What makes the Scotch Egg so special?
Nothing: it just is.
Another ‘guest post’ but one that amuses me greatly: Scotland and Argentina have many connections, some cultural, some economic, some familial, some less amicable. After all, Scottish people settled in both Argentina and the Falkland islands (aka Malvinas) - the source of much international tension and bloodshed. However: food unites us all, and in this household, Argentinian wine is greatly appreciated. (Did I mention my Maternal Granny, Carmen Mercedes Darre, was born in Buenos Aires)? Maybe not, but that is for another day!
That was until it was thrust into the limelight amid a truly bizarre row over whether it constitutes a 'substantial meal' that consumed the political discourse over a few days in 2020 during the Covid pandemic.
Now the dish, which consists of a hard boiled egg wrapped in sausage meat that is breaded then fried, has once again become the talk of the steamie - 7,000 miles away in Argentina.
The culprit this time is María Sol, a contestant in the Argentine version of competitive cooking reality show MasterChef, whose Scotch egg recipe on a recent episode wowed the judges.
Germán Martitegui, who owns Tegui, Argentina's top-ranking restaurant and one that regularly find itself ranked among the best in the world, described it as “perfect”.
The episode has sparked the sudden wave of recipes for Scotch eggs (‘huevo escoces’ in Spanish) on food blogs and recipe sites and in newspapers from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia.
'Huevo escoces' also appeared among the top five Google trends in the country on Thursday, with more than 2,000 searches.
Daily newspaper La Voz del Interior, published in Córdoba, the second-largest city in Argentina, was quick to hop on board the Scotch egg hype train, which was perhaps understandable given that the MasterChef contestant who made the dish was herself a Córdoba native.”
Are they Scotch?
It is a bit contentious: much like the bagpipes and even the kilt, both of which have various origin myths. all lost in time.
Go to Wikipedia if you like (though always with a pinch of salt)..
”Various origin stories exist. The Oxford Companion to Food gives the first instance of the name as of 1809, in an edition of Maria Rundell's A New System of Domestic Cookery.[1] They did not, at that time, have a breadcrumb layer, although by 1861 Isabella Beeton suggested this as an option.[1] According to the Oxford Companion to Food, food historian Annette Hope speculated in 1987 that the inspiration may have been Indian koftas[1] such as the Mughlai dish called nargisi kofta ("Narcissus meatballs").[2]
Other claims include the item having been invented at Fortnums.[3] According to Culinary Delights of Yorkshire, they originated in Whitby, Yorkshire, England, in the 19th century, and were originally covered in fish paste rather than sausage 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 in lard. 'Scotching' as a culinary process is also sometimes cited as the origin, though what 'scotching' was is open to interpretation, from the inclusion of anchovies 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 a lime powder to preserve them, a process possibly also known as 'scotching'.[6] “
Anyway, who cares: just enjoy them - the best picnic food ever !
Oh my god, I’ve got to try one!