Recipe: Scotch Quail Eggs

 

Have you heard of Scotch Eggs?  They are a unique dish made of hard boiled eggs wrapped in sausage, breaded, and fried.  

I made some years ago with our chicken eggs.  The size of the eggs made me question just how in the world does one serve these?? I tried slicing them different ways (wedges like a lemon, round slices, quartered) and they never seemed to work right for me.

When we began keeping quail several years ago I wondered how quail eggs would do as Scotch Eggs.  I figured they would work better given their smaller size, but somehow I just never got around to trying them.

A few weeks ago a gentleman stopped by our booth at the market and was happy to find our quail eggs.  I asked him how he was planning to use them and he told me he was going to make Scotch Eggs.  

That settled it.  It was time for me to try my hand at this!

Cletus has some food allergies, so my choice for sausage reflects our need to avoid corn products but you can use any bulk sausage you like. 

 Ingredients

1 dozen quail eggs hard boiled (see directions)

1pound sausage (we use turkey sausage).  Typical British recipes call for sage, salt, pepper, and other spices but American sausage tends to have enough spice blended in to make the additional spices unnecessary.

6 quail eggs (for an egg wash)

3/4 cup flour

1 cup bread crumbs or panko

vegetable oil for frying

Hard boil quail eggs by bringing your water to a boil then adding room temperature eggs.  Boil for 3 minutes, then place in a bowl of ice.  Once completely cooled, peel and rinse then set on paper towels to dry.

 

Heat oil in deep frying pan on medium-high heat (you can also use a fryer for this part set to around 375-400).  

Mix 6 quail eggs in a shallow bowl.

 Place flour in a pie plate or some other shallow bowl. 

Place bread crumbs/panko in a pie plate or some other shallow bowl. 

I would have used bread crumbs but I had these in the pantry and needed to use them up

Divide sausage into 12 parts.  Wrap sausage around hard boiled egg, completely covering it.  

Thanks, Cletus, for the great photography! :)

 

Dip this egg in the flour,  

 

then the egg wash, 

then bread crumbs.  

Repeat this with all the hard boiled eggs. 

Once all eggs are prepared, check the temperature of the oil by dropping in a cube of bread.  Once the bread crisps quickly it is hot enough.  Drop eggs in oil, no more than 4 at a time (depending on the size of your pan you may need to do fewer).  Fry for 4 minutes, turning as needed.

 

Drain eggs on paper towels, 

 

  

cut in half, and serve.

 

They are also really good dipped in a bit of Chick Fil A sauce, your favorite dressing, or teriyaki mayonnaise (2 Tbsp teriyaki sauce mixed in to 1/2 cup mayonnaise).

Let me know how yours turn out!