Scotch eggs went on a holiday in Greece and turned Keto
Scotch eggs, as the tradition says, are wrapped in minced meat and then breaded. Sometimes they are deep-fried, but they can be baked too. The Oxford English Dictionary provides the first example of the name Scotch eggs in 1809. Originally, Scotch eggs did not have a breadcrumb layer, which made them quite Keto friendly! 😀 The Oxford Companion to Food hypothesises that the origin might be Indian or other oriental cuisines.
On the other hand, the London department store Fortnum & Mason claims to have invented Scotch eggs in 1738, as the food on the go. To be fair, they unquestionably popularised Scotch eggs.
According to Culinary Delights of Yorkshire, Scotch eggs originated in Whitby, Yorkshire, sometimes in the 19th century. Yorkshire version used fish paste instead of minced meat. Now, this sounds very KMD friendly! The additional origin of the name could be the egg trade from Scotland in the 19th century. It sometimes involved dipping eggs in a lime powder for preservation, a process possibly known as ‘scotching’.
Regardless of their origin, they are super-tasty
Naturally, when you wrap eggs in minced meat as we did in our Easter roll, the results are always delightful. The advantage of Keto, and especially our Keto Mediterranean diet is the abundance of vital nutrients. For this reason, we decided to work on a Keto Mediterranean version of Scotch eggs. Naturally, they will be infused with the flavours of Greece! All sorts of Greek creations with minced meat, such as Kebab, keftedes or feta meatballs end up being super-satisfying. In fact, this will serve as a perfect inspiration!
To fry or not to fry? That is the question!
Searching the internet, one can find so many low-carb or Keto Scotch eggs recipes. However, most of the authors decided to bake them or use the air fryer. We will stay traditional and use the high-temperature safe frying fat/oil. But don’t worry, we will swim in the healthy “waters”.
Original are fried in lard, but since we care about the Omega-3 to Omega-6 ratio, we will create a different frying oil/fat. This mixture will surprise you in flavour and ease of use. As you know, coconut oil and tallow could be the best choices for frying due to their resistance to high temperatures.
Well, shall we get started? Aye!!!
Scotch eggs (Greek Keto version)
Course: Main courseCuisine: Keto MediterraneanDifficulty: Medium8
servings15
minutes15
minutes314
kcalIngredients
8 medium eggs
800g (28,2 oz) minced lamb or veal
100g (3,5 oz) crumbled feta
3 tbsp freshly chopped herbs (peppermint, basil, thyme, parsley)
1 egg for the mixture
4 cloves garlic (or 1 tsp garlic powder)
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp Ceylon cinnamon
1 tsp dried oregano
- Breading mixture
2 tbsp ground sesame
2 tbsp ground golden flaxseed
2 tbsp psyllium husk
1 tbsp ground rosemary
1 tsp sea salt
- Frying fat
4 tbsp coconut oil
4 tbsp lamb or beef tallow
Directions
- Place the eggs in a deep saucepan and cover them with water. Let the water boil, then turn off the stove and cover the saucepan with a lid. Let the eggs sit in the hot water for 10 minutes and then transfer them to a bowl with ice-cold water. Let them cool down totally before you peel them.
- Mix the meat with an egg, crumbled feta and all the spices. Roll this mixture between two parchment papers. Cut out 8 pieces. Place an egg in each of the meat patties and using your hands cover the eggs as if you were creating meatballs. Now dip the meatballs in a little cold water and roll them in your Keto breading mixture. (You can ground your ingredients in a food processor if you don’t have ground flaxseed and sesame)
- Place coconut oil and tallow in a smaller frying pan so that you can deep fry each of the Scotch eggs. Fry them for 5 minutes at medium to high temperature on each side. Remove them from the pan and place them on a wide plate. A proper portion would be 2 Scotch eggs per person.
- Serve the Keto Scotch eggs with a drizzle of olive oil, lemon juice and herbs of your choice.
Notes
- We are using lamb or veal for this recipe because these types of meat require very short frying. If you are using beef, make sure you fry the Scotch eggs longer.
- Alternatively, you can use grated aged cheese, such as Graviera or Parmesan mixed with psyllium for breading.
- You will notice that we added an egg to the meat mixture. This way the meat layer will be moist and soft. You can also beat the eggs and dip the Scotch eggs in it before the breading mixture as you would in a standard recipe. however, dipping them in cold water works perfectly.
Did you make this recipe?
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I like the idea of mixing tallow & coconut oil! Do you use virgin coconut oil, or refined? My husband hates the smell of pure tallow AND the smell of virgin coconut oil but a combination might mellow them both?
Hello Sarah, we always use cold-pressed virgin coconut oil for its antimicrobial purposes. The smell can easily be masked with a clove of garlic or some other armatic herb. Add this to the oil before you start frying and your husband will not even notice what oil/fat you used for frying. When it comes to tallow, we go for veal or lamb tallow which literally is odourless.