The Clucking Pig Gourmet Scotch Egg Company: Meet the Yorkshire farmers whose Scotch eggs are a favourite of Marco Pierre White

Husband and wife team David and Christine Laing, who have a four-acre smallholding on land near to the coast, a bit further up than Whitby, at Marske by the Sea, started The Clucking Pig Gourmet Scotch Egg Company ten years ago. It is a labour of love that has seen them win numerous awards and accolades and meet up with charismatic chef Marco Pierre White.

Christine said that is all primarily down to sticking with their beliefs.

“We’ve built our business on our ethics, our ethos. We have never changed. If we’ve had people ask us to supply them and use eggs from commercial sources we have turned them away. We would rather stick to our ethos than make more money and lose what we hold dear and that we believe is our strength.

“When we first moved here we began selling free range eggs at Saltburn Farmers Market and we started with Scotch eggs to add interest to our stall with another range. When you come up with something different it is important to make sure it is in keeping with what you already do, and we had to think of a product to incorporate.

“It was Lorna Jackson who runs Saltburn Farmers Market who suggested why not trying making Scotch eggs.

“We thought it was a great idea. We practiced and tried out our Scotch eggs on chefs and our regular customers and felt we’d got it right. We now know we did because here we are 10 years down the line and it’s going better than ever.

Creating the perfect Scotch egg every time is an art that David and Christine have worked hard at and know that consistency of quality is a major factor in their success.

“Ours are soft to runny, that’s what we aim for all the time,” said Christine. “Everything we do is about making them the same every time. We only use a small cooker and we use only a certain type, age and size of egg. It’s all about consistency and timing.

David said the variety of meat used in creating the Clucking Pig Gourmet Scotch Egg and the provenance of each, including that of the eggs themselves, is the key to their quality and is also a huge part of their company ethos which sees every Scotch egg handmade.

“We use rare breed and free range pork, including wild boar which is an earthy pork, and during game season we will use game with at least one or maybe varieties of game instead of rare breed pork.

“Our varieties, as well as the traditional Scotch egg, include pork & black pudding, pork with leek, vegetarian, wild Yorkshire pheasant in cider and wild boar in cider. Our game includes grouse, partridge and pheasant during the shooting season – and we also have venison. Wild Yorkshire venison in red wine is a massive seller.

“And the wheel has now turned full circle back to those day when William Scott’s used fish paste because we now have a version using Fortune’s Kippers from Whitby.

David and Christine won an Eat Game Award for their commitment to game. It is an award that means much to David who enjoys the rural way of life.

“A lot of game can go unused, which I had always thought was a crying shame and felt we could do something with it. We have a number of local shoots and so I collect what isn’t needed and we turn it from unwanted into gourmet produce. It has been a little more difficult this year as Avian Flu has led to many shoots finishing earlier than normal.

“Working alongside gamekeepers led to me educating those who visit our farmers market and food fair stalls about the benefits of eating game.

David said he feels a real affinity with the rural community after having moved to Grewgrass Lodge 25 years ago.

“I have always loved the countryside and I really appreciate country life and wildlife far more since we came here in 1997.

“We have tripled the amount of tree sparrows, we have bird boxes, nesting owls and deer. I now see myself as a protector of and an enhancer of wildlife. Where we live allows us to take in the enjoyment of nature and wildlife.

There was a stipulation when David and Christine bought Grewgrass Lodge that they must have at least one chicken on the farm and they did at first, in fact many of them, but now there are none – and in their place are 11 pet geese, some ducks and two ponies.

“We’d always chosen to give a good life to ex-battery hens coming to the end of their commercial period. At one time we had 300,” said David. “They produced our free-range supply for the farmers markets.

“But we couldn’t use them in our Scotch eggs because we sell those to third parties, other retailers, and that meant that Food Hygiene weren’t too happy, because the eggs had to stamped for traceability, to the British Lion standard.

“The eggs we were selling on the market were absolutely fine because they were free range from our own flock, but because of having to get eggs from elsewhere that’s when things had to change here. We now use eggs from a farmer in Bedale. He’s only a small producer and that suits us fine. We are not into being involved with big commercial things.

David said their farmers markets ethos is another that has stayed with them throughout.

“Around 90 per cent of our trade is farmers markets and small food events, that’s by choice. We go to seven each month at Stokesley, Hovingham, Thirsk, Northallerton, Saltburn, Wynyard Hall and Guisborough. We also attend food fairs such as Filey Food Festival and the summer agricultural shows including North Yorkshire County, Wensleydale, Danby and Egton.

“We have a team of three working in the kitchens helping David and I,” said Christine. “And a pool of another three ladies who help where we double up with two markets on the same day.

David said that the gesture they made in sending donations of Scotch eggs to the nurses at James Cook Hospital during the pandemic has led to people saying ‘Ah, the Scotch Egg man!”