Toad in the hole

[C Squared]

Can any of our friends in the UK explain this dish to me?

I have heard of it often on TV shows, and being adventurous would like to try it.

I did manage to find a few recipes, but they are very different.

How should a good Toad in the Hole look, taste etc?

[Gavin Jones]

Stick a single layer of sausages in a baking tin (lightly greased).

Pour over the Yorkshire pudding mix (just a thin batter - with maybe some mustard powder used) so you can still see the tops of the sausages.

Whack in the oven at 200C for 3/4 of an hour.

Serve - possibly enlivened by an onion gravy.

The browned sausages should be poking out of the voluptuous tanned waves of the Yorkshire pudding batter, yum.

If you feel humiliated by the english name serve as sausage clafoutis.

[Adam Balic]

Don't do it man! Back away from the batter! Jamie Oliver does a version in one of his books, it may even have a picture. It kinda looks like sausages (British, mostly cereal) imbedded in Yorkshire pudding. Fun for kids though.

[Jinmyo]

Yes.

A Yorky recipe is: 1 part plain flour,. pinch of salt, one whole egg, 2 parts milk.

The sausages should be pork.

[Jinmyo]

Don't do it man! Back away from the batter!

Adam's right. It's pretty atrocious stuff, really.

[Wilfrid]

Yeah, the name's more adventurous than the dish.

[foodie52]

Make sure your oven is hot enough: if it isn't , your hole won't rise and it'll stay sticky and gummy and inedible!

[kitwilliams]

I'm not a Brit but am an Anglophile and, if I'm not mistaken, you've got to cook the sausages in the roasting tin first and pour the batter into the smoking hot tin over the sausages...same as Yorkshire Pud, right?

Serve with Onion Gravy. I must disagree with some of you... Toad in the Hole with good pork sausages and onion gravy is fabulous on a cold winter's eve!

[g.johnson]

I am shocked. Expel Balic immediately and revoke Wilfrid’s passport. Toad in the Hole is wonderful (if made with good sausages).

No need to pre-cook the sausages. You can remove the skins and wrap them in prosciutto or pancetta if you wish. The oven needs to be at least 450F. Add a knob of lard and pre-heat the pan till the fat’s smoking. Then add the batter and then the sausages. It’s essential to serve it with gravy.

[Wilfrid]

Harrumph!

Two dishes I was introduced to in childhood for which I've never much cared: bangers and mash with onions, and Yorkshire pudding. Toad in the hole is a kind of collision of the two.

Of course, I am stating my preference, I am not taking the position that it is an intrinsically bad dish.

[C Squared]

Tried the Toad in the hole. pretty good, but I think my sausages were too lean. The knob of lard may be a good idea.

Wilfred mentioned bangers and mash. Interesting, that was my next question. I'm not certain what this dish is but surely that's more that just sausage and mashed potatoes.??

[Adam Balic]

I am shocked. Expel Balic immediately and revoke Wilfrid?s passport. Toad in the Hole is wonderful (if made with good sausages).

No need to pre-cook the sausages. You can remove the skins and wrap them in prosciutto or pancetta if you wish. The oven needs to be at least 450F. Add a knob of lard and pre-heat the pan till the fat?s smoking. Then add the batter and then the sausages. It?s essential to serve it with gravy.

prosciutto with toad in the hole? Bahahaha (Wipes tears of laughter off face). Isn't that piggy-in-the-blanket-in-the-hole-with-the-toad then? Cool, how very Gen-X Muppeteskh!

[StephenT]

Wilfred mentioned bangers and mash.  Interesting, that was my next question.  I'm not certain what this dish is but surely that's more that just sausage and mashed potatoes.??

In addition to the sausage and mashed potato it has... gravy

[C Squared]

In addition to the sausage and mashed potato it has... gravy  

Now why did I expect something exotic?

[Jinmyo]

And mushy peas. Which are: mushy peas.

[Wilfrid]

Bangers is mash is just that: sausages and mashed potatoes. The most exotic presentation is Desperate Dan-style, where the potatoes are served in a dish with the sausages sticking up out of them like so many tree stumps.

Gravy - which means brown, British beef-stock-based gravy - is a traditional accompaniment, but you can simply serve with brown sauce (HP, OK) if you prefer, or with ketchup.

Fried onions are a possible side, or you can finish the onions in the gravy, thus producing, guess what, onion gravy?

Peas, regular or mushy, are optional, as are baked beans.

I am so glad I don't eat this stuff any more.

[Adam Balic]

I like marrowbone peas. .

[Jinmyo]

Wilfrid, I must admit that I occasionally have mashers with liver sausages and Dijon as an hommage. Usually with some charcroute.

[Wilfrid]

Oh dear. I went through a brief phase, a few years back, of re-creating school dinners out of nostalgia. Marrowfat* peas with fish fingers was typical. A very misguided period in my life. It occurs to me that they would go well with a moist Australian meat pie.

*Isn't it marrowfat rather than marrowbone? But I know the ones you mean.

[Wilfrid]

Jin, I eat good sausages, usually with some confection of beans or lentils. I also eat mashers with all kinds of things. But together?

I don't know how much UK culture we have in common, but this might give you a shiver down your spine: Saturday afternoon TV, Kent Walton announcing all-in wrestling, Dad with a plate of bangers, mash and fried onions balanced on a tray on his knees. May seem exotic to some, but it's something I cunningly escaped from years ago.

[Jinmyo]

Wilfrid, born in the UK but fled to Canada as an infant. Went back for boarding school, early 60s. Plenty of horrid food as a kid, but Dad was in the diplomatic service and the armed forces and not sitting round in front of the telly.

[Adam Balic]

Sorry, yes quite right, marrowfat not marrowbone. I like them cooked with the boiled gammon then made into a pudding, whilst the gammon hock gets glazed and finished off in the oven. But, fish fingers? Really?

[Jinmyo]

Adam, that sounds quite nice. Does it have a name?

[Adam Balic]

No, it is something I made up when I had less then five quid to last two days and my wife was out of town. It was also served with some savoy cabbage that I blanched and finished off in the pan with some caraway seeds.

I think that pease pudding and gammon joint is pretty common in the UK?

[Jinmyo]

I've had pease porridge (which is just mushy mushy peas with butter for those playing at home). But not with gammon hock, actually.

Very similiar to standard potage habitant (Franco-Canadien pea soup) but thick, and finishing the hock in the oven is a nice touch. I like the savoy cabbage but I'm not sure if I'd go with caraway seeds.