...with David Harrison

The Search for Calgary’s Best Hardboiled Egg Dishes: Scotch Eggs, Deviled Eggs, and Egg Salad/Sandwiches

Eggs! One of the simplest, most affordable, and versatile foodsand as we know, much beloved by Albertans.

They play an enormous role in our food system, with 168 egg-farming families in our province that keep things clucking along to supply us with fresh, high-quality, and nutritious eggs – all checked and certified that they are produced according to strict standards of food safety and animal welfare. Last year, our Alberta egg farms produced over 980 million eggs!

So, in collaboration with the Egg Farmers of Alberta, we set out to find out how Calgary fares in the world of hardboiled egg dishes – and embarked upon another amazing and completely delicious journey. We asked our readers and our followers on social media, television, and radio, to nominate your favourites, and we were thrilled at the enthusiastic response: dozens of cafés, bakeries, pubs, restaurants, and caterers around the city on your list of must-tries!

We knew we couldn’t tackle this alone, so we engaged four local eggspert and eggsperienced judges (sorry!): Elizabeth Chorney-Booth, local food writer/CBC radio and Calgary Herald contributor; and SAIT Chefs Hayato Okamitsu CCC and Vanessa Mendoza, along with yours truly – to taste through all these recommendations and find the very best.

“What really surprised and impressed me about judging this competition was the sheer breadth of dishes we were able to taste,” Chorney-Booth says. “People think of eggs as a simple food, but with a little bit of ingenuity, they can take on so many forms and flavours.”

Mendoza feels the same, “The humble and mighty egg’s versatility was elevated and showcased by Calgary’s creative chefs.”

To judge all the dishes equally and fairly, instead driving around the city to visit all the nominated locations, we arranged two days of tasting at the Carriage House Hotel, where we could spread out comfortably to sample each dish, and where they could all be judged blind – we had no idea who made which dish! We split our entries into three broad categories:

These are hardboiled eggs usually covered in sausage meat, coated with breadcrumbs, and deep fried. There are several explanations for the name, most likely that they were created by William J Scott & Sons (Scott’s eggs) in the North Yorkshire town of Whitby in England, although high-end department store, Fortnum & Mason, do claim to have invented them in 1738 as a traveling snack for the wealthy. They could also have been originally called “Scorched Eggs” as they were cooked over an open flame.

We asked our chefs how to make the ideal Scotch Egg:

The eggs should be boiled for six minutes, the ratio of sausage meat to egg should be enough to cover the egg - but not too much, the temperature of the oil to fry the eggs shouldn’t be too hot so they don’t cook too quickly, but cook to golden brown; and they should be seasoned after frying while still hot.

“Making Scotch Eggs can be very tricky,” says Okamitsu, “but a lot of chefs cooked the egg and meat to perfection. Some of the dishes were outstanding, with a crispy texture crust, even those cooked a little earlier and now served cold.”

Deviled (or Devilled) Eggs

Often called Salad Eggs or Stuffed Eggs, these can be linked right back to the Romans who ate seasoned boiled eggs with a spicy sauce. Deviling means to make something spicy – in this case to add mustard and other spices to the yolks mixed with mayonnaise.

Our chefs tell us that the ideal Deviled Egg should be just one or two bites, with a firm yolk mixture - not too loose – and with lots of flavour. If the eggs are pickled, it should be only lightly, so they are not too vinegary, and they should be garnished!

“The Deviled Egg is such a simple dish”, says Okamitsu. “That means there is NOTHING to hide behind, and a lot of chefs executed amazingly.”

Egg Salad/Sandwiches

We know that in the 1800s, street vendors would mix chopped hardboiled eggs with mayo, mustard, onion, paprika, and celery, as a sandwich filling for factory workers to eat as they trudged to work on the smoggy streets of East London.

“This category is the most challenging I think,” Okamitsu says. “Making a sandwich is one of the most simple cooking techniques, but there are so many critical points to make great sandwiches, such as the flavour, consistency, and texture of the egg mixture; the choice of bread and whether it is toasted or not, a spread or sauce to avoid the bread become soggy, and finally – the garnishes will be a game-changer for the whole experience.”

Tate O’Dwyer, of the Egg Farmers of Alberta, joined us for the egg salad judging day. “It was a neat experience to see the various egg salad sandwiches brought in by restaurants, how each was presented on the dish, the subtle differences each one had, and each chef’s own take on a traditional egg meal,” he says. “There were many variations, which goes to show just how versatile the egg is!

So what were we looking for?

• The dish: taste - does it taste delicious and as you'd hope for this dish? Is it a good example of its type?

• The other ingredients: are the flavours complementary or appropriate, and done well?

• The presentation: does it look enticing and make you want to eat it?

• And the last is worth double the points: the recommendation would you eat this again, would you recommend this to a friend?

Many thanks to everyone who helped make our search for the Best Hardboiled Egg dish so successful: to you for guiding our journey by nominating your favourites; to all the cafes, bakeries, pubs, restaurants, bars, and caterers, who gave their time and expertise to make the dishes for us to judge; to the Carriage House Hotel for being perfect hosts and to Egg Farmers of Alberta for being perfect partners (and having the best oven gloves!); to our judges, who each worked diligently for hours tasting and scoring the dishes; to Katherine Puhl for helping with the logistics so the judging days ran smoothly, and to Tom Firth for his number-crunching skills to ultimately find our winners.

