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To eat: Luke Payne’s recipe for a Manchester egg
Published 11 March 1980

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The Manchester egg takes a Scotch egg and gives it a local backbone, here is Luke Payne's recipe for his take on it that has become synonymous with his pub The Pack Horse in Hayfield, Derbyshire.

Our signature bar snack, now instantly synonymous with the pub. Being so close to Manchester, I felt it was important to have a bar snack that has a true sense of location. Unlike a Scotch egg, the egg inside a Manchester egg is pickled, and then wrapped in a black pudding and sausage meat mix. The soft boiling of the egg is critical, as its runniness becomes tamed by the pickling process, giving the yolk a delicious jammy quality and a hint of brown sauce flavour.


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INGREDIENTS

Makes 8

  • 8 medium free-range eggs

  • 400g black pudding

  • 400g minced pork

  • 8g chopped sage

  • 50g fine breadcrumbs

  • 100g plain flour

  • 100ml egg yolk

  • 200g panko breadcrumbs

For the pickle:

  • 1 litre white wine

  • 1 litre white wine vinegar

  • 500g caster sugar

  • ½ tsp coriander seeds

  • ¼ tsp chilli flakes

  • 1 allspice berry

  • 1 clove

METHOD

Place all the ingredients for the pickle into a saucepan, bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes. Set aside and leave to cool to room temperature, then pass through a sieve and place in the fridge.

Bring a large pan of water to a rolling boil. Fill a 4-litre ice cream tub with iced water. Drop all the eggs simultaneously into the boiling water and boil for 6 minutes, then immediately plunge into the iced water. Once cool throughout, carefully peel off the shell and place the eggs into your pickle. Cover with a baking parchment cartouche and leave in the fridge for 3 days.

Place the black pudding, minced pork, sage, and fine breadcrumbs into a food processor and blitz to form a smooth paste.

Remove the eggs from the pickle and pat dry. Take 100g of the black pudding mix, lightly flour and roll out to 5mm thickness. Place the mix in your hand with the pickled egg on top, then carefully encase the egg tightly in the black pudding mix, making sure all air is removed. Repeat to make 8.

Preheat a deep fat fryer to 180°c. Roll the encased eggs through the plain flour, egg yolk and then panko breadcrumbs in that order. Deep fry the coated eggs for 7 minutes. Drain off any excess oil and slice in half to serve.

Read our review of The Pack Horse here.