Norn Iron Chef® Recipe

                    Scotch Eggs

Scotch Eggs  2006 winner

4-6 Hard boiled Eggs

1 large egg. (Crack the egg and beat in a small bowl.)

1 pound of sausage meat (not extra spicy)

1 tsp of salt

˝ tsp of fresh or dried Basil

˝ tsp of fresh or dried Thyme

Rolled Scottish Oats. Known brand “Scots”. Do not use coarse cut Oats

Method

1. Peel Eggs
2. If using sausage links open up the membrane and remove the meat.
3. Section the meat into portions according to the number of eggs.
4. Cover the entire egg with the sausage meat
5. Repeat this method until all the eggs are completely covered with the meat.
6. Dip the covered egg in the beaten egg mixture.
7. Repeat for each egg.
8. Fry in deep fat until the meat is thoroughly cooked. (Approximately 12-15 minutes).
9. Remove from cooking utensil and drain on clean tea towel or paper towel
10. May be eaten hot or cold.
11. To serve cut each egg in half.

Alex S.from Co. Antrim writes…………

When my father was a boy he used to go every year on his summer holidays to visit with his Grandfather and Grandmother in Ayrshire Scotland.  His Grandfather started working down the “Pit” after he was discharged from the Army at the end of WW1.

As his Grandfather told it, there were not many jobs available for ex- soldiers after the war was over and many ended up working down the Coal mines.  It was a very dangerous and dirty job but at least it was a job.  He married and had six children ,one of whom eventually became my mother.  Times were hard back then and everyone tried to keep as health as possible to avoid getting sick and not being able to go to work.  There was not the same emphasis on avoiding fat as there is today in our more sedentary world.  Eggs were commonly known to be the more perfect food. This was long before the Egg Marketing Board put up the big bill boards promoting the slogan “Go to work on an egg.”  Good housewives and mothers sought out old recipes that had “good staying power”  That is to say , some food group which would hold up for a day down the mines and would be tasty and nutritious for their man to eat at lunch break.  One of the timeless recipes was Cornish Pastries for the miners in the tin mines of Cornwall, England and in Scotland the Scotch Egg proved to be a favourite. The Scotch Egg had been known in the highlands of Scotland for years.. It had been known to stay fresh for a couple of days while the men were up the mountain with the sheep, or on a long trek.  Today at our house, it is used mainly for taking on picnics up along the Antrim hills. My sons and I love to roam through the Glens of Antrim and never ever tire of sitting on a ledge somewhere just looking at a waterfall or going through the forest hearing the call of the birds. We are very fortunate to be living in this area of natural beauty that so many have enjoyed over the centuries.  Perhaps some day we will bump into you.  Stranger things have happened in the glens of Antrim, but that’s another story.