Feral Cooks

Good food shouldn't be tame

Pork of Death II: Scotch Eggs

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Scotch Eggs

As I mentioned in some earlier posts, Christmas Eve 2018 was a deep fry-fest, with the original pork of death and mu sarong on the menu. Not to mention a couple of frozen corndogs, for good measure.

Also on the list, though, were Scotch Eggs. I’d wanted to make them for some time, and this was the perfect opportunity. Here’s some trivia about these, by the way: they were invented in London in 1838.

They are, in a word, delicious, and easy to make. But these things seem like a heart attack waiting to happen. If you do make them, best limit it to one. Also, you may want to use only medium-sized eggs, instead of the jumbos that I used. I think your sausage would go a lot further.

With that said, enjoy.

What you’ll need:

  • Hard boiled eggs (however many you want to make)
  • 1 or 2 raw eggs, beaten
  • Flour for rolling the sausage-encased eggs in
  • Breakfast sausage (best to have a pound on hand. Four jumbo eggs required that much)
  • Panko (a lot of it, maybe a fresh, unopened container)
  • Oil for frying

What to do

When the eggs are cooked and cooled enough to handle, take about ¼ pound of sausage (for a jumbo egg) and press it thinly flat with your hand. Put the egg in the center of the “patty” and wrap the sausage around the egg, enveloping it completely.

When all your eggs are encased with sausage, pour some flour in a shallow dish, put the beaten eggs in a shallow bowl, and put the panko in another shallow bowl.

Roll each egg-ball in the flour, then in the egg wash, finally rolling it in the panko until it’s completely covered.

Heat your oil to 350 degrees and cook the eggs for 7-10 or so minutes, until the sausage is cooked through and the panko has turned a golden brown. Remember, the thicker the layer of sausage, the longer they will take to cook in the fryer. One alternative is to pre-cook them a bit in the oven before the flour/egg/panko step, so you get ahead of the sausage-cooking. You don’t want the panko to over-brown because the sausage is not done.

When fully cooked, drain on paper towels and serve after they cool for about 10 minutes.

Scotch Eggs

Chicken Marengo

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Chicken Marengo

Here’s a nice one-pot dish that’s perfect for a weeknight dinner. There are tons of Chicken Marengo recipes out there, but this one is from a trusted source: the New York Times.

While I liked this dish, I should have known better than use bone-in chicken thighs. Next time, I’d use only boneless chicken thighs, preferably with skin on, though those can be hard to find. I’ve found that some butchers will bone them for you and leave the skin on.

Note that the NYT recipe calls for a whole chicken cut into pieces. Forget that. Just buy the pieces you need and save yourself the hassle. If you do use precut pieces, about 2 pounds should be enough. The thighs pictured here totaled about that much.

What you’ll need:

  • 3-pound chicken cut into serving pieces (or 2 lbs pre-cut pieces, boneless if you think chicken bones are revolting)
  • Salt to taste
  • Ground pepper
  • 2T butter
  • 2T olive oil
  • 8 oz. mushrooms, thinly sliced
  • 0.5 cup onion, finely chopped
  • 0.5t garlic, finely minced
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 sprigs fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried
  • 0.5 cup dry white wine
  • 2 cups cored and cubed red ripe tomatoes, or use canned tomatoes
  • 0.25 cup tomato paste (I didn’t have any, and it still turned out great)
  • 0.5 cup chicken broth
  • 2 sprigs fresh parsley

Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper.

Heat the butter and oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken, skin-side down and cook until golden-brown on one side ~5 min). Turn the pieces over (tongs work well) and cook on that side for about 2-3 more minutes. Remove the pieces, pour off the oil/fat, and put the chicken back.

Over medium heat, distribute the mushrooms over the chicken, then add the onion, garlic, bay leaf and thyme. Cook about 5 more minutes. Make sure to stir things up so the mushrooms and onions cook evenly.

Add the wine, then the tomatoes, tomato paste, chicken broth and parsley. Bring to the boil, and then reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook 10 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. It should reach an internal temperature of no less than 165 degrees. How long this takes depends on the size of the chicken pieces.

Chicken Marengo

Pizza Fried Rice

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Pizza Fried Rice

Pizza is great. I love pizza. Fried rice is great. I love a good batch of fried rice. But put them together, and it’s just meh.

After making Japanese, Thai and Mexican fried rice, I thought I’d try a pizza fried-rice. It was kind of good, but not as good as the other three I listed. Maybe it needed more pizza sauce. I don’t know. Regardless, I encourage you to try your own version of this. It may just work for you.

What you’ll need:

Note: this is just what I made. Anything that goes on a pizza can pretty much go into pizza fried-rice, one would think.

  • 2 cups uncooked white or brown rice
  • 1 lb Italian sausage
  • 8 oz sliced mushrooms
  • 2 oz pepperoni slices, cut into strips
  • 0.25-cup or more of pizza sauce
  • Shredded mozzarella cheese (as topping)

What to do:

Make the rice.

While the rice is cooking, cook the Italian sausage in a wok over medium heat, breaking it up into chunks as it cooks.

When the sausage is cooked through, drain off the grease and return the wok to the heat. Add the mushrooms and cook them until they soften.

Add the pepperoni strips and rice, mixing the mushrooms, sausage, rice and pepperoni well.

When all that is evenly distributed, put in the pizza sauce, mixing well to distribute it throughout the rest of the ingredients. Add more if it’s bland.

Dish it up hot, add the cheese and enjoy.

Pizza Fried Rice