The Cottage Smallholder

Delicious classic British food: Best Toad-in-the-Hole recipe

Photo: Toad in the hole

When the weather starts to get chilly I have a longing for a really good Toad-in-the-Hole. Not the rather chewy offering that I munched as a child but a light and puffy one. A dish that would have Danny pleading for more rather than the slightly suspicious response,
“I don’t think that I’ve ever eaten Toad-in-the-Hole.”
Long pause.
“I’d be interested to try it.”

The problem was that I didn’t have a recipe. Then I twigged that our Yorkshire Pudding recipe probably would be good. So I used Delia’s version as a guide for timings and temperatures but I rejected her recipe for the batter as she only used one egg and the secret of our recipe is to use two. I also bought the deluxe Musk’s Newmarket sausage. The result was superb.

This is a great way of making a pack of sausages go much further. If we had made mashed potato as an additional side dish then it would easily feed four. I’m embarrassed to say we scoffed the lot. Billy Bunter eat your heart out and cry “Yaroo”.

I teamed this up with Anna’s famous onion gravy and peas. Don’t be tempted by Delia’s roasted onion gravy – I tried it last week and it wasn’t a patch on Anna’s.

Best Toad-in-the-Hole recipe

Ingredients:
400g of best pork sausages
2 tbsp of olive oil
For the batter:
110g of plain white flour
2 medium eggs
300ml of chilled milk (we use semi skimmed)
Large pinch of salt, large pinch of mustard, half a teaspoon of horseradish sauce.
Method:
Switch the oven to 220c (200c fan)
(If you are going to make Anna’s onion gravy start it now as it takes about 45 minutes)
First make the batter.
Sift the plain flour into a bowl. Add the salt and mustard powder. Make a well in the centre and break in the two eggs. Gently whisk the eggs into the flour and gradually add the milk. I actually used my stick blender to do this and it gave a much better result. Ideally, return the mixture to the fridge in a jug for half an hour to chill whilst you brown the sausages.
Put the sausages in an oven proof pan. And bake them in the centre of the oven for 20-30 minutes or until they are gently brown. Remove the sausages to a warm place and add the olive oil to the base of the pan. Return the pan to the oven and whap the heat up to 240c (220c fan) for about ten minutes. Now at this stage time is of the essence. Whisk up your chilled batter, quickly toss your sausages into the hot pan and pour the batter over return to the oven and turn the heat back down to 220c (200c fan) for about 30 -40 minutes until the batter is golden brown. Make sure everyone is sitting down before you take it out of the oven and prepare for astonished applause.

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14 Comments so far

sherylvet on October 30th, 2009

this is a dish i was brought up eating, and my mums recipe is superb. very similar to yours but adding a spoon of wholegrain mustard to the batter (instead of the mustard powder), and she cooks the sausages with some sliced onion. delicious!! great with gravy and sprouting broccoli!
xx
Joanna on October 30th, 2009

I made some not so long ago, it was a real English treat. Might give it a try with the mustard next time though.
Sharon on October 30th, 2009

Funny you should post this today as I had sausages just waiting for a toad in the hole. Instead I made a toad in the sky which is more of a souffle than a pudding. The problem I have with Yorkshire pudding in any guise is that I cook on an ancient solid fuel Rayburn that rarely gets anywhere near 240c so the bottom is always soggy. Yours looks perfect.
Wendy on October 31st, 2009

Thankyou so much for posting this, could not have come at a better time! I made Delias Toad in the Hole the other week, but it did not turn out all that well to be honest – though I think that is more to do with my pan and not letting the oil get hot enough before adding the batter. Oh well, I will just have to try again until I get it right
Jane (long time no see) on October 31st, 2009

(Hello! Love your new-look site btw.)

I am so jealous of your ability to make decent toad in the hole. Mine is always an unmitigated disaster. I actually now make sausages, onion gravy and yorkshire puddings separately. Maybe the two eggs IS the answer – I will definitely give this a go.

Slightly hampered by the fact that Tom (DS) won’t eat anything except Richmond’s Frozen Irish Sausages ever since he got food poisoning from some dodgy ones at a friend’s house. We have Happy Pig sausages and he is not interested – the ones made out of sawdust are the only ones he’ll touch… oh well, some judicious slicing of the finished pie might make this work I suppose…
Domestic Executive on October 31st, 2009

I love toad in the hole. I’ve settled on using the batter from Hugh FW’s meat book that he uses for his Yorkshires. I recommend the red onion gravy from http://www.thebritishlarder.co.uk but I’m going to try this recipe you’ve recommended next time.
Suky on October 31st, 2009

Haven’t made this for ages. I’m about to put novembers menu together and I think this will definitely be on it. Thank you!
Pam on October 31st, 2009

For the perfect Yorkshire pudding (in my opinion!)use one hen egg and one duck egg. I don’t know why but it makes such a difference.
Paula on October 31st, 2009

So THAT’S what it’s supposed to look like! Having grown up in the States, it’s kind of hard to cook in a vacuum when it comes to foreign cuisines. Yours looked so much better compared to what I pass off as Toad-in-the-hole, that I had to show your picture to my husband. Yay! now I even have a recipe!
Jan on November 1st, 2009

It’s very strange – I love sausages and I love batter pudding, but I loathe toad-in-the hole; it gives me terrible indigestion.
mandi on November 1st, 2009

My mum could never make yorkshire pudding and it wasn’t until I started taking an interest in cooking aged about 12 that I realised why. She, not knowing that steam was the raising agent in yorkshire used self raising flour not plain.
I love toad in the hole we have it about every 6 weeks. I always find mine rise the best in a tin rather than an oven proof dish for some reason, and the watery-ier the milk the more light and crisp, so if we fancy a puddingy in the middle one I used semi skimmed and if we want light and crispy all skimmed. The resting time of the batter softens the gluten and starch in the flour which makes them puff better too.
Definately gonna try the onion gravy recipe next time we have one as I have tried loads of recipes for that an never found one that is ‘oniony’ enough, especially for with sauted pigs liver and mash..mmm yum yum… making me hungry gonna search the freezer for liver now.
Brian on November 2nd, 2009

Hi
I realy enjoy toad in the hole and have recently started to pre cook the sausages in a microwave (only 1 or 2 minutes)this way I only have to concentrate on the batter,as often the batter was perfect but the sausages were underdone.
fn on November 5th, 2009

Hi sherylvet

Great idea – using grainy mustard. Like the idea of adding onions to the sausages too. Thanks.

Hello Joanna

This is going to become a regular dish at the cottage!

Hi Sharron

I’ve never heard of toad in the sky. Must try that. I never tire of sausages.

Hello Wendy

Do have a go. This was so easy.

Hi Jane

Great that you dropped by. Often wonder how you are getting on in the country.

Those Richmond sausages are horrid but they could be relegated to one end of the pie. Or he could have a separate individual dish.

Hi Domestic Executive

Thanks so much for these tips and links. Definitely going to try the gravy!

Hello Suky

I do hope that it works out well for you.

Hello Pam

That sounds gorgeous – thank you.

Hi Paula

Great that this post is useful to you. Thanks for dropping by.

Hi Jan

That’s strange. I must admit that this is the first toad in the hole that I’ve really enjoyed.

Hi Mandi

I took your advice and invested in an enamel baking tin. Just need to get the sausages now.
Thanks also for the advice on which milk to use – really handy tip – I had no idea about that.

Hello Brian

Great tip! Thank you so much.
shelley on January 24th, 2010

well today my 12 year old daughter made this, with a bit of direction from me. It was delicious, although the toulousaine sausage was a little peppery.
She was soo proud of herself; it was a good start to her weekly meal making – something she herself requested recently