I tried a famous scotch egg at Bishop Auckland Food Festival

And what better way to experience this massive event for the first time than with the knowledge that it would be the hottest weekend of the year so far?

After succeeding in the hunt for an all-too-rare parking spot near the town centre, my partner and I headed toward the centre of the culinary cornucopia at the heart of Bishop Auckland.

It was only just gone 10am and yet there were so many people in the centre of town. It was really a joy to behold.

(Image: Sarah Caldecott) All too often – and sadly, increasingly frequently – you would be more likely to find tumbleweed in a County Durham town centre than a carnival, so seeing people flock towards the market was a beautiful sight.

As the sun bore down on the market square, it caught the bright white tarpaulin of the food stalls in a beckoning glimmer. We had options from just about every corner of the globe: Indian, Italian, Lebanese, American, South African just to name a few.

(Image: The Northern Echo) We intended to sample as much as we could to get the best experience of a truly global event.

A noble intention.

But in truth, we had bitten off more than we could chew before we had even taken our first bite.

There are just so many options at the festival – genuinely something for everyone.

Near the TV Chef stage, there was a smaller loop of food vans, and this is where our food journey began. First stop was Little Somboon Box, where we picked up three crispy gyoza for £5. These were sprinkled with crispy chilli oil and served on a bed of salad, which I will confess was only nibbled (salad was not in consideration).

The gyoza filling, chicken, was perfectly seasoned and the crisp shell made them very morish. Coupled with the chilli oil, they were a great bite-sized snack to kick off the journey.

Next up, and in keeping with our Asian starter, was Super Bao Street Kitchen, where we purchased two bao buns for £11. These were peking pulled pork and sticky chicken flavour.

(Image: The Northern Echo) While not the cleanest things to eat – which my jeans can attest to – the pork was doused in rich peking sauce, which mingled with the pork fat and seeped into the soft and fluffy bun.

After this, we decided that we needed something a bit more European to save our adventure from being contained to one continent.

And Tiro Sicilian Street Food provided more bite-sized delicacies. We purchased three arancini balls with a dip for £7.95, and these were packed with Mediterranean oomph. Aubergine, mozzarella, basil, tomato, all came together for an unctuous bite. They were big enough to justify the price tag too.

(Image: The Northern Echo) Now onto the food that I had been told to brace myself for. An award-winning scotch egg from The Clucking Pig.

If the queues were an indicator of how special these scotch eggs were going to be, then the length of the queue took me halfway down the street. ‘For a scotch egg?’ I thought.

(Image: The Northern Echo) I ordered a ‘Full Monty’ egg, with bits of just about everything speckled in its sausage. The egg was jammy, the perfect consistency for me. And there is just something so comforting about the way that egg yolk and sausage taste together – it’s homely. There was a reason folks lined the street for these delicious eggs.

(Image: Sarah Caldecott) The breadcrumbs were also fantastic, bringing it all together in perfect bites of full English flavour.