Here Be Dragons...

Victoria Holtam’s quest for the perfect portable food is never done. This month, she tries to combine a number of favourite snacks in to one crispy creation

The combination of hog flesh and cackleberry is a proven winner. Think Gala pie or the classic Scotch egg. I do enjoy a nice Scotch egg, but if I am perfectly honest, the deep frying stage adds a level of faff that puts me off. I have tried baking them and the result is never quite as good.

My husband is a great collector of Scotch egg recipes. He claims a local sandwich shop’s garlic and chorizo offering is pure gold and he loves a Manchester egg – a creation that introduces black pudding to the sausagemeat and uses a pickled egg.

While trying to remove beetroot stains from my fingers the other day, my daughter commented on how pretty the colour was. Inspired by that thought, I decided to give pickled eggs a try with the addition of some chopped beetroot.