Scotch Quail Eggs, coming up

[steveinUS]

52 quail eggs to be soft-boiled and peeled, then made into Scotch Eggs. I’ll probably serve them with a raspberry-mustard dipping sauce. They are way more work than is justified, but they’re just the right size for a bar snack, and the women are impressed and think they’re sooo cute.

The meat mixture will be about two thirds plain bulk breakfast sausage, with chicken livers and scrapple added for additional goodness.

 

[Dexter101]

Sound good! awards for patience on that one.

Can I just ask what Scrapple is?

 

[steveinUS]

It's a regional Pennsylvania / Delaware concoction, made up of pork parts, corn meal and spices, that is in the form of a dense, spongy loaf. Standard treatment is to slice it and pan fry it. It is sort of an acquired taste, but it is standard breakfast fare around here. For the Scotch Eggs, I pulverize it in a food processor and mix it in with the other meats.

https://www.rapascrapple.com/collections/frontpage/products/scrapple-original

 

[Dexter101]

Ah cool, that sounds good. Liking the honesty on the ingredients label! Sounds like a good addition to a scotch egg.

 

[steveinUS]

Soft cooking them at first makes it a bit more challenging to peel the quail eggs intact, but it sure does make for some good eats.

 

[Graz]

Mmm, me hungry.

Look well tasty, great work!

 

[steveinUS]

Mmm, me hungry.

Look well tasty, great work!

Thanks, this was my 3rd or 4th go at these eggs, and getting the boil time (and then the deep frying time) just right to leave the runny yolk inside has been tricky. Doing that many eggs at once for a large group probably won't happen again. But for our own consumption, or to take to the local brewery for a few drinking companions to enjoy...definitely!

Here's part of the crowd who ate them...those who dressed up. Our friends ("Clan Lyons") hosted their 2nd annual Highland Games...including a local piper who added excellent atmosphere. The competitors were mostly the younger crowd, going from axe throw, to caber toss, wife carry, and barrel toss. We old farts held down the sideline and called fouls (but were roundly and loudly ignored, as no one here really knows or cares about the rules). I'm not sure how I even got into the photo (2nd from right) because I just do not remember that part of the afternoon, after drinking a 14% Cyser all day. All in the name of fun!

 

[Subtle Duck]

Bravo sir, You have my full respect! We used to do these at work, but with shredded duck confit as the meat, for buffets of up to 500 people. The whole kitchen used to take turns throughout the day peeling these little gems, you must have the patience of a saint. Sounds like you had a great day

 

[MrSarge]

its a bit late to add my tuppence but as a peeler of many a quail egg ive got a wee pro tip for you.
allow the eggs to come to room temp then blanch in rapidly boiling water for 2mins and 10 seconds then pop them straight into distilled malt vinegar and leave for 1 hour. the acid eats away at the shell and itll peel right off without a bother!

from clan McAllister x

 

[Drunkula]

You been listening to The Kitchen Cabinet, Sarge?

I had a load of quail eggs and they absolutely would not peel. I think they might have got frozen at the back of fridge and it did something to them. They were for scotch eggs, too.

 

[Subtle Duck]

Cheers mrsarge, thanks for the tip. Will have to remember that for future use. Does the vinegar taste carry over?

 

[MrSarge]

15+ years as a professional chef, no you wont taste the vinegar

 

[steveinUS]

This week's batch of 36 Scotch Quail Eggs had some left-overs. In search of a secondary treatment, we re-fried them to crisp them up again, then coated them in a thick batter of equal amounts of waffle/flapjack mix, and corn muffin mix. Put on skewers and fried until golden. Amazing!

 

[Subtle Duck]

They look amazing, is there anything you can't put on a stick?

 

[MrSarge]

did you try the vinegar method!? changed my life ill say!

 

[steveinUS]

did you try the vinegar method!? changed my life ill say!

Yes! Isn't it amazing how that works? Life changing, for sure. I use quail eggs mostly for pickling, so it matters more how they look with that treatment than when making Scotch Eggs. But either way, my OCD has a much better time with soft vinegar-soaked shells. It's almost fun to peel them while watching TV.

 

[Beer & Moonshine]

They look incredible - great job!