At the start of the year I made my first scotch egg, though with a bit of a black pudding twist. Following on from this success I have spent considerable time thinking about different ways to scotch my eggs.

This is the recipe from one of those thoughts.

The idea hit me one lunch time when I was dreaming of a sausage, bacon and egg buttie, being the day after the night before. What if I was to put some smoked crispy bacon between the sausage and the egg? With a plan hatched I just had to wait until the weekend to try this little wonder out.

Only one question remained, would the bacon stay crispy after it was cooked?

Ideally use good fatty, thick sliced, smoked bacon for this. The fat renders down and becomes like the fat on proper pork scratchings. Just glorious.

For the sausage meat, I used a good sausage squeezed out of it's skin rather than a block of the stuff as there is more choice for your designed taste.

Now get scotching!!

Step 1 - The Bacon

• Put the oven on for 170C

• Get a couple of baking trays which fit inside each other

• Cover with grease proof paper so that there is enough to fold it back over on itself

• Add bacon, roughly 4 slices per egg

• Fold the grease proof over, put the other tray on top and pop in the oven

• Occasionally open the door to let out the steam and smell

• After about 45 minutes, the bacon should be crispy and a deep colour and the fat rendered. Note, it won't go fully crispy until has cooled down a little. The fat will still have some give to it like a good scratching.

• Once it's cooled, roughly chop up and put in the fridge for 15 minutes

Step 2 - The Egg

• Boil your eggs for 5 minutes then tip out the water

• One cooled enough, peel them

Step 3 -  The Sausage

• Lightly oil up some grease proof paper which is twice as wide as you need

• Squeeze out two and a half sausages onto the paper, make into a ball and then spread it out

• Fold the paper over and using a plate or rolling pin, get it about 5mm thin. It should be now the right size to wrap around the egg

  Top tip: Make a mark on the egg shell and place it one side, with the mark facing upwards, roll the egg to the other side. It should go round and face back up where it started before the other edge

• Pull your bacon out the fridge and cover the sausage meat with half

• Put the egg on one side and using the grease proof paper, roll the scotch around the egg so that it's almost a tube.

  This provides a even distribution of bacon around the egg.

• Now collect the open end up to fully enclose the egg, wrapping the paper to make a ball.

Step 4 - Scotch it

• Get three bowls, one with plain flour, one with well beaten egg, and one with bread crumbs

• Coat each ball in flour, shaking off any excess

• Dip in and completely coat in the egg then in breadcrumbs. Repeat the egg/breadcrumb dip at least twice if not three times

• Set aside whilst you heat up your oil
  

Step 5 - Deep Fry

• Heat the oil to 165C, any hotter and the outside will burn before the sausage is cooked

• When ready, use a slotted spoon to gently lower the egg into the oil. This will avoid splashing and also manages the initial bubble up response from the oil. Never hurts to be a little cautions when deep fat frying

• After around 5-7 minutes it should turn golden brown and the sausage should be cooked

• Rest it on some kitchen paper for a minute and then it's ready about as soon as it's cooled enough to eat!

Scotch Bacon and Egg

• 8 slices of good thick smoked back bacon

• 4 large eggs (2 for inside, 2 for coating)

• Pack of 8 quality sausages

• Plain flour

• Breadcrumbs

• Vegetable or sunflower oil for frying