The plan is to provide you with a little on-going series where one of our professional chefs and one extreme amateur attempt the same recipe and give you their take on it. The extreme amateur being me, until now I have been very firmly planted in the office at S&S and successfully diverted away from any attempts at cooking in the kitchen.
So first in the series is going to be the mighty scotch egg. No pub can claim to be truly British without a scotch egg on the menu and I am sure we can all admit that there has been an odd occasion where those stodgy mass produced versions in petrol stations have done wonders to a hangover.
We are going to use Heston Blumenthal at Home as our cookbook of choice this week. Rosie, our professional chef will then give us her twist on Heston’s recipe.
Scotch Egg
Makes 8
10 Medium eggs
450g Sausage meat
1 tsp chopped thyme leaves
45g French mustard
½ tsp Cayenne pepper
2 tbsp chopped chives
Salt and black pepper
Plain flour
50g whole milk
125g breadcrumbs or Panko
Groundnut oil for deep-frying
Place 8 of the eggs in a large pan with enough water to cover the eggs by 2cm. Place the pan over a high heat. Bring the water to the boil; as soon as it starts to simmer, allow the eggs to cook for 2 minutes exactly.
∗ I think it is much easier to just bring the water to the boil and then add the eggs for 3 mins 30 secs as I wasn’t totally certain whether it was supposed to boil and then turn the heat down or just be simmering when the 2 minutes started which resulted in overcooked eggs. This is probably down to my lack of brain cells but at least you all won’t make the same mistake!
Remove the eggs to a bowl and place under cool running water for 2 minutes. Let them cool for 10-15 minutes.
Meanwhile, place the sausage meat in a food processor with 2 tablespoons of cold tap water and pulse six times.
∗ I think this bit is definitely not essential. Firstly it means more washing up which I avoid like the plague and secondly I think it is a bit too fast food like if the meat is too smooth. If I do the recipe again I would just skip straight to the next stage.
Turn the meat into a bowl and add the thyme, mustard, cayenne pepper, chopped chives and season with salt and pepper. With clean hands mix the spices into the meat and then divide into eight balls, approx. 55g per portion.
Once the eggs are cool enough to handle, carefully peel off the shells. Flatten each portion of sausage meat between two sheets of clingfilm into a circle, then remove the clingfilm. Place an egg in the centre of the sausage-meat circle. Wrap the sausage-meat around the egg, pressing the edges in order to seal but careful not to press too hard. Place in the fridge for at 20 minutes.
∗ A good hint is to use the bottom layer of clingfilm to fold the meat around the egg.
∗ The colder the meat the easier it is to wrap around the egg. My sausage-meat was out of the fridge for quite a while before I started cooking and as a result was sliding off the egg when I tried to wrap it around.
Pre-heat the oven to 190°C
In the meantime, put enough flour to coat the eggs into a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Beat the remaining eggs in a second bowl and stir in the milk. Put the breadcrumbs or Panko into a third bowl.
∗ I have never used panko and don’t even know how easy it is to buy so just stuck with breadcrumbs. I put some bread out overnight so it was a bit stale, whizzed them up in the morning and then dried them out in the oven before whizzing them again.
Roll each egg in the flour, gently tapping off any excess, then dip it in the beaten egg. Finally, roll it in the breadcrumbs, making sure that all the sides are coated.
Heat a deep fat fryer to 190°C or place a deep saucepan no more than half filled with oil over a medium-high heat until it reaches this temperature.
∗ We don’t have a deep fat fryer in the kitchen so used a deep saucepan with a thermometer. Rosie told me that if you don’t have a thermometer you can drop some breadcrumbs into the oil and if they quickly turn crispy then you are good to go.
Fry the Scotch eggs two at a time for two minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and place on a drying rack over a baking tray. When all the eggs have been fried, place the tray in the oven for an additional 10 minutes. Serve immediately while the yolks are still runny.
∗ Deep fat frying was something completely unknown to me and seemed a terrifying prospect. It is much easier than expected as long as you are careful and sadly has now opened a door to countless unhealthy cooking options!!
∗ Finally I am not totally sure what the 10 minutes in the oven is for. I am sure 10 minutes isn’t going to make much of a difference so I say forget about that and just tuck in.
Obviously it doesn’t quite match up to Heston’s very arty version but it tastes great and I am quite proud of myself for a first attempt!
The Professional View
Rosie’s S&S touch was to switch the eggs for quails eggs.
You will need to put 3 eggs at a time into rapidly boiling water for two minutes.
She did not use a food processor and along with all the spices etc she added a little truffle oil and a tablespoon of black pudding.
Double dip the eggs – once you have done one layer of breadcrumbs roll them in the egg mix and then put them back in the breadcrumbs to have an added layer of crunch.
She heated the oil to 175°C and then cooked three at a time for 3 minutes.
The Heston recipe is definitely worth a try, it really is not that difficult especially if you cut out a few of the not totally necessary bits it doesn’t take too long. If I had been concentrating when doing the eggs rather than checking the Daily Mail I am sure I would not have overcooked them and the whole thing would have been even more yummy. Rosie’s quails scotch eggs with truffle oil and black pudding are far superior so I will be giving them a go now I know what I am doing.
0 comments:
Post a Comment