Scotch Quail Eggs

Internet law states that miniature things are always cuter than their full sized counterparts.

Following this basic decree, I decided to make some Scotch eggs using tiny quail eggs instead of the common chicken egg. It takes over 5 quail eggs to equal one large chicken egg. These things are tiny!

This recipe checked off two things that have been on my culinary to-do list for a long time: Using quail eggs, and making Scotch eggs. Both were a fun new experience for me. Because of this, it took a little trial and error on my end, but I can tell you that this final recipe is awesome.

My favorite thing about these Scotch Quail Eggs is you don’t need a dipping sauce. If you cook your eggs right, the sauce is INSIDE! Because they are bite-sized, you can pop the whole thing into your mouth and get a nice explosion of creamy egg yolk.

Quail eggs might be hard to find for some, but I have a place near me that always has them. Call around to a couple stores in your area and you might be surprised by who has them in stock.

So pretty.

I tested a few to find out the perfect amount of time they needed to cook. I decided that 1 minute and 50 seconds in a hard boil situation was perfect to get a solid white and a liquid yolk.

Peeling a quail egg is a bit harder than your normal eggs, and there is sort of a plastic-y film between the shell and the white. After losing a couple eggs, I decided that cracking the shell all over, then peeling in a spiral starting at the top was the best strategy. Once I got the hang of it, it went pretty quick and I didn’t sacrifice any more eggs.

I used ground beef for this recipe, but if you want it to be more breakfasty, try some loose breakfast sausage.

A little flour on the egg, then wrap it in some of the ground meat. Press the meat in your hand to seal everything up, but be careful not to break the yolk.

A final coating of flour before going into the egg wash.

Breadcrumbs next, then toss it into the deep fry!

No one knows what surprise waits inside.

Dan Whalen considers these to be the Gushers of the appetizer world. He has been blogging for over four years at The Food in my Beard; check Dan‘s Tablespoon profile often to try his recipes with creative international spins!