Birds' Nest
Boil eggs hard, remove shells, surround with force-meat; fry or bake them till nicely browned, cut in halves, and place in the dish with gravy.
A terse Victorian rendering of what most cooks now call a Scotch egg. The recipe assumes you already know how to make forcemeat and how to fry, so the working detail has to be filled in.
- ForcemeatIn this period it means seasoned ground meat bound with breadcrumbs, suet or egg — typically sausage meat, veal or pork, with parsley, thyme, mace or nutmeg. Bulk pork sausage meat out of its casing is the closest ready-made equivalent, about 4 oz per egg.
- The hinge: dry the eggsShelled hard-boiled eggs are slick and the meat will slide off in the pan. Pat them thoroughly dry and dust with flour before wrapping, then press the seam closed with wet hands.
- Boil them a little lessA modern hard-cooked egg is 10-12 minutes off the boil, then straight into ice water; because the eggs cook again inside the meat, stay at the short end of that range. Longer gives a chalky yolk with a green ring.
- CoatingThe recipe omits it, but a pass through beaten egg and breadcrumbs after wrapping is what gives the browned crust the instruction implies, and it holds the forcemeat in place.
- Fry or bakeDeep-fry at 325-340F for 7-8 minutes, or bake at 400F for 25-30 minutes, turning once. Either way the meat layer must reach 160F at the thickest point — the egg inside is already cooked, so judge doneness by the forcemeat alone.
- GravyThe recipe says only 'with gravy'; a plain brown gravy from the pan drippings, thinned with stock, suits the dish. Serving the halves cut side up so the yolk shows fits the name.
- YieldOne egg per person as a supper dish with gravy, or half an egg each on a cold table. Six eggs need roughly 1 1/2 lb forcemeat.
Eggs encased in seasoned meat appear in English cookery books by the nineteenth century, and the origin of the name "Scotch egg" is uncertain. "Birds' Nest" is one of several picturesque names given to such dishes, the cut halves with their yellow yolks standing in for eggs in a nest of browned meat. Books of this kind treated eggs as a cheap protein to be stretched: a few eggs and a pound of trimmings from the butcher become a dish substantial enough to carry a meal.