Friday 4 March 2011

Toad in the Hole

I'm not too sure about the origin of the name 'toad-in-the-hole'. Many suggestions on the internet are that the dish resemblance to a toad sticking it's little head out of a hole provide this classic British creation its somewhat unusual name.

For those who never heard of this, I can assure you that there are no toads, frogs or any other amphibious creatures involve in the actual dish. Instead, toad-in-the-hole always consists of good old British bangers (meaning: sausages) baked in a Yorkshire pudding batter made with eggs, milk and flour.

The secret I think to ensure the batter will puff up, brown and become crispy is to have the dish, the oil and the oven ferociously hot. I use goose fat because it has a high smoking point, which means foods can be cooked at a high temperature without the fat burning; and I just love the flavour of goose fat.

Light and crispy pudding with meaty and juicy pork sausages... Yum! Serve with onion gravy, or I also like mine with brown sauce.

Have a great weekend!


Toad in the Hole
Recipe by Nigella Lawson
Serves 4 - 6
For ingredients and instructions, click here.
If you want to watch the video, click here.

16 comments:

  1. Michael, I love Nigella's recipes and you seem to also. This seems so British and so interesting. I know my family and I would adore this meal.

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  2. Michael, I've used Nigella's toad recipe a couple of times with really good results. There has to be plenty of onion gravy for me but I'll consider the brown sauce for next time. Nice thought about the goose fat.

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  3. looks first class one of my fav British dishes and love your idea of having scones with golden syrup genius

    Rebecca

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  4. I never understand the name of this dish. Sounds cute though!

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  5. look at the rise on your batter... AMAZING!!!... love this dish, it is a constant favourite it our house... xxx

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  6. Mine certainly didn't turn out like this, more like a hard pancake with random balls of sausage dotted about.. :( but I think I missed the bit about the oil being piping hot, so perhaps that's where I went wrong. Yours looks great!! x

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  7. Michael-I never hear of this this, but from what I see, yours turned out perfect. All puffed up and the whole in the middle. I see the little sausage peeking through. Yumm!

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  8. Wow! This is some recipe and yours turned out perfectly. I'd love to have a bite. I hope you have a great day. Blessings...Mary

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  9. My mother used to make this and as a result, I carried on with my kids. I love it! A lovely popover batter, basically, with yummy sausage! We eat it with jam!

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  10. The link looks useful... I love the fact I heard the word "Banger" once again... missing UK, I hope to catch when I visit again. Probably yuletide season :)

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  11. And no frogs were harmed! Perfect treat.

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  12. Oh wow! This is so different than what I thought it was! I always saw people on the Foodnetwork making "toad in the hole" by putting a piece of bread in a pan that has the center cut out and an egg placed inside to fry. I have to say, this sounds way better than a piece of bread with an egg in the middle. haha.

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  13. Oh my. This looks and sounds like the best of both worlds. Meat flavor for The Hubble and a light as air pastry surrounding it for me. Thanks for sharing!

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  14. Do you think that you could make a pescatarian version of this? Perhaps with shrimp? Not frogs, obviously.

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  15. Stevie, that actually sounds very interesting. My mom often make shrimp meatballs, so I'm very intrigued to try them for this. Yes, not frogs. Though I must say they're quite delicious. I just don't like the look of them.

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  16. This is an oldie, but defo a goldie. :) Its a funny name for food huh? I think you are right, it is the fact that the snags look like little frogs with their heads sticking out of holes, or is it heads in holes, butts in the air.

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