Tamsin learned the tricks of the trade from cookery legend Delia Smith. A trusted recipe writer for the magazine for over 25 years, she is now our Senior Food Producer, overseeing testing and editing to ensure that every recipe tastes great, is straightforward to follow and works without fail. In her home kitchen, Tamsin creates fuss-free flavour-packed food for friends and family, with baking being her ultimate form of comfort cooking
See more of Tamsin Burnett-Hall’s recipes
Tamsin Burnett-Hall
Tamsin learned the tricks of the trade from cookery legend Delia Smith. A trusted recipe writer for the magazine for over 25 years, she is now our Senior Food Producer, overseeing testing and editing to ensure that every recipe tastes great, is straightforward to follow and works without fail. In her home kitchen, Tamsin creates fuss-free flavour-packed food for friends and family, with baking being her ultimate form of comfort cooking
See more of Tamsin Burnett-Hall’s recipes
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Ingredients
4 tbsp sunflower oil or lard
3 large onions
8 Cumberland sausages (we used Butcher’s Choice)
a handful of fresh sage leaves
For the batter
125g plain flour
1⁄4 tsp fine sea salt
2 large eggs
175ml whole milk, mixed with 75ml cold water
For the cider gravy
25g butter
2 tbsp dark brown sugar
3 tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp cider vinegar
300ml cider
300ml beef or chicken stock (made using 1 stock pot or cube)
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
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Make the batter and gravy up to 24 hours ahead. Whisk the batter well before cooking.
Make the batter an hour or more before cooking. Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl and add a grinding of black pepper. Make a well in the centre, break in the eggs and start to whisk together. Gradually add the milk and water mixture, whisking all the time, until you have a smooth batter. Cover the batter and put in the fridge to rest for at least 30 minutes before cooking, preferably at least an hour. Batter that is rested and cold will rise better in the oven.
When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 220°C, fan 200°C, gas 7. Add 3 tablespoons of oil or lard to a medium roasting tin (about 20cm x 30cm base measurements) and pop it in the oven for 5 minutes to heat up. Slice 11⁄2 onions thinly, and the remainder thickly, then set aside.
Get the gravy started: melt the butter and 1 tablespoon of oil (or lard) in a large pan, add the thinly sliced onions and cook for 2-3 minutes over a medium-high heat, stirring. Season, then cover the pan and cook gently for 10-15 minutes until very soft.
Meanwhile, add the sausages and thickly sliced onions to the hot roasting tin; cook for 8 minutes.
Returning to the gravy, increase the heat, sprinkle in the sugar and cook the onions for 5-6 minutes until starting to caramelise, stirring occasionally so that they don’t catch.
Remove the batter from the fridge and give it a whisk to re-combine. Remove the hot roasting tin from the oven, scatter in the sage leaves and immediately pour the batter into the tin – it should start to sizzle as it hits the hot fat. Return the tin to the oven as quickly as possible and cook for about 30 minutes until the batter is crisp and well risen. Avoid opening the oven door during cooking, as the batter could collapse.
To finish the gravy, stir the flour into the onions, followed by the cider vinegar. Gradually add the cider, followed by the stock. Simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the mustard just before serving with the hot toad in the hole.
Toad in the hole 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.
Toad in the hole is a traditional British dish comprised of sausages baked into a giant Yorkshire pudding, typically served with an onion gravy. Yorkshire pudding is similar to popovers in the US and Dutch baby pancakes.
The skin-gland secretions of cane toads (called bufotoxin) are highly toxic and can sicken or even kill animals that bite or feed on them, including native animals and domestic pets. The skin secretions may irritate the skin or burn the eyes of people who handle them.
Why is my toad in the hole soggy? If your toad in the hole is soggy, it might be due to there being too many sausages in the tin. Try to make sure they're spaced far apart from each other to allow the batter to get crisp.
Egg in a Basket features an egg fried in the hole of a buttery slice of bread. The dish goes by several other names as well; Americans sometimes call it Toad in the Hole, but that title more properly refers to the traditional English dish of Yorkshire pudding with sausage and onion gravy.
Toad in the hole is a traditional British dish consisting of sausages cooked in a Yorkshire pudding batter and served with an onion gravy. Toad in the hole was among the dishes served at the Leaky Cauldron in London.
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. Mine is a rectangular enamel roaster, approx 31cmx25cm and 5cm deep.
To prepare edible smoked toads, the toads are first skinned, gutted and washed thoroughly, seasoned, The seasoned toads are then smoked over firewood for several hours until they are dry and crispy. The smoked toads can be eaten as a snack or served with rice, yam, plantain or any other staple food.
The table for Toad in the Hole is about 15 inches across and 24 inches long. The playing surface slopes towards the players who stand behind a line 8 feet from the front of the board. In the centre of the table is a hole of about 2 inches in diameter through which the toads can fall.
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. Mine is a rectangular enamel roaster, approx 31cmx25cm and 5cm deep.
The toads are sausages and the 'hole' is Yorkshire pudding, an egg-based batter similar to savoury pancake or crepe batter. Getting the Yorkshire pudding “Hole” to rise, is the tricky part of this recipe. You want it to puff up in the oven around the sausage “Toads”.
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Prep time: 30 mins
