Scotch Woodcock

How to Make Scotch Woodcock

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1. Mash 6 anchovy fillets into the softened butter with a fork until smooth.

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2. Toast the bread, cut off the crusts and spread it thickly with the anchovy butter. Keep it warm.

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3. Beat the eggs with the cream, salt and white pepper.

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4. Melt the 20 g butter in a small pan over low heat and pour in the eggs.

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5. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon, lifting the pan off the heat every 20 seconds, until the eggs are in soft curds and still slightly loose.

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6. Take them off the heat while they look underdone and spoon them straight onto the toast.

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7. Lay the halved anchovy fillets across in a lattice, dust with cayenne and scatter with chives.

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A Few Pointers

• Lift the pan off the heat every twenty seconds.
• Take the eggs off underdone. They finish in the pan.
• Anchovy in the butter as well as on top.

Swaps and Variations

• In a sauce, full-fat crème fraîche can usually take the place of the double cream; single cream is thinner and more likely to split if it boils, so keep it below a simmer.

Serve It With

A glass of port · A dry sherry · Served after the pudding, properly

Keeping and Reheating

None. Eat within minutes of the eggs leaving the pan.

Nutrition per Serving

Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: part of the energy comes from foods, or weights per item, with no recorded source. How the figures are worked out.