H G Walter's perfect scotch egg recipe

The sausage meat to wrap your egg in is just as important. Your local butcher should have a good quality free-range pork sausage meat available. We always use our plain pork sausage meat, but different flavours also work well.

Breadcrumbs – steer clear of the bright orange ‘breadcrumbs’ that you find in supermarkets. The best breadcrumbs are homemade, but if you have to buy them, opt for ‘panko’ crumbs.

Cooking methods/temperatures

Boiling an egg – despite the terminology, you should never boil an egg. Cooking eggs at too high a temperature will result in the egg losing water and becoming rubbery. For best results, once the cooking water has reached a gentle boil turn the heat down and simmer for the remainder of the cooking time.

H G Walter's scotch egg recipe

Makes 4 scotch eggs

large free-range eggs 5

good quality sausage meat 250g

onions 1sp finely chopped, sweated

spring onion 1, finely chopped

salt & pepper

plain flour 50g, seasoned

good quality dried breadcrumbs 100g

vegetable oil for deep frying

step 1

Place 4 eggs in a pan of cold water, bring to the boil and reduce the heat to a simmer. Then cook the eggs for 8-10 mins.

step 2

While the eggs are cooking, mix the sausage meat with the sweated (gently cooked) onions, spring onions, salt and ground black pepper. Cover and refrigerate for about 30 mins.

step 3

Drain the eggs and cool by placing in an iced bowl of water. Peel.

step 4

Roll the eggs in the seasoned flour and wrap them in the sausage meat mix.

step 5

Dip the scotch eggs in the beaten egg and then roll it in the breadcrumbs to coat, put on a plate covered in cling film and refrigerate for at least 1 hour to firm up and set..

step 6

Heat the oil to 180˚C and cook for 8-12 minutes depending on the size. The breadcrumbs should be nice and crisp with a lovely dark golden colour.

step 7

Remove from the oil and drain on kitchen paper and sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt.