Toad in the Hole
Recipe: Pigs-in-blankets in the hole
Serves 4
Preparation time 15 minutes
Cooking time 40 minutes
Ingredients 140g plain flour/ 3 eggs/ 200ml milk/ 2 tsp English mustard/ 8 pigs in blankets/ ½ tsp salt/ ½ ground black pepper/ 3 tbsp vegetable oil/ some fresh mixed herbs (optional)
To serve steamed green vegetables, gravy
Measuring terminology: tbsp=tablespoon=15ml/ tsp=teaspoon=5ml
1 Break the eggs and add to a bowl with the flour, mustard, salt and pepper. Mix together well and then add the milk slowly whilst whisking until you have a smooth batter with no lumps, and if you have some herbs you can add some leaves to the batter here.
2 Cover the base of a deep roasting dish with the oil then add the remaining herbs and the pigs in blankets. Swirl the dish around to coat everything thoroughly in oil.
3 Put the dish in the oven and set it to 200°C (180°C fan /6 gas) for 10 minutes.
4 Remove the baking dish from the oven and quickly pour the batter around the pigs in blankets. Put it back in the oven and bake for around 25-30 minutes. Do not open the oven door while it is cooking as this may cause the rising mixture to collapse. When the toad in the hole is ready, it should be puffed up and deep golden brown.
5 Serve the toad in the hole with the green vegetables and gravy.
Although the name 'toad in the hole' is strange and might sound suspicious, toads are not used in this dish. The origin of the name isn’t clear, but the shape of the sausages sticking out of the Yorkshire pudding does look rather like toads sticking their heads out of a hole in search of something to eat. I like the name anyway.
The classic version of toad in the hole is Yorkshire pudding baked with sausages in it. This recipe isn’t the traditional one but is based on the BBC Good Food version 'Pigs-in-blankets toad in the hole'. The main differences are the addition of mustard to the batter and the use of pigs in blankets instead of plain sausages.
In the UK, sausages wrapped in bacon are called ‘pigs in blankets’ and they are a traditional part of a Christmas dinner along with Yorkshire puddings. Pigs in blankets are so common in the UK that you can buy them ready-made in the supermarkets.
This recipe is based on 8 pigs in blankets like the ones you can buy ready-made. If I’m making them from scratch I normally use 4 full-size sausages and wrap each one with a piece of streaky bacon. The recipe is not really sensitive to the amount of pigs in blankets but I prefer to use 8 of the smaller ones. The original ingredients are mustard powder, but I like mustard so much that I used it in paste form. That was delicious as well.
Toad in the hole goes well with broccoli, carrots or any other of your favourite vegetables and is best served with gravy. While the toad in the hole was cooking in the oven, I steamed some kale and green beans in an electric rice cooker.
Batter is a thin, runny mixture made by adding water, milk and/or eggs to flour. A batter is what is used to make pancakes, yorkshire puddings and so on. For this version of toad in the hole, I added rosemary and thyme leaves to the batter before baking. These herbs go really well with the mustard and sausages.
I think I baked a toad in the hole three times while preparing this recipe. There were no photos I could use because the Yorkshire pudding collapsed without giving me time to take any photos or the sausage got burned. I was glad that everything was delicious, but the portion was too much, so I finally baked it with half the Yorkshire pudding ingredients in a small frying pan. I think it's a good amount for two people to eat. (Batter quantities for 2 servings: 70g plain flour/ 100g milk/ 1 egg/ 1 tsp mustard/ 1 vegetable oil/ little bit of salt and pepper)
Gravy is an essential sauce that makes any roast dinner richer. Originally it was made with the juices from the roast, thickened up and flavoured with added herbs or vegetables. I normally use gravy granules that are dissolved in boiling water to make the sauce, but if you don’t have gravy granules or want to try a different version you can make it using the recipe below.
Simple Version of Gravy Recipe
Serves about 3
Cooking time 20 minutes
Ingredients 300ml rich beef stock/ 20g plain flour/ 20g butter
1 Melt the butter in a pan over a low heat and add in all the flour. Mix it together and keep stirring/whisking to cook the flour while preventing the mixture from burning.
2 When the mixture looks and smells like it is cooked, start pouring the stock in a little at a time.
3 Add a pinch of salt and simmer the mixture, stirring it until all ingredients are well mixed and it is smooth and thick. Season it as you like. If you want the gravy to be thinner, add more stock.
As an alternative to the recipe above, I have prepared the stock by dissolving 1 Oxo chicken cube in 300ml of boiling water, sautéing some onion until slightly charred, adding some herbs and following this Oxo cube gravy video. If you want to know more about gravy, I recommend this article 'Its all gravy', from Food Lifestyle and written by Melissa Stewart. There's a link to the gravy recipe at the end of the article.
It is said that Toad in the hole was originally created as a way for poor families to make their meat supply go further. Because of this the cooking method is not particularly unusual and it doesn't use any complicated ingredients. I enjoy it because it makes a decent meal even though it is very straightforward to cook.
Toad in the hole has been served since the 18th century. While there is an ongoing debate as to how its name came about, it is widely accepted that the dish was developed by lower-income families as a way to get the most out of what was an expensive commodity back in the day: meat.
The Industrial Revolution, which started during the middle of the 18th century, changed the way people worked forever. New machinery transformed labor, hastened production and drove employment and profit. However, the Industrial Revolution also drove working conditions were unfair and exploitative for workers, and unscrupulous employers would pay them incommensurate wages for their work.
Not surprisingly, the rich became richer, and the poor became poorer. At a time when meat was expensive, it then became imperative for British families to extend their meager supply with cheaper and filling ingredients. This also led to the rising popularity of batter-based dishes such as the Yorkshire pudding, which became a common way to feed a family at a minimum expense.
It was at this time that families discovered that combining a batter-based dish with cheap, inexpensive cuts of meat, game (pigeons and other fowl), or offal (kidneys), as well as a hot, filling gravy made for cheap yet filling meals. This is how toad in the hole was thought to have come about.
The first appearance of toad in the hole in the English lexicon (or at least on the written record) was from 1787, in a tome written by Francis Grose called A Provincial Glossary. It was defined by Grose as basically any meat boiled inside a crust. However, the most important appearance by this humble food was from 1861, from the Book of Household Management by Mrs Beeton - which immortalized it the world over since as how it is now: the traditional English banger baked in a crispy dough, served with rich, savory gravy. Regardless of the unclear and varied origins of its etymology, one thing is for certain: this homely yet filling classic has stood the test of time.
- Source: some of 'A guide to toad in the hole'
(Reference: The English breakfast society: A guide to toad in the hole, Wikipedia: Toad in the hole, Food Lifestyle: It’s all gravy, BBC good food 레시피: Pigs-in-blankets toad in the hole, Wikipedia: Pigs-in-blankets)
