.jpg) Scotch egg, halved | |
| Type | Picnic food |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | England |
| Main ingredients | Boiled egg,sausage,bread crumbs |
AScotch egg is aboiled egg wrapped insausage meat, coated inbreadcrumbs andbaked ordeep-fried.
Various origin stories exist. TheOxford Companion to Food gives the first instance of the name as of 1809, in an edition ofMaria Rundell'sA New System of Domestic Cookery.[1] They did not, at that time, have a breadcrumb layer, although by 1861Isabella Beeton suggested this as an option.[1] According to theOxford Companion to Food, food historianAnnette Hope speculated in 1987 that the inspiration may have been Indiankoftas[1] such as theMughlai dish callednargisi kofta ("Narcissus meatballs"), in which a boiled egg is encased in a seasoned ground-meat mixture and then fried.[2]
Other claims include the item having been invented atFortnum & Mason at Piccadilly in 1738.[3] According toCulinary Delights of Yorkshire, they originated inWhitby,Yorkshire, England, in the 19th century, and were originally covered infish paste rather thansausage meat. They were supposedly named after William J. Scott & Sons, a well-known eatery which sold them.[4]
It has also been suggested that they were originally called "scorch" eggs, as they were cooked over an open flame, though according to surviving recipes they were deep-fried inlard. 'Scotching' as a culinary process is also sometimes cited as the origin, though what "scotching" was is open to interpretation, from the inclusion ofanchovies to simply mincing meat.[5] Further confusion is added by the large trade in eggs from Scotland in the 19th century, which sometimes involved dipping eggs in alime powder to preserve them, a process possibly also known as "scotching".[6]
Scotch eggs are prepared by hard- or soft-boiling an egg, wrapping it in sausage meat, and deep-frying it.[1] It is often eaten in pubs or as a cold snack at picnics.[1]
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In the Netherlands and Belgium, Scotch eggs may also be calledvogelnestje ("little bird's nest"), because they contain an egg. One 1880s Scottish recipe also calls them birds' nests.[6]
TheManchester egg consists of apickled egg wrapped in a mixture of pork meat andLancashireblack pudding.[7]
Vegetarian versions have also been made. In 2022,Guinness World Records certified a 8.341-kilogram (18 lb6+7⁄32 oz) vegetarian Scotch egg as the world's largest.[8][9] It used anostrich egg in the center, with a coating made of peas and cheddar cheese.[8][10] TheHarwood Arms, aMichelin-starred restaurant in London, started selling a vegetarian Scotch egg that uses a plant-basedmeat alternative in 2020,[11] and the next year, the supermarket chainTesco started selling a vegan version.[12]
A fatty food,[13] a typical sausage-coated Scotch egg has about 200 mgdietary cholesterol per 100 grams.[14]
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