Earlier this evening I ate two Scotch Eggs back to back with the intention of scoring them out of 5. What has my life come to? I had been planning this for the majority of the afternoon, after a massively intense game of lunchtime 5-a-side football at work. After cycling the 5.5 miles home from Notting Hill with legs stiff as beansprouts (hopefully no ecoli) I thought I had earned this treat, and at a mere £1.74 for THREE of the bad boys, I wasn't complaining.
First up we have the Sainsburys Scotch Egg, which you can get two of for 75p. As you can see, the packaging doesn't scream out "EAT ME" or "I'M AN ESSENTIAL PURCHASE FOR YOUR WEEKLY SHOP" but that's just the way I like my snacks, underground and edgy. You can also see the condensation that has formed on the roof of the packet, and I think this is a factor that puts people off this mighty snack. The moisture.
Or is it the trapped air between the layer of pork and the egg?
I'm guessing when most people think of a Scotch Egg eater they think of Keith from The Office, and to be honest, I'm even repulsed by the sound such a beautiful piece of food craftsmanship makes in the above video. Fear not readers, this evening I used a knife.
Secondly we have the Sainsburys Taste the Difference Scotch Egg made with outdoor bred pork. Individually packaged, and placed in a simply delightful cardboard tray. They have gone to town here, and you can clearly see where my hard earned 99p has gone. Let me quote the synopsis from the packaging, "Our deluxe scotch egg has a British free range egg surrounded by traditionally seasoned outdoor-bred British pork, hand finished in a seeded multigrain breadcrumb." If you're not salivating after reading that alone, then you are a tasteless buffoon.
Not a massive difference in size, and by no means the scale of The Southamptons' colossal beast. The big standout for me was the "seeded multigrain breadcrumb" and the simple feel of the Taste the Difference Scotch Egg. Not the actual feel of it, but just the aura it gave off, the feeling I got from it, you know what I mean (it's a personal experience this comparing and contrasting malarkey)...
I'm tense even writing this, but then I just look at that picture and it calms me, what a spread! From this shot you can really see where the money has gone here. I'm not one to complain about the price of anything (unless it's a pint over £5), but I think it's justified in these supermarket purchases as to be honest, not a lot of time and effort has gone into making these. The subdued yellow yolk of the free range egg didn't look as appealing as the standard Sainsburys Scotch Eggs rich and golden orange, but have a butchers (no pun intended, honestly) at that Porky goodness inside the T the D vessel. The black pepper, the pork, the golden breadcrumb...
When I tucked in I certainly did Taste the Difference. It was delicious. The flavour of the seasoned pork lasted in your mouth longer, but wasn't overpowering. The texture was good. The egg was smooth and soothing. This was a SERIOUS Scotch Egg. The standard variety wasn't bad at all, it was simply overshadowed by something far superior. It could only be compared to the shadow the alien spacecraft cast over New York in Independence Day.
This gets a recommendation from me, but give the normal one a try too, it's not that bad. I just hope that Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum don't fire a Nuclear missile into the mainframe of the Taste the Difference factory though...
Sainsburys Scotch Egg
Sainsburys Taste the Difference Scotch Egg made with outdoor bred pork
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