Recipe Scotch Quail Eggs with Mustard Sauce

[The Late Night Gourmet]

I've made scotch eggs, but I find that the huge size (1/4 pound of pork for each egg) is quite a commitment in terms of how much you have to eat. Quail eggs need about 1 1/2 ounces of sausage per egg, and so are more snack-sized. But, the eggs themselves are tough to work with because they're so delicate. The big problem is that I wanted to soft boil the egg - as I do with a chicken egg - but peeling the shell is almost impossible in that state. Was it worth the effort? Not really, but I'm glad I tried it.

Note that I included a regular Scotch (chicken) egg as the mama egg in this family:

Ingredients

1 1⁄2 teaspoons fennel seeds
1 tablespoon parsley
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1⁄2 teaspoons pepper, freshly ground
1 lb lean pork
10 quail eggs
1 egg
1⁄2 cup Italian breadcrumbs
1⁄2 cup olive oil mayonnaise
1⁄4 cup Dijon mustard
1 ounce lemon juice
4 ounces canola oil

Directions

1. Toast fennel seeds on stove, keeping them moving constantly, until they turn a golden brown color, about 5 minutes. Allow to cool, then grind in spice grinder. Combine with salt, pepper, and parsley in small cup.
2. If grinding your own pork, trim fat from pork and cut into 1" cubes.
3. Combine the blend from Step 1 with the pork. If grinding your own pork, put in freezer (along with all grinder components except for the motor) for 1 hour before using in meat grinder. If not, then refrigerate until ready to use.
4. Start to heat up oil in deep fryer or pan deep enough to toally cover eggs, until it reaches 350°F.
5. Place eggs in a pot of cold water that just covers the eggs. Heat until the water achieves a rolling boil. Remove pot from heat immediately, cover, and allow to sit for 3 minutes. Remove eggs from hot water and immerse in ice water. NOTE: this gives the eggs a soft center. Allow to rest for 5 minutes to hard boil.
6. NOTE: quail eggs are incredibly hard to peel when soft boiled due to the thin shell. To peel egg shell, tap the bottom of one egg to crack it. Use a spoon to carefully peel the shell away from the egg while rotating the egg. Repeat for each egg. Refrigerate until ready to use.
7. If grinding your own pork, remove pork from the freezer and grind.
8. Divide the sausage into equal portions and flatten into a disc shape in the palm of your hand. Place the egg in the center of the disc and carefully wrap the sausage around them, ensuring that there are no openings.
9. Place the breadcrumbs in a bowl. Whisk the remaining egg in another bowl. Roll each sausage wrapped egg in the egg wash to fully coat, then roll in the breadcrumbs until fully coated.
10. Place sausage wrapped eggs in the fryer so they aren't touching, for 3 minutes or until golden brown.
11. Combine mayonnaise, mustard, and lemon juice to create mustard sauce.

 

[Cinisajoy]

So pretty much one to two scotch chicken eggs is a serving.

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

So pretty much one to two scotch chicken eggs is a serving.

I've found out that I need a quarter pound of sausage to fully wrap a chicken egg. I've tried it with less, but there's just not enough "material". To eat a whole one, you'd need an appetite plus time set aside for a nap afterward.

 

[Cinisajoy]

I've found out that I need a quarter pound of sausage to fully wrap a chicken egg. I've tried it with less, but there's just not enough "material". To eat a whole one, you'd need an appetite plus time set aside for a nap afterward.

A quarter pound is only 4 oz or the equivalent of 2 sausage patties. Which is typically a serving. Why you had me confused. A McDonalds small burger is a quarter pound.
Are you sure you don't mean 8 ounces per egg? That would make way more sense.

 

[Morning Glory]

I've made scotch eggs, but I find that the huge size (1/4 pound of pork for each egg) is quite a commitment in terms of how much you have to eat. Quail eggs need about 1 1/2 ounces of sausage per egg, and so are more snack-sized. But, the eggs themselves are tough to work with because they're so delicate. The big problem is that I wanted to soft boil the egg - as I do with a chicken egg - but peeling the shell is almost impossible in that state. Was it worth the effort? Not really, but I'm glad I tried it.

