“Are you cooking the Toad or am I?” Ed asks.
“How about we cook it together” Says I.
I wander off and when I return Ed is already slicing onions for the gravy and browning the sausages in a pan.
“Oh” I say forlornly “I thought we were cooking dinner together”
“Well, that usually means I do the cooking and you stand there drinking wine.”
How rude.
Having realised that I’ve been rumbled we agree that I will make the batter, maybe take a photo and he will do the rest. That means I can sit in the kitchen and write this for you. I’m still in my dressing gown anyway from the hot bath that I felt I needed to warm my bones.
It’s been a miserable damp day and we have spent a large proportion of it driving around Derbyshire to take George to cricket practice and fetch him back again. The bizarrely busy Sunday traffic seemed to hamper our journey at every turn so we have been on a magical mystery tour of Derbyshire passing each of the roughest areas in turn. I was glad to get home.
There is already a cracking log fire burning in the living room but I’m chatting to Ed and noting down quantities as the batter puffs up around the sausages. I want to wait around so that I can photograph it as it comes out of the oven – before it deflates and gets smothered in gravy.
The boy is not far away, but he is attached to his iPad viewing a never-ending stream of videos of other people playing Minecraft. I am yet to understand this weird occupation of watching other people shout, build things then knock them down again.
The dog (Ernie) is following everyone around, hoping against hope that they might drop some sort of snack. He is on snack-down smack-down due to his ever-increasing weight. In my eyes he still looks lithe and lovely, but he is truthfully weighty as dark matter with its own gravitational pull.
It’s not his fault. He’s just big-boned. He also very much like crisps and sausages. Who says dogs are like their owners? We like good sausages very much too. We eat them as they are or in a car…in casserole or in a hole.
This is how we make toad in the hole. For those not of a British persuasion Toad in the Hole is just sausages, cooked in Yorkshire pudding batter. George loves it and requested it this weekend instead of a Sunday roast.
We eat it with red onion gravy and lots of green vegetables to counteract the lard.
Ernie might be allowed but half a sausage – as a Sunday treat.
Things{we}make Toad in the Hole
Some tasty sausages
2 Large Eggs
125g Plain Flour
150ml Milk & 150ml Water
1 Teaspoon of grainy mustard
1-2 Tablespoons of Lard (about 50g)
Salt & Pepper
Fry the sausages until nice and brown all over.
Put the flour in a large bowl with a good grind of salt & pepper.
Whisk the eggs into the flour, then gradually whisk in the water/milk and then the mustard.
Leave to rest while you finish browning the sausages and preheat the oven to 200°c.
Put the lard in a deepish baking tray.*
Preheat the lardy tin in the oven until smoking hot.
Pour the hot batter into the tray, plop in the sausages and bake until puffed up and golden.
This should take about half an hour.
*I used the Silverwood 10″x8″x1.5″ tin and it was miraculous. The pudding didn’t stick one bit.
victoria patterson
March 6, 2014
We love Toad in’t hole too! I managed to create a gluten-free version that is almost as good as the one Mum used to make : )
thingswemake.co.uk
March 6, 2014
What did you replace the flour with Vic? I’m often get asked for gluten free versions.
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thelittleloaf
March 6, 2014
Toad in the hole is such a childhood memory for me: whenever I was ill my Mum would make me an individual one to eat in front of the telly – bliss!
thingswemake.co.uk
March 6, 2014
An individual toad in the hole sounds pretty decadent! Your mum was good to you.
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skdarvesh
March 6, 2014
Wow! Looks good.
I am a novice to food blogging. Please check out my blog http://www.aromasandflavours.com . Every bit of encouragement will count
Marie-whenspoonmeetspot
March 6, 2014
Lovely post, never tried this but I will certainly have a go and our Ernie/Buddy will surely scan the kitchen floor for sausages 🙂
peanutbutterandonion
March 6, 2014
I love your site, if not just for the pictures, but your recipes are awesome. Love this name. I will try it for dinner on the weekend. Thanks for sharing.
KerryCan
March 6, 2014
Funny–I have a cat I’m always saying is simply big boned and he loves crisps, too! Toad in the Hole has always intrigued me but there’s no U.S. counterpart so maybe I’ll give your recipe a try!
Jess
March 6, 2014
MMMMM. I have never had this dish before. But I LOVE sausages so I might have to give this a try!
egg me on
March 6, 2014
I absolutely love this recipe and wonder where it’s been all my life!
Elaine @ foodbod
March 6, 2014
My husbands favourite!!
Kavey
March 7, 2014
Honestly, your conversations sound so very much like ours. Pete often likes to point out that my idea of me helping with the cooking is occasionally offering to chop or stir something, taking lots of photos and standing around keeping him company, complaining that the kitchen floor is cold. I’m also told off for not being psychic and knowing where to stand because wherever I choose is where he wants to go next! It’s all in good humour but I do admit, he’s right that I’m not so much helping as forcefully keeping him company and taking pics!
Kavey
March 7, 2014
Oh and I also sit around in my dressing gown after got soaky baths to try and warm up when it’s cold!
love in the kitchen
March 8, 2014
That’s it then – this is Saturday night dinner in our house! So glad you posted yours – which looks absolutely perfect.
defeatingpain
March 9, 2014
Being from Texas, I have never made or had this before. I gave it a go last night for a dinner party and it was so well liked that there wasn’t even a crumb left 🙂 Thanks for this fantastic recipe, this will become part of our regular dinner rotation!
Joyce
March 13, 2014
I love your recipes.
I’m so glad somebody else uses half water to make Yorkshires though I beat them with a metal tablespoon rather than whisk and I also find they rise better without any resting.