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Toad in a Hole (with onion gravy)
No idea why British food has such an undeserved bad reputation. Nothing, and I mean nothing on God’s green earth beats a good ole English breakfast. Or a hearty Shepherd’s pie. Or a mellow fish pie. Oh, the many times I’ve craved fish & chips as only the British can make them! Cut those guys some slack, will you! They have a lot of wonderful dishes.
This here is one of my son’s favorite dishes, and okay, I confess I really like it, too. Toad in a hole is a typically British dish—sausages in Yorkshire pudding batter served with onion gravy.
Seriously. What’s not to love?
Ingredients:
Toad in a Hole:
small pork sausages
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
Onion Gravy:
1oz butter
2 red onions
1 small garlic clove
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken broth
1 tsp mustard powder
1/2 tsp coarse mustard
worcestershire sauce
dried thyme
pepper
salt
Directions:
* Yes, you’ll be needing pork sausages. It’s Toad in a Hole, people, it needs pork! I opted for small Catalan sausages (Spanish) but I’m sure Italian sausages work fine as well. Or regular pork sausages.
Pour 2 tbsp olive oil in a baking tray and shuffle those PORK sausages around until all sides are brushed with oil. Pop them in a preheated oven and bake at 400F (200C) for 10 minutes.
Time to make the batter. Lazy cook alert, I use my food processor for this—cooking is easy and fun, but I don’t want to make things anymore time-consuming than strictly necessary, you know? Combine 1 cup all-purpose flour, 2 large eggs, 1 tsp salt and 1 cup of milk and blitz for a minute or two. There. Your batter is done.
I like a somewhat bulky gravy, so I’ve cut 2 small red onions in half-quarts. That’s the one thing British and Americans have in common: they call this gravy, while in the Netherlands we simply call this onion sauce. Our gravy is so different.
Originally the ‘gravy’ doesn’t contain garlic, but since this is my recipe I’ll just allow myself some creative input on behalf of the British and add a small garlic clove.
Combine 2 tbsp all-purpose flour with 1 tsp mustard powder.
Since we’ve given the sausages a head start, they should be looking slightly tanned by now. Pour the batter around them and pop them back in the oven for 30 minutes. Until the sausages are brown and the Yorkshire pudding batter is all golden-brown and puffy.
Heat 1 oz of butter and sauté the red onions, over low heat, until soft. This will take about 5 to 8 minutes.
Once the onions are all soft and sweet, add your garlic and cook for 30 more seconds. Stir in the flour and cook for 2 to 3 minutes before pouring in the chicken broth. Whisk until it’s a lump-free gravy. Season with salt, black pepper a tiny sprinkling dried thyme.
Finish it with a good splash of worcestershire sauce and 1/2 a tsp coarse mustard (not to be confused with Dijon mustard) and simmer the gravy for a minute or 5.
Pub food rocks! Serve with loads of fluffy mashed potatoes and green beans on the side! Now really, if my 3-year-old can’t wait until after my shots to dip the Yorkshire pudding in the gravy, you know it’s good food.
Kay’s Recipe Card
Click here for printable size.
| Toad in a Hole (with onion gravy) | |
| Ingredients |
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| Directions |
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| copyright © kayotickitchen.com | |
Wonderful recipe. I will have to try this, love yorkshire pudding and wow onion gravy! Yummy! We also like to have bangers and mash for dinner at our house.
I just found your blog. Love it. Great pics. Do you use Photoshop? Also do you shoot in Manual mode? I’m like you I take my pics with no flash, kitchen window light.
@Hélène:
Thanks for the compliments! Yes, I use photoshop. if you look into my categories you’ll see a category named Kayotic Darkroom. There are some photoshop tutorials with (sometimes) some of my own actions attached to it. I almost exclusively shoot in manual.
Just went over to your blog to take a peek. Love the photography! Natural light really is best, isn’t it!
This looks really good. A side question, what kind of camera do you use? I’ve been wondering this for a while.
@Nicholas:
This was all shot with a simple Nikon D80.
Thanks so much, I’m going to read it. I can’t justify the price for Photoshop for the moment. I wish I could afford it. Lot’s of people rave by it. I’m following your blog in my reader now. Will not miss your updates :)
Ah, This is awesome! Clears up
many misnomers I’ve been hearing.
i am totally craving this right now at 12.20am. ohhhhmyy! that reminds me, i still have a bottle of worcestershire sauce in the pantry!
I made this the other day, Kay, and just loved it! Course I had to change a couple of things to make it vegetarian, but that was no problem. It was just delicious! And that gravy…oh my is it out of this world! I’m going to make it for Thanksgiving this weekend :-)
I made this today for my father and brother. We liked it a lot, only i messed up the union gravy a bit, i couldnt find any mustard powder, so i threw in more mustard. After putting it in i noticed the mustard was very sour. It was still quite good, ate it with beans, pickled gherkins, and bread with cheese and butter. Quite a meal, i would like to eat this on drunk days!
Bedankt voor het recept, erg leuke blog.
I am a Brit living in the USA. I have made Toad in the Hole, but I find the sausages here are too fatty. I would highly suggest draining excess fat from the sausages before putting in the batter. Just leave about enough fat to just cover the pan you are cooking in.
My Yorkshire pudding recipe is 10 fluid oz. milk, 1 egg, pinch of salt, 4 oz. plain flour. A little different from yours, but works for me and I always mix in my blender. I also find I like the silicone cupcake pans to make my Yorkshire pudding in, they seem to come up much higher than in regular tins. I use lard (just to cover each cup but oil can be used). I cook at 425 to 450 for about 25 minutes. Dont open oven while cooking! By the way, I also use this recipe to make pancakes (the thin type). Traditional food for Shrove Tuesday in the UK. Yum.
Re English food. The only place you can really appeciate British food is to be invited to a homecooked meal. The restaurants try and really dont succeed that well at roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. Some places of course, are better than others but nothing beats the homecooking. :)
while I was waiting for a toad to be done in the owen, I went to your photoshop instructions part of the blog….what to say….thank you, thank you 4 posting so clearly. loy options now have sense. :-))
OMG Kay! I can’t stop reading! And the food looks so good. I got 2 small kids and stuck in utter boredom when it comes to cooking….you make my day I am going to get cooking and try some new stuff. This one is on top of my list! <3 it!
Just wondering if there is an error in the batter recipe. When I added only 1 cup of liquid to 1 cup of flour the batter was way too thick. The other recipes I checked called for 1 cup flour & 2 cups of liquid.
Have a spare 5 mins to look are your blog again….wonderful recipes and wonderful pictures!
I know I’m way late to the game on this post, but I just found it on your website. I’ve modified the ingredients to fit our son’s allergies (dairy and eggs) and I’m going to give this a try this weekend. Thanks for a great recipe!!