I ate a version of this dish at the (now closed) Fatty Crab in New York; the original had a slightly Asian twist but I think it works equally well with British flavours. When I had these eggs on the menu at Hix Oyster & Chophouse, to serve them, I had some wooden boards made, with dimples to hold each egg, but a little bed of salt works well to stop them toppling over.

Timings

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

Serves

Four to six

Ingredients

• 2 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, rind removed
• 2 tsp very finely chopped chives
• 12 quail eggs coarse sea salt, to serve

Method

1.  Grill or fry the bacon until crisp, then leave to cool and chop as finely as you can. Mix with the chives.
2.  Bring a pan of water to a strong boil and carefully lower the quail eggs in with a slotted spoon. Simmer for 15 seconds – this seems short but you want them soft and liquidy. Drain and run the eggs under the cold tap briefly.
3. Spoon the sea salt on to a serving dish. Carefully cut the tops off the quail eggs with the point of a small knife and sprinkle a little of the bacon mixture on top of each one. Stand them upright in the salt.
4. Serve immediately, knocking them back like shots.