It was a very close contest in all categories, and we’re delighted to announce the highest scoring Scotch Egg:

Oxford Bakehouse, Crossroads Market

This is delicious – with a slight herbaciousness in the sausage, good coating, perfectly cooked eggs. It comes with chutney and mustard, which are wonderful together –everything is a perfect bite. ECB

Highly Recommended winners are (in alphabetical order):

Bergamini's Baking, Cochrane

A good Scotch Egg, well-seasoned, great texture, and well done egg doneness! HO

British Banger Company, Okotoks

This had to be made by a Brit, it’s very traditional with lovely herby Lincolnshire (?) sausage meat which goes well with the relishes. LG

Kensington Pub, Kensington

The ratio of filling to egg to crust is great, and it’s a perfectly cooked egg with a good shape and texture. VM

Yenny Delights Firm Egg, Crossroads Market

There was the right tightness between the sausage and the coating. Nice aioli, sauce, and garnishes. ECB

And a special mention to: Sensei Bar, 14 Street SW

Whose untraditional Scotch Egg was made with fish rather than sausage meat.

A slightly different shape, with a slightly jammy egg, and lovely flavours – salty, slightly sweet, and a little tangy! Really well done. LG

Our highest scoring Devilled Egg:

Brie & Banquet, 42 Avenue SE

This was wonderful! The texture and colour are great with the tinge of pink from pickling and delicately garnished with black caviar. Wellseasoned with a good balance of flavours. VM

Highly Recommended winners are (in alphabetical order):

Egg & Spoon, Macleod Trail S

This is a very good deviled egg, perfect-looking and classic. They look cute but also taste great with good garnishes – very much pizzazz! ECB

The Green Bean, 11 Avenue SW

Nice piping skills, and beautiful detailed garnish. Great flavour with well-balanced seasoning. Simple but perfect, in a traditional way. HO

The Guild, 8 Avenue SW

Really good mustardy, creamy yolk, and nicely piped. Beautiful to look at (very ‘chefy’!) and I love the crunchy onion garnish for texture, and hot paprika on top. LG

Wolves Den at the Ranchmen's Club, 13 Avenue SW

Tastes great! The piping is neat, and the smoked salmon garnish complements the egg well. I like the sprinkling of poppy seeds too! ECB

For the Egg Salad/Sandwiches, to make sure we judged like-for-like, we had many ‘Traditional’ entries but also many that you couldn’t call ‘Classic’, so we have a separate category for these contemporary expressions of the dish.

Our highest scoring Traditional Egg Salad/Sandwiches:

The Green Bean, 11 Avenue SW

A very solid representation of a classic egg salad sandwich. A good amount of filling and bread to filing ratio. Not too creamy, the eggs are seasoned well, and there’s a nice crunch too. ECB

Highly Recommended winners are (in alphabetical order):

Grumans Delicatessen Tea/Party Sandwiches, Britannia

Grumans entered a scoop of their classic egg salad, egg salad sliders, and their large deli egg salad sandwich on challah – they’re all extremely good, but it was the party/tea sandwiches that stole our hearts – soft little double deckers, with both white and brown bread! LG

La Belle Graze, 1 Street SE

Great presentation! A good high tea sandwich on sweet brioche with wellseasoned egg filing and a good ratio of egg to bread. HO

Lazy Loaf and Kettle, Parkdale Crescent NW

A take on a BLT but with egg, lettuce, and cucumber – and tomato, cheese, and pickle too. Very colourful! VM

Luxe Afternoon Tea @luxe.afternoontea

White bread with half a slice of cucumber on top for crunch, it tastes as you’d hope – nice and creamy, with a good ratio of bread to eggs. LG

The Industrial Sandwich, 6 Street SE

There is a great amount of egg filling and with nice, crunchy lettuce. This is a good sandwich when you are hungry! HO

Our highest scoring Contemporary Egg Salad/ Sandwiches:

Visionary Catering, 3 Avenue SE

This is a very well thought-out sandwich. All the elements work so well together and it tastes really good. The bread is amazing! The egg salad is bright and yellow, and I love the pickles, onions, and herbs. ECB.

Highly Recommended winners are (in alphabetical order):

Delta Calgary South, Southland Drive SE

This tastes as good as it looks, and it looks amazing! Toasted rye bread, crème fraiche and microgreens on the bottom, and truffle on top – all the components are tasty individually and together. A lovely, elevated sandwich. LG

Jelly Modern Doughnuts jellymoderndoughnuts.com

The texture of the doughnut bun was excellent! It’s a good shape and great tasting with truffle oil. The butter lettuce lining is a nice touch too. HO

Primary Colours, Britannia

A nice welcome and a new twist on an egg sandwich with tamagoyaki filling! The soft bread is nicely toasted, grainy mustard and tamago work very well together. Creative and unique! VM

In collaboration with: