Spread a little mustard on the egg, and eat away! These things are better the second day, when they've been kept overnight in the refrigerator. You can either warm them up in the microwave, or eat them cold.

Enjoy!

Comments

[GigsMerc]

I just made these tonight - this was my first attempt at making them and the first time my husband & I have ever tried them. They were absolutely delicious. Thanks for the great Instructable!

[lancer525]

I'm really glad you enjoyed them. They're easy once you know the trick, which is to keep everything cold while you're working. Thank you for your great compliment!

[trish.linville]

Yes, you can freeze them. Defrost in the fridge and then just warm them up is best. I make these for a handy lunch to take to work.

[lancer525]

Wow, I didn't know you could freeze them, and I've been making these for over 15 years. Of course, I've never had them last long enough to need to be frozen, but I guess if I were making like two-dozen or so of them, I might want to freeze them...

Thanks for the info!

Oh, by the way... Try this the next time you make them. Keep them whole in the fridge for a day or so, inside a tightly-sealed container, and then take one out, cut it in quarters, and eat it cold with brown mustard. That's the really best way to eat them, I think. They're great when they're hot at first, but they are also fantastic cold the next day or so. Trust me.

[cookk]

made these to share at a Christmas get together yesterday and before I knew it, they were all gone. Thanks for sharing, really great and easy to make.

[DIMyself75]

Thank you so much for this ible, Friday I made 24 and saturday at the renaissance festival all my friends enjoyed them. I baked mine instead of frying and will probably use small or medium eggs next time, The large eggs that I did use seemed to overwelm the sausage. I don't normally cook, but this was so easy that next ren fest season I think I'll make enough to take some every day for all my friends. Thanks again

[SmileLove]

We liked them! Thank you so much for the instructions! We made our own oven-baked scotch eggs using this recipe.

[lancer525]

Those look beautiful! I am so glad you liked them.

[RR burger]

I see some people are struggling to keep the scotch eggs from splitting. Although there can be many contributing reasons for this, ie'oil temperature to the actual making of the S Egg.
I generally use a good quality coconut oil, but costs can be rather expensive if you live in the western world. Try using smaller eggs instead of large eggs, and roll the egg covered pork in beaten egg and transfer direct to breadcrumbs without dusting the meat in any flour.
This may prevent splitting.🤔

[lancer525]

To be honest, if you follow the 'ible, you won't have any splitting problems. Oil temp is key. Nowhere in the 'ible did I say a thing about "flour" or dusting anything in between the egg wash and the bread crumbs. Also, the key to proper cooking is to keep the sausage cold as long as possible. Refrigerate between all steps, exactly as mentioned in the 'ible.

[Balayage]

A lot of work for a snack. Are they freezable if I do up a couple dozen at a time? I like the suggestion to bake them instead of deep frying. Less work and cleanup.

[lancer525]

You know, I don't know if they're freezable. I've never had any of them last long enough to have to store them.

I would think that you wouldn't want to freeze a hard boiled egg, so they're probably not freezable, but that's just a guess. YMMV. Then again, this is not something you make just "for a snack"

[Dollmomkimberly]

FYI, not only can you freeze hard boiled eggs, but raw ones as well.
Thank you for this recipe, and wonderful instructional! I cannot wait to make some tonight, as we're having a Doctor Who viewing party tomorrow. ??

[lancer525]

Didn't think that freezing a raw egg would be a good idea, because the albumen (white of egg) would expand, and crack the shell. If they're cooked and peeled, that would be a different story, and I'm glad you tested it out.

I really hope you enjoy the eggs, who is Doctor Who, and why would he have to be viewed? Is he on display somewhere?

Thanks for your thanks!

[Dollmomkimberly]

Who is Doctor Who??
Only one of the longest running (over 50 years) tv program shows on television. Of course it was mostly known in the U.K. until about the past 25-30 years or so.
http://bbc.co.uk/doctorwho

BTW, eggs are amazing, try freezing a raw one, it REALLY works! Picture yourself peeling a hard boiled egg, you know that one part that's always flat on the egg? That's the air pocket that the albumin is able to expand into during freezing.

[lancer525]

Sorry it's taken me two years to get back to you on this, but I knew I'd forgotten to use the International Sarcasm Font when I wrote that. I've been a Whovian for close to 35 years! 12 & 4

[AbosedeO]

Yummy yummy I'm sure going to try this too

[Elrohiril]

I made these for breakfast this morning and they were quite tasty. The only problem was making an even coat of sausage. Mine were very uneven which made part of the sausage underdone. I also just pan fried them because I don't have a deep fryer.

[RandaPrince]

Can these be made with Turkey sausage? No judgement intended, but I don't eat pork.

[BernadetteG]

Yes you can, I personally use turkey sausage too.