Scotch Eggs

A couple of friends of ours immigrated to Canada from Lancashire, England several years ago.  She is an amazing cook who has been involved in the restaurant and food service industry since making Canada her home.  She has owned and operated everything from a canteen to English style pub to café to upper scale  restaurants.  The focus has always been on home style cooking that brings in her English roots.  Both of them are really fun to be around with remarkable senses of humour.  At the one English style pub aptly named Rovers after Rovers Return Inn on the long running British soap opera, Coronation Street (aka Corrie).  My husband and I watch Corrie every day! 

Her English style fish & chips are the best you will ever taste!  Then again her steak and kidney pie is right up there on the delicious factor.  Her husband has a couple of bands, one with his friends and one with his adult kids.  Both are very good.  A couple of weeks ago, he and his friends were playing at a local venue so we stopped in for a night of entertainment.  We didn't realize it was her birthday.  There was a large spread of food set out, most of which she had made herself. 

I spotted a dish on the table I had never seen before so quickly inquired.  She told me the dish was Scotch Eggs and promised to show me how to make them.  Scotch eggs were made by Scottish farmers and shepherds in the Middle Ages as a way to take their meal to the fields, much the same way, much the same way Cornish pasties came to be.  They are hard boiled eggs wrapped in a seasoned sausage then coated with bread crumbs and deep fried.  Bon Appétit calls them a gastropub staple something I am sure we will discover during our visit to England.  According to Jamie Oliver, the Scotch eggs should be eaten warm with the centres hot and oozing a bit and if you really want to make it proper serve with Scottish cheese. 

Now I know what Scotch eggs are, I am planning on making them for our next games night gathering.  I think they will go over rather well.  As pub grub goes, this is a rather simple dish with few ingredients, low prep time and short cook time.  All this makes for an easy dish for games night.  I'll report back on how well the dish was received.