James Ramsden is a food writer, blogger, vlogger and supper club proprietor at the Secret Larder Supper Club. He was selected by The Times as one of the 40 bloggers everyone is talking about, and hailed as ‘one of the best new food writers’ by Rose Prince.
He contributed to ‘The Ultimate Student Cookbook’ by Fiona Beckett and his first book, ‘Small Adventures in Cooking‘ was published this year by Quadrille.
Developer of his own Scotch egg recipes, there’s clearly a passion and fascination for the famed bar snack, and here James answers a few questions about the praised golden orb:
Q. In three words, how would you describe a Scotch egg?
A. Serve with ale.
Q. Best served hot or cold?
A. Hot. Most things are best served hot. Except salad…. and ice cream. And gazpacho. Actually a lot of things are better cold. But not the Scotch egg. Fridge cold Scotch egg? No thanks.
Q. Served with or without condiments? If with, then which?
A. I think a little homemade brown sauce (can’t stand HP) or a dab of hot mustard is good, but they’re just as good without. Especially if the yolk is soft – that’s a sauce in itself.
Q. You recently published a Scotch egg recipe using ‘‘nduja (hot salume made up largely of pig-head bits). What other unique or lesser known ingredients do you think would work in a Scotch egg recipe?
A. Actually on the whole I think the best Scotch eggs are very simple. Good sausage meat, earthy herbs, and the best egg you can find.
Q. What do you think makes the Scotch egg such a popular English snack?
A. It’s a sort of synthesis of everything one looks for in a pub snack – piggy, deep-fried, savoury, salty, eggy. It’s the snack equivalent of a supergroup.
Q. In your opinion, where serves the best Scotch egg?
A. Princess Victoria on the Uxbridge Road. It’s the tarragon that does it. Superb.
Find out more information about The Secret Larder: www.jamesramsden.com/the-secret-larder
Follow James on Twitter: @jteramsden
Forever Eggsploring 