Monday 4 March 2013

Why Scotch eggs?

Sometimes I may write about something that has nothing to do with gardening because it has excited me or improved our life here.

I went back to the UK in November and while I was there I was telling a lady in a butcher`s shop that it was impossible to get decent sausages in Skopelos, or at least the ones we were used to. She very kindly sold me a packet of the spice mix they use.

When I got back we went to Lemonis the butcher and bought minced pork and some slices of belly pork.
We minced the belly pork for some extra fat and mixed in the spice, a little rusk and iced water.
Fantastic sausage meat!
We made some patties ( can`t be bothered with skins) and I decided to try and make scotch eggs.
The landlord wanted to know why they were called scotch eggs and I looked on Google but couldn`t get a definitive answer.
Anyway, they were terrific, the landlords eggs were orange and perfectly set, not dry and he took one home to share with his mother.

After the success with the scotch eggs we decided to try bacon. The bacon here is thin and flabby and very unexciting.
I had ordered some cures on line from a firm called Tongmaster seasonings and they sent them out to me.
The very helpful Joe at Tongmaster gave me some more advice and we were off.
Another trip to Lemonis and after looking at pictures of cuts of pork, we ended up with a piece that looked like back bacon about 5 inches wide.
We rubbed the cure all over the meat and put it in a tupperware in the fridge for a week, turning it every day. After the week we rinsed it thoroughly and left it in the fridge to dry off for a day.
The next day I sliced it as thinly as I could and we tried it.
Proper bacon and eggs, amazing.

Next step.....HAM.
Thanks Tongmaster.



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