The origin of the Scotch egg is disputed. Fortnum & Mason claims it invented the portable snack for well-heeled travellers in 1738. Other accounts point to a 19th-century J. Scott & Son version covered in fish paste, or to a spiced Indian dish from the same period.

You can make Scotch eggs with your favourite sausage meat and use quail, hen or duck eggs. I use a Wiltshire sausage-meat recipe that I have adapted.