FOOD: Hold On The Brits are Coming ... With Their Scotch Eggs

Think about stereotypical British food and scotch eggs may top your list, or at least come close, perhaps alongside pork pies, fish n chips, sausages rolls and even mushy peas. Surprisingly, scotch eggs are making a fast experience in pubs and eateries in Metro Detroit of all places outside of your British themed pubs. 

I have to be honest here, from leaving the UK to this March, I haven't eaten a scotch egg (or sausage rolls, bakewell tart .... it's an endless list). Hearing about the tend, reading all the restaurant reviews, well it was making this Brit hungry. 

But what on earth is a scotch egg I hear you non British folk cry?! Well take a boiled egg, wrap it in sausage meat and breadcrumbs, fry away and there you go. One scotch egg. Typically us British eat it as is hot or cold. It's often considered a picnic food, a snack or have with your lunch. Here in the US it's appearing more and more on menu's as an appetizer, a snack to have with your beer often served hot with a dipping sauce - think ranch, a hot sauce or mustard.

While the history of the scotch egg is a little up in the air - no ones really too sure of it's origins. Fortnum & Mason, the London department store happen to lay claim to them having invented them back in 1738. Others argue they have a more Indian cuisine background. Either way the British have laid claim to them and we just love to eat them.

Scotch eggs have become so much of a popular, perhaps we could say hipster food that Eater dedicated an entire list to finding them in Metro Detroit. One such place was One Eyed Betty's - a gastopub with lots, and lots of beers, pinball machines and as it happens awesome tasting food - including their scotch eggs - yippie! (they even have crispy Brussel sprouts as an appetizer too - apparently loving their random British foods). Served with a hot sauce, they were everything I could have wanted and hoped a scotch egg could be, and more.

Whether this is a growing tend across the US, who's to say? Maybe it's because they are a kinda quirky hand food, great to share, easily eaten and enjoyed with a beer and kinda like an all day breakfast food. I've personally seen them pop up on a menu while eating at the British (no surprise there) themed Piper's Pub in Pittsburgh, PA. Back in January 2014 the Chicago Tribune published a piece on the scotch eggs increasing menu presence with the rise of the small plate restaurant. But I'm just happy they're more readily available on my doorstep.

So I guess alongside my adventures in hunting out fish n chips, I have another British food stuff to eat, enjoy and as always, compare.

Any excuse for eating out ... any excuse ...
 
Places mentioned:

One Eyed Betty's: 175 W. Troy St, Ferndale, MI, 48220
Piper's Pub: 1828 E. Carson St, Pittsburgh, PA 15203

Rachael