Bring a pan of salted water to the boil. Lower in the quail’s eggs and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from the boiling water and plunge immediately into cold running water to cool. When cold, peel carefully and set aside in a bowl of cold water.
In a bowl, combine the sausagemeat, Dijon mustard, chives, chervil (or parsley) and egg together with the sea salt and white pepper. Mix well and divide into 12 portions.
Have ready three plates: on the first one, spread out some seasoned flour, put the egg wash on the second plate and on the third plate spread out the breadcrumbs. Drain the quail’s eggs and dry them on a towel. Lightly flour your hands and then take one portion of sausagemeat and flatten it out in the palm of your hand, place a quail’s egg into the centre of the sausagemeat and then wrap the meat around the egg so that it is totally encased. Roll it into a little ball and repeat with the other eggs.
Roll each Scotch egg in the seasoned flour, then dip into the egg wash, shaking off any excess. Finally roll in the breadcrumbs to coat thoroughly and place on to a baking sheet covered with greaseproof paper
Pour enough oil into a medium-sized, heavy-based pan to come no more than one-third of the way up the side. Heat the oil to approximately 160C/320F (use a thermometer, or test the temperature by dropping in a small nugget of sausagemeat; if it rises immediately to the top and starts to fry, the oil is at the correct temperature.
Carefully lower the Scotch eggs into the oil and fry until well-coloured all over. You may need to do this in batches; if so, make sure the oil comes back up to temperature before frying the next batch.
Remove the cooked eggs with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper