The Hirshon British Toad in the Hole

My Citizens – we have at last reached the end of our journey along the oddly-cobbled road of unusually-named British dishes, and this one is an old favorite: toad in the hole! A most auspicious finish line indeed, and one that is surprisingly easy to make despite a few unusual ingredients and a most-certainly unusual name! Never fear – although TFD is feeling under the weather today, He will rally his flagging energies and provide you with an excellent recipe indeed for your gustatory delight.

Toad in the hole or Sausage Toad is a traditional English dish consisting of sausages in Yorkshire pudding batter, usually served with onion gravy and vegetables. Historically, the dish has also been prepared using other meats, such as rump steak and lamb’s kidney – always leftovers.

The dish was originally not called toad in the hole. In the 1787 book A Provincial Glossary, for example, it was referred to as “meat boiled in a crust”“. The first mention of the word “hole”, outside of Pigeons in a Hole found in the cookbook by Hannah Glasse, appeared in the 1900 publication Notes & Queries, which described the dish as a “batter-pudding with a hole in the middle containing meat”.

Despite popular belief, there is no record of the dish ever being made with toad. The origin of the name is unclear, but it may refer to the way toads wait for their prey in their burrows, making their heads visible in the earth, just like the sausages peep through the batter. It may also derive from the “Antediluvian Toad”, a phenomenon of live frogs or toads being found encased in stone, which was a scientific fad of the late 18th century.

It has been noted that an ‘origin story’ for the name does supposedly exist, but it is almost certain to be nothing more than a local legend. Some have told the tale that Toad-in-the-Hole originates from the town of Alnmouth in Northumberland, where the local golf course was overrun with Natterjack toads.

During a golf tournament, a golfer putted his ball only for it to leap back out before an angry toad raised its head, peering out of the hole that it had been sleeping in. The chef at the hotel the golfers were staying in devised a dish to resemble this humorous moment, baking sausages in batter to appear like toads poking their heads out of the golf holes – and thus Toad-in-the-Hole was born!

While an unlikely origin story, it is definitely the case that batter puddings such as toad in the hole became popular in the early 18th century and Jennifer Stead has drawn attention to a description of a recipe identical to toad in the hole from the middle of the century. At this time, Northerners tended to use drippings to make their puddings crispier, whereas Southerners made softer Yorkshire puddings.

Dishes like toad in the hole appeared in print as early as 1762, where it was described as a “vulgar” name for a “small piece of beef baked in a large pudding”. Toad in the hole was originally created as a way to stretch out meat in poor households and it served its purpose most admirably. Chefs therefore suggested using the cheapest meats in this dish. In 1747, for example, Hannah Glasse’s The Art of Cookery listed a recipe for “pigeon in a hole”, calling for pigeon rather than the contemporary sausages.

In 1861, Isabella Beeton listed a similar recipe using rump steak and lamb’s kidney, while Charles Elme Francatelli’s 1852 recipe mentions “6d. or 1s.” worth of any kind of cheap meat. This recipe was described as “English cooked-again stewed meat” (lesso rifatto all’inglese) or “toad in the Hole”, in the first book of modern Italian cuisine, which stressed that meat was to be leftover from stews and re-cooked in batter.

My version of the recipe is exceedingly close to the classic, with a few minor eccentricities in my recipe for onion gravy. My onion gravy is more complex in flavor than most – I first created it for my bangers and mash recipe, and I am calling it out of retirement for this dish.

One definitely heretical but delicious change I made is to enhance/reinforce the gravy flavor with some roasted garlic and onion jam (which includes some balsamic vinegar) – buy it here. A bit of fresh thyme also works well in this recipe, IMHO.

I also call for another classic ingredient in my onion gravy – dark British Stout beer! There is only one choice of beer with the right flavor profile, IMHO – and this is it. I also amp up the gravy with a goodly hit of demiglace – you can buy it most inexpensively here.

Bangers are the preferred sausage of choice for British chefs making this recipe, and should be yours as well (though any sausage will do). The term bangers supposedly originated during World War I, when meat shortages resulted in sausages being made with a number of fillers, notably water, that caused them to explode when cooked.

Bangers today still include approximately 10% filler made from grain, and it contributes to the proper taste and texture of the sausages for this dish. Mercifully, you can order proper classic bangers here in the States – buy them from here.

As noted on kitchensanctuary.com:

It’s really important to let the batter rest for at least 30 minutes (ideally for an hour or two) in the fridge. This allows the flour granules to swell, meaning you’ll get a lighter, crisp and more even Yorkshire pud. The cold batter hitting a very hot pan also helps with the rise and evenness.

Use a metal (or enamel-coated metal) baking tin if possible – a large, reasonably deep dish is best. Using a metal tin means the tin it will get hotter and the heat distribution will be more even.

This is an excellent pan for use in the recipe – and many others!

I also came up with the heretical idea of sprinkling a range of chopped fresh herbs onto the top of the toad in the hole when it is ¾ of the way cooked. I love the savor the fresh herbs add, but you can easily leave these out for the classic recipe.

Citizens, it has been a real treat sharing these unusually-named British recipes with you – thank you so much for sharing the journey with me! Stay safe, as the COVID pandemic enters what I hope are its final few months before the vaccines become widely-available. That happy day cannot occur soon enough!!!

Battle on – the Generalissimo

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The Hirshon British Toad in the Hole

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• Author: The Generalissimo

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Ingredients

Units MUS Scale 1x2x3x

• 115g/4oz. regular flour
• large pinch of kosher salt
• freshly-ground black pepper
• 4 large free-range eggs
• 300ml/1/2 pint whole milk
• 2 Tbsp./30g fresh thyme leaves
• 8 best-quality pork or beef sausages
• 2 Tbsp./30g Dijon mustard
• 2 Tbsp./30g beef dripping (melted beef fat) – do NOT substitute this crucial ingredient!
• Chopped mixed fresh herbs to sprinkle on batter during baking
• knob of butter, to serve
• ***
• Onion Gravy:
• 2 Tbsp. grapeseed oil
• 2 Tbsp. butter – TFD prefers Kerry Irish butter in this recipe
• 2 medium onions (peeled and thinly sliced)
• 4 tsp. roasted onion and garlic jam
• 1 1/4 pints rich homemade beef stock
• 2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
• 4 tsp. cornstarch
• 1 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. cold Guinness-style beer (cold)
• Maldon Sea Salt (to taste) or Kosher salt
• Freshly-ground black pepper (to taste)
• Demiglace to taste

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Instructions

1. First, start by making the gravy. Melt the oil and butter in a large saucepan over a gentle heat. Add the onion and cover with a lid. Cook slowly for approximately 10 minutes or until the onions are soft.
2. Add the onion jam to the onions and stir well. Cover with the lid and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes.
3. Add the thyme, stock and beer and boil gently uncovered for 5 minutes.
4. In a heatproof jug or bowl mix the cornstarch with the cold water to a thin paste.
5. Pour a little of the hot gravy into the starch mixture and mix thoroughly. Pour the starch mixture back into the gravy, raise the heat to high and boil for 10 minutes or until the gravy is slightly thickened. Add demiglace to taste and stir well.
6. If you’d like, you can make a smooth gravy by using an immersion blender or keep it chunky, traditional-style. Keep warm until ready to serve.
7. For the toad in the hole:
8. To make the batter, sift the flour into a large bowl. Add the salt and pepper.
9. Make a well in the center of the flour and crack in the eggs. Using a wooden spoon, gradually beat the eggs into the flour then slowly beat in the milk until the batter is the consistency of heavy cream.
10. Strain and push any remaining lumps through a sieve. Stir in the thyme. Cover and leave to stand for 30 minutes, or ideally 3-4 hours.
11. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
12. Heat a large non-stick pan and cook the sausages over a medium heat until golden-brown all over. (If you do not have a non-stick pan add a little oil.) Turn off the heat and brush the sausages with the mustard. Set aside.
13. Place the beef dripping into an ovenproof dish and heat in the oven for five minutes or until the dripping is hot and hazy.
14. Add the sausages to the hot dish and pour in the batter. Immediately return the dish to the oven and cook for 35-40 minutes until well-risen and golden-brown. At the ¾ way point of cooking, sprinkle chopped fresh herbs onto batter.
15. Serve seasoned with black pepper and a large knob of butter.