MOBILE, Alabama -- One of my earliest food memories is a disappointing one.

Even as a young child your working boy was curious about just about everything about food. How it smelled, how it looked, how it was made and, most important, how it tasted.

And my experimentation was most often met with great success, until one Easter when I hit a brick wall in my epicurean journey. It happened when l decided to see for myself what all the fuss was about these eggs. The Easter bunny had gifted me with a large basket of brightly colored eggs, very different front the plain white ones that came for the grocer.

There must be something special inside I reasoned. I found out at a young age that perception is not, in fact, reality.

Let me say for the record that no matter how colorful the shell, inside it is still just a boiled chicken egg. No candy, no green plastic grass, nothing but a boiled chicken embryo, which in itself is good but not quite what I expected.

It was my first weak realization that things aren’t always what they seem. It was a disappointing lesson but an instructive one.

A grown up example of this sort of natural misunderstanding about things we don’t fully understand also involves eggs. Take something called Scotch Eggs, for example.

They have a weird name that might presumably turn some people off about them.

Teetotalers might avoid them on grounds that they include some measure of strong drink that is best served on the rocks. Those of us unfamiliar with geography might assume that the Scottish people eat them for breakfast.

In reality, Scotch Eggs are a wonderful combination of boiled eggs, sausage and bread crumbs that are (wait for it) deep fried. Whoever first dreamed up this delightful dish was certainly culinary visionary.

In short, this wonderful dish with the deceptive name is a terrific way to rid yourself of all the boiled eggs leftover from the Easter bunny’s visit.

Their history is somewhat muddied. A London department store claims to have come up with the idea centuries ago but other historians trace their beginnings even farther back to the steamy realms of India.

I’m not sure where they came from but I can say with some fealty that they are quite tasty. (And if you REALLY want to elevate your Scotch egg experience you can use pickled eggs instead of plain old boiled eggs, but that’s another story for another time.)

And if the Easter Bunny, for some reason, neglected to pay a visit to your home this weekend you can still make this dish. But first you need some boiled eggs and for that I recommend you use my no fuss, no muss, quick and easy advice for how to properly boil an egg.

Now that you have boiled eggs you are good to go. My only advice would be to make plenty because people are going to love these.

Scotch Eggs

18-20 servings

1 dozen eggs, hard-boiled and peeled

3 pounds ground breakfast sausage

4 raw eggs

3 stacks Ritz crackers

½ cup vegetable oil

Cover outside of eggs completely with sausage, patting smooth and marking sure eggs hold their shape.

Beat raw eggs in a bowl. Crush crackers and place in a separate bowl. Dip each sausage-coated egg into beaten eggs and roll in cracker crumbs.

Heat oil in skillet and cook eggs in oil about 8 minutes, turning to cook sausage thoroughly. Remove eggs from oil and drain on paper towel; let cool and refrigerate.

Cut eggs in quarters and serve.

Some people serve them with mustard as a dipping sauce but I don’t think they require anything but a good appetite and a willingness to try something new.