Wild Boar Scotch Eggs

The Scotch egg - a soft-boiled egg, wrapped in sausage, dipped in breadcrumbs, then fried - is a beautiful thing. Award-winning chef April Bloomfield, of the Spotted Pig and Breslin in New York City, adapted her killer Scotch egg recipe for Field & Stream to include ground wild boar instead of domestic pork. You can enjoy this dish for breakfast, but we suggest waiting till dinnertime because it pairs perfectly with cold beer.

Ingredients:

10 soft-boiled eggs (cook for 7 minutes in boiling water), peeled

Sausage:

3 parts wild boar, cubed (about 2 lb)

1 part domestic pork fat, cubed (about 10 oz)

1 recipe of sage paste (see below)

1/2 cup milk

2 1/2 Tbsp. kosher salt

Sage Paste:

3/4 oz. sage

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1/2 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil

Breading:

Flour

5 eggs

Generous splash of milk

1 1/4 cup fine breadcrumbs

2 cups coarse breadcrumbs

Directions:

1. Grind the wild boar and pat back through the grinder using the coarse grinding plate. Grind the mixture a second time with the fine plate.

2. Pulverize the sage with the salt and olive oil to create a paste.

3. Combine the milk and breadcrumbs for the sausage. Then hand-mix the ground meat, sage paste, and salt until everything is evenly mixed.

4. Portion the sausage into 4 oz. balls. Using your hands, carefully flatten out one ball at a time into a pancake, making sure the thickness is even all around. Place a soft-boiled egg on top of the sausage and wrap it around the egg. Continue with remaining eggs and refrigerate until they are cold.

5. Put the breading ingredients in separate bowls (mix the eggs and milk together to create an egg wash). Take each sausage wrapped egg out of the refrigerator, and proceed with the following steps: Dredge the egg in flour, coat with an egg wash, and cover the egg with a layer of fine breadcrumbs. Repeat the egg wash and then coat a second time with a layer of coarse breadcrumbs.

6. Return each breaded egg to the refrigerator until you're finished with all ten eggs.

7. Heat the oil in a deep fryer to 350 degrees. Fry each egg for about 7 minutes, and let rest for 1 minute. The yolk should be slightly runny and warm inside.

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