Reportedly the best Scotch eggs you’ll ever eat! Lovely still warm from the oven and impossible to resist eating more than one!

Preparation time: 45 minutes

Cooking time: 20-25 minutes

Ingredients

18 quail eggs

400g good quality pork sausage meat (if you can’t get good sausage meat, simply use sausages taken out of their skins)

40g black pudding (I like Laverstoke Park black pudding or morcilla)

2 cooking chorizo, taken out of their skins

1/2 tsp fennel seeds, crushed

1/2 tsp sweet smoked paprika

salt and pepper

2-3 tbsp seasoned plain flour

2 eggs, beaten

100g approx. breadcrumbs mixed with 1/2 tsp sweet smoked paprika

vegetable oil for frying

Method

1. First boil the quail eggs for 3 minutes. Pour the boiling water out of the pan immediately and cool the eggs down under cold running water for a few minutes. Remove from the water, carefully peel the eggs and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the sausage meat, black pudding, chorizo, fennel seeds, paprika, a good grinding of black pepper and a sprinkle of salt.
3. Take a ping-pong ball sized ball of meat and flatten it out onto one of your hands to around 1/2 cm thick. Place an egg in the middle and carefully roll up the meat around the egg so that it is completely covered. You might need to coerce the meat with your fingers to fill in any gaps or tears. Create a smooth finish by rolling the egg in your hands. Put it on a plate and repeat the process with the rest of the eggs.
4. Prepare to flour, egg and breadcrumb the eggs by placing the flour in one bowl to the right of the eggs, the beaten egg in another to the right of the flour and the breadcrumbs in another to the right of the beaten egg. Have a clean plate ready on the right of the breadcrumbs.
5. Using one hand if you can (it’s always good to keep one hand clean), roll the eggs first in the flour, then in the egg and finally give them a light coating of breadcrumbs. Place on the clean plate as you finish each one.
6. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees.
7. Half fill a wok, chip pan or large pan with oil and heat up ready for frying. You can test to see if it is hot enough by dropping a little piece of bread into the oil. If it immediately rises to the top and starts to fry, surrounded by little bubbles of oil, the oil is ready.
8. Use a spoon to lay the eggs into the oil. You will only be able to cook three or four at a time as you don’t want to overcrowd the pan.
9. Cook for a few minutes until brown all over then transfer to a baking tray lined with kitchen towel. Continue until they’ve all been fried.
10. Remove the kitchen towel and transfer the tray to the oven. Finish cooking the eggs in the oven for 10 minutes.