Chapter Fourteen: Overcoming Adversity

After my trials of last week I was very happy to be back in the kitchen. My oven decided to stop working (in the middle of baking bread!) and so I wasn't able to post a recipe last week. I'm so happy to be back to it this week though!

Every Easter, my family has always had the tradition of making Scotch Eggs. It's a great way to use the hard boiled eggs that were dyed, hidden, and found! If you don't know, a Scotch Egg is a hard boiled egg wrapped in sausage and coated with crumbs. I've seen several places deep fry theirs, but I've always baked them. Usually they're served with hollandaise sauce, but my family has always made a white gravy. 

I have so many fond memories of Scotch Eggs for Easter morning and when I got married, I was so happy to share them with Husband. They have become one of his favorite breakfasts that sometimes we don't even wait for Easter anymore! 

This Easter, I thought what would be fun is trying something old with something new and making a Scotch Egg Pie! I didn't think it would be difficult merging the two, but to add an extra challenge, I wanted to try something that has been on my radar for a while in the pie making experiment. Instead of a traditional American pie crust, I opted to try a hot water crust. Apart from the obvious difference that you use hot water instead of cold to make the crust come together, the pie is meant to be freestanding from the pan.

So let's dive right in!

Scotch Egg Pie

Filling

• 10 soft boiled eggs
• 1 pound sausage meat
• 1 cup corn flake crumbs

Crust

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup bread flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup lard   

White Sauce

• 1 ounce butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups milk

So on every other pie I make the crust first and allow it to cool while I get the filling prepped. But according to my research on hot water crusts, since you want everything to be, well, hot, you need to have all parts of the filling and your pan ready to go before getting the crust started. 

 

Soft boil your eggs because the eggs will continue to cook with the pie. If you're doing the egg hunt, this may make them more susceptible to breakage, so either make more just in case, or opt for other eggs. 

 

Combine the sausage and the corn flake crumbs. I use Jimmy Dean sausage out of a tube, but if there's a sausage you like, go for it. As long as you're not squeezing the meat out of link casings, you should be fine. As far as the crumbs, corn flakes are what my family has always used, so its familiar. I've seen Scotch Eggs dressed in everything from beer batter to panko, so do what works for you, again. I like to think the crumbs absorb some of the sausage fat that cooks out, but I may be deluding myself.

 

I also got the dry team put together for the crust and my spring-form pan lined with parchment so I was ready to make the magic happen. Note: it's super important to use a pan that will make removal easy. Like I said, this pie crust sits on its own, so make it easy on yourself!  

Boil your water and melt your fats. Then pour it all into the dry stuff and combine into a shaggy dough. Then you'll want to knead the dough until it's smooth. This is another huge variance of the hot water crust that you want a little more gluten in the dough so it holds together!

Divide the dough into two pieces: 2/3 and 1/3 is what I verged on. Roll out the larger of the two for the base and sides. To roll out your dough into a sheet, it's easiest to roll between parchment paper or plastic wrap to keep it together. However, if it tears when you're laying it in, don't worry. Just patch any holes with some extra dough. I rolled mine out to about 3/8 of an inch.

Roll out a round of the sausage mixture about 1/2 inch thick the size of the bottom of the pie and lay it in. Then arrange your eggs and fill the spaces between with more sausage.

 

Roll out your top crust and lay it over the filling. I personally think it's cute how the eggs seem to be peeking out, but if you don't, up the sausage and fill that bad boy to the top! Make sure the top crust seals well with the crust sides so there isn't anything seeping out. Create vent holes in the pie and pop it in a 375º preheated oven (Oh, yeah. Make sure you preheat the oven.) and bake for 50-60 minutes or until the top looks golden brown. Some recipies call for an egg wash, but I omitted it since I would be covering it with a sauce anyway.

Now that the pie is baking, take some time, rest, and plan to make your sauce. It takes no time to come together and you don't want to let it sit or else it will get the nasty gravy crust on the top that no one wants. Seriously.

When you're ready to make the sauce, melt the butter in a pot and add the flour. This is the fancy French term, "roux." You can cook the roux in the pot and make it darker if you wish, thus making the sauce darker. I opt for my white sauce to be white, so I just plow on through. Slowly add the milk, making sure the roux incorporates evenly and the sauce doesn't look lumpy. Add the salt and mix well. My mom also adds sugar, but I feel like my family has gotten enough sugar from Easter anyway, so I left it out. (Sorry, Mom.) If the sauce looks too thick, add more milk. If the sauce looks too thin, cook it longer, stirring constantly (as to avoid the nasty film.) 

 

Top your pie slice with the sauce and enjoy!

What I learned from this pie:

The crust was a lot flakier than I expected... no, maybe flaky isn't the right word.... You know how if something is really dusty and you eat a bit and breathe wrong, you start coughing uncontrollably, like with powdered donuts. Yeah, that happened to me with one bite. Don't get me wrong, this crust was DELICIOUS but I think something went wrong. I'll be trying it again to see if I get a different result. And although everything came together well and tasted good, this pie taught me not to mess with tradition. I missed my Scotch Eggs.