Perfect toad in the hole - how to make please

[kblu]

I'm no Delia Smith. I tend to heat things up rather than cook from scratch embarrassed face most of the time, but I do try now and again to have a little go at proper cooking. However, nine times out even though I follow the recipe precisely it turns out shite.

For instance, I thought i'd give toad in the hole a go at the weekend. I thought that would be a nice simple and hearty meal for my family but it was awful. Not sure where I went wrong, I even used a packet mix for the batter . It came out more like dough. My inkling is that I used too much batter and I didn't use enough oil and the oil wasn't hot enough when I poured the batter over the sausages. Hubby ate it and made lots of positive noises though, toddler said it was "dirty". I couldn't eat mine, it was so awful!

Tell me how you make yours. I'm bloody determined to get the perfect toad in the hole if it's the last thing I do!

Toad in the hold is delicious and it's a much better idea to make your own batter.
Here' the recipe I use:

110g plain flour
1/2 teasp of salt
2 large eggs
300ml milk

Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl.
Add the eggs and mix well.
Mix the milk in gradually, stirring hard in between.
This will help to prevent lumps.
Leave the batter to stand for at least an hour before cooking.

Fry your sausages on the outside, but not all the way through.

Heat the oven to 220c/425 F/Gas Mark 7

Put 2-3 tablespoons of sunflower/vegetable oil into a 20x16cm baking tin or oven proof dish.
Heat in the oven until the fat is smoking.
Put the sausages into the dish and pour the batter over.
Cook for 20-30mins, until the batter is set and golden brown.

Enjoy!!!

Thank you so much! I will definitely try it again and follow your recipe.

I found that the key to making Yorkshire pudding work (essentially what the batter is) is to ensure that the pan you put the batter into is H-O-T. For toad-in-the-hole, I put the baking dish on the hob (with the sausages in, obv) until it is hot, then add the batter and put immediately in the oven. Has never failed me yet.

I made ot today for the first time. I cooked the sausages in the dish first for about 10 minutes and then added batter, mine was 150g plain flour, 4 eggs, 200ml milk.

That is the key, to get the batter smoking hot, far hotter than you would think it would need.

Also, if you forget the recipe, all you need to do is make sure that the volume of the eggs, milk and flour is the same. I break 3 or 4 eggs into a cup, measure where the eggs come up to, and then make sure that the flour and milk is the same volume. Then mix all together thoroughly, add a pinch of salt, then leave it to stand for a bit. This is always foolprrof.

And yes brown the sausages first otherwise they will be slimey.

nigel slater's toad is the business. no need to skin the sausages though. don't balk at the lard either - it gives a lovely bacony flavour and is not at all greasy.

Take it from an actual Yorkshire woman - fat smoking hot, and when you make your batter, use a ramekin to measure out the flour, eggs and milk and use equal quantities of each (so fill the ramekin up with flour, add to jug, fill ramekin with eggs, add to jug, fill ramekin with milk, add to jug). Give it a good blitz with the hand held food mixer thingy and then leave to stand for 30 mins or so whilst your oil heats up. Give the batter a final whizz up just before you take the pannout

Oops, posted to early. But had finished mostly!

Good luck!

Ps. Didn't mean that to sound snotty as if my advice was superior to all others! Just that I am from Yorkshire, that's all