Bravo! I love quails eggs and this recipe looks great. Do you know the easy way to peel quail's eggs? I haven't tried it with soft boiled but I can't see why it wouldn't work, although, knowing the scientist in you I expect you have already tried it!

What you do is immerse the boiled quail's eggs in (cheap) vinegar for 15 mins. The shells dissolve and are easily removed.

 

[Cinisajoy]

Bravo! I love quails eggs and this recipe looks great. Do you know the easy way to peel quail's eggs? I haven't tried it with soft boiled but I can't see why it wouldn't work, although, knowing the scientist in you I expect you have already tried it!

What you do is immerse the boiled quail's eggs in (cheap) vinegar for 15 mins. The shells dissolve and are easily removed.

By cheap I am assuming you mean distilled not apple cider. Same stuff that is used in pickling and cleaning small water appliances. Comes in roughly 4 liter containers.

 

[Morning Glory]

By cheap I am assuming you mean distilled not apple cider. Same stuff that is used in pickling and cleaning small water appliances. Comes in roughly 4 liter containers.

Yep! Whatever is cheapest. I use the distilled. You don't taste the vinegar and it gets thrown away - it is just used to partially dissolves the shells.

 

[Cinisajoy]

Yep! Whatever is cheapest. I use the distilled. You don't taste the vinegar and it gets thrown away - it is just used to partially dissolves the shells.

Just making sure we were on the same page.

 

[jennyb]

These look really good and having tried to peel quail's eggs before I know that you have worked hard to make them. I am wondering if @morning glory 's tip about peeling would work. Quail's eggs are on the shelf in my local supermarket and I often find myself reaching for them and then pulling my hand back with the thought of all that difficult peeling.

 

[epicuric]

I've found out that I need a quarter pound of sausage to fully wrap a chicken egg. I've tried it with less, but there's just not enough "material". To eat a whole one, you'd need an appetite plus time set aside for a nap afterward.

They look great @The Late Night Gourmet! Scotch eggs have been on my 'to do' list for a long time now. Did you manage to get the yolks runny? Regarding the disproportionate amount of sausage meat needed compared with hens egg versions, isn't this something to do with the relationship between volume and surface area? I probably slept through that lesson at school

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

They look great @The Late Night Gourmet! Scotch eggs have been on my 'to do' list for a long time now. Did you manage to get the yolks runny? Regarding the disproportionate amount of sausage meat needed compared with hens egg versions, isn't this something to do with the relationship between volume and surface area? I probably slept through that lesson at school

I always want runny yolks in the middle of a Scotch egg, which means I need to poach the eggs so they don't overcook when I'm cooking the sausage exterior. This is where the tiny quail eggs present a problem: the little shells seem to stick to the membrane more so than the hen eggs stick to theirs. I think this is more because there's such a small distance from the outside of the egg to the center, as opposed to something different about the shells. Trying to get the poach right is hard, too, since 3 minutes might be perfect for an egg in the middle of the pot, while it might be 3 minutes and 30 seconds on the outside of the pot. <-- I'm thinking I should use a diffuser next time i try this.

 

[jennyb]

I've never made Scotch eggs with Quail's eggs but I have made them with runny yolks using hen's eggs. I cooked the eggs for 6 minutes before shelling.

 

[ElizabethB]

I have tried making Scotch Eggs a few times with minimal success. I have yet to get that perfect, runny yolk. More practice. I like the idea of using Quail eggs but will save that experiment until I get regular Scotch Eggs down pat.

BTW - Looks delicious!

 

[jennyb]

My local Waitrose has quail's eggs. I'm thinking perhaps I should have a go at making this recipe @The Late Night Gourmet.

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

My local Waitrose has quail's eggs. I'm thinking perhaps I should have a go at making this recipe @The Late Night Gourmet.

Good luck...and remember that, by far, the most challenging part is getting those little eggs soft boiled and peeled. After feeling terrible destroying several of those beautiful eggs, I finally settled on not having much of a runny yolk. I mean, just look at how beautiful they were...they didn't deserve the fate I had in store for them.