Whether tucking into bar snacks at a British-style pub or trying new small plates at an upscale American eatery, diners have been seeing more of one rapidly trending and pulchritudinous dish: the Scotch egg.
Traditionally, a Scotch egg consists of a hard-boiled egg wrapped in sausage meat, which is then coated in bread crumbs, baked or deep-fried, and served halved with hot gravy or mustard sauce. British supermarkets also sell miniature, plastic-wrapped versions of Scotch eggs under the names “savory eggs,” “party eggs,” “egg bites” and so on.
But while these hearty snacks have been served at picnics, pubs and corner stores in the United Kingdom since the late 18th century, the Scotch egg’s modish repute stateside is a fairly recent phenomenon.
Why, then, has it become one of the hottest rising trends on American menus?
A few culinary insiders share their thoughts on the growing popularity of Scotch eggs in the United States, and also reveal how they are serving up both new and faithful versions of the classic dish in their restaurants.
Seth Yaffe
General manager and former sous chef, The Gallows, Boston
Scotch eggs, like poutine, buffalo wings and tacos, are being reworked or reconceptualized as riffs on classic snacks that were either eaten before, during or after a heavy night of drinking. These dishes are meant to be a snack to accompany drinks in a casual setting. … We find more guests are choosing small plates, (and) the Scotch egg fits right into that category.
We decided to take the classic snack and upgrade it to give the egg two distinct characteristics. Our Scotch egg had a soft and creamy egg yolk, with a crispy, crunchy outer layer of sausage. The contrast of the rich egg yolk with the salty pork and sage sausage is what really works in this dish. … We serve our Scotch eggs cut into half and sprinkle sliced scallions on top of the yolk.
Bertrand Bouquin
Executive chef, The Golden Bee at The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs, Colo.
The Bee is steeped in tradition, and the Scotch egg is a nod to the nature of the menu and the history of the pub. Our menu is focused on preserving the classic ambience of an English pub along with its food traditions. I think that the Scotch egg appears on lots of restaurant menus, in part due to the popularity of the gastropub. Great restaurants like The Spotted Pig and Jones Wood Foundry have helped make this type of food cool again. With growth of “nose-to-tail” cooking, dishes like the Scotch egg have become a good outlet for utilizing the whole hog too. When faced with butchering a heritage-breed hog every week, chefs are getting creative with what they do with the trim and in how they utilize all of the sausage they are grinding.
Our Scotch egg recipe relies on the basics. We mill our own bread crumbs for the coating and grind a sage and garlic pork sausage in the restaurant. With all of its richness, we like to serve a fresh and tangy mint mignonette and a few leaves of crispy frisee in mustard dressing alongside our Scotch eggs.
Dirk Flanigan
Chef consultant, The Green Door Tavern, Chicago
With all of the current guest focus on mixology, craft beers and bar visitation, it makes sense that a classic bar food like Scotch eggs is becoming popular again. Scotch eggs can be enjoyed any time, for breakfast, lunch, dinner, brunch, supper or snack. It’s also one of the classic tavern foods that you can eat sober, on your way to getting drunk and even with a hangover.
My version, introduced to Chicago in 2007, is very traditional: a hard-boiled egg wrapped in a mild herbaceous pork sausage, breaded in panko and served with mustard and mesclun salad. The Green Door version is robust with garlic, a variety of chilies and fine herbs, mixed into house-made sausage and served with arugula and mustard.
Levi Mezick
Executive chef, Restaurant 1883, Monterey, Calif.
With all of the amazing flavor that they have, I can see why Scotch eggs have become popular again. We’re always looking for new things to do with food, and reinventing a beautiful classic with great flavors is really exciting for us.
I like to soft-poach the egg and cook it for about three minutes and 50 seconds. Then I take the sausage and wrap it in prosciutto, and bread it with a little flour, egg and breadcrumbs. Then I like to fry it, so that you still have the soft inside of a hard-boiled egg. I call it the Crispy Hen Egg. Right now I’m working on another menu with a deconstructed Scotch egg. I take the pork sausage, deep-fry that into a croquette with a slow poached egg and serve with a little frisee salad.
Jonathan Lee
Bar manager, Crowley’s Downtown, St. Petersburg, Fla.
Scotch eggs are trending this season, but this is a family-owned Irish bar, and we’ve been serving them on our menu since day one. It’s a dish from the old country and one of our top sellers. I can see it being trendy, but down here it’s a staple. You can come here on a Saturday morning, grab yourself a Scotch egg and a 20-ounce Guinness, and it’s like breakfast, wrapped up and ready to go.
We wrap the sausage around the eggs and roll each one into a ball, like you do making snowballs as a kid, and throw them into the oven (to bake). Then we panko-crust them. Some people overseas might serve them cold, but I’m unfamiliar with that. From there we deep-fry the bad boys and serve them with what I can best describe to you as a steakhouse sauce-style mustard. It’s just delicious.
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