Classic English Toad-in-the-Hole Is British Comfort Food at Its Best (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between American and British toad in the hole? ›

Usually in America, toad in the hole refers to an egg cooked in the hole cut out of a piece of bread. But in England, it's sausages cooked in what is essentially Yorkshire pudding.

Toad in the hole was originally created as a way to stretch out meat in poor households. Chefs therefore suggested using the cheapest meats in this dish. In 1747, for example, Hannah Glasse's The Art of Cookery listed a recipe for "pigeon in a hole", calling for pigeon rather than sausages.

Serve the Toad in the Hole with the red onion gravy and sprinkled with sprigs of fresh thyme. I like to serve mine with greens such as peas and cabbage too.

You can follow this simple recipe for toad in the hole if you want to impress your friends by cooking an English dish that has been served for over 200 years and counting. It's as English as hotdogs are to Americans - and it's a truly unique dish in the British canon.

Many vegetables seen today in British cuisine such as cabbage, peas, and cherries, were also brought as crops by the Romans. Traditional British dishes include full breakfast, roast dinner, fish and chips, toad in the hole and shepherd's pie.

Yorkshire pudding is a baked pudding made from a batter of eggs, flour, and milk or water. A common English side dish, it is a versatile food that can be served in numerous ways depending on its ingredients, size, and the accompanying components of the meal. As a first course, it can be served with onion gravy.

obsolete. : foully blemished : most evil : infamous.

Well, in Yorkshire at this time, around 1747, Hannah Glasse, who was the 'Nigella' of the day, renamed it 'Yorkshire pudding'. It's thought that the use of coal in the ovens of Yorkshire, a perk of the job for the miners, meant the puddings actually rose due to the higher oven temperatures.

Common toads are found throughout mainland Britain but not in Ireland. For most of the year, toads live in gardens, rough grassland, hedgerows and woodland, away from water. The common toad has foul tasting skin to put predators off eating them. They also puff up when threatened.

Once you've put it out, ideally you should eat it within 4 hours. If you allow any leftovers to cool, make sure to refrigerate in a container with a lid and chill. You can keep leftovers of Toad in the Hole in the fridge for approximately 3 days or so.

What to drink with toad in the hole? ›

Sweet, ripe cabernet and cab-shiraz blends would be ideal, as would quaffable Chilean merlot or carmenère, for example.

There are many names for the dish, including bullseye eggs, eggs in a frame, egg in a hole, eggs in a nest, gashouse eggs, gashouse special, gasthaus eggs, hole in one, one-eyed Jack, one-eyed Pete, one-eyed Sam, pirate's eye, and popeye.

In the United States, the latter refers to a dish that consists of an egg fried in the hole of a buttery slice of bread, whereas in the United Kingdom, toad in the hole is the English dish of Yorkshire pudding with sausage and onion gravy.

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.

What is the best baking tin for toad in the hole? A metal tin with fairly high sides is best because metal is a very efficient conductor of heat and getting the batter hot is essential for a good rise.

Unlike native Southern Toads (Anaxyrus terrestris) and American Toads (A. americanus) which have relatively small, oval paratoid glands, the paratoid glands of Cane Toads are large and triangular paratoid glands. Cane Toads also have ridges or crests on top of the head between the eyes.

Adult Southern Toads have ridges similar to the American, but also usually have the presents of cranial knobs. These knobs are tall, horn-like protrusions, that are actually formed on the skull. Young individuals lack these knobs though, but generally their cranial ridges are quite "fluted" between the eyes.

The cranial crests of the Great Plains Toad and the American Toad are similar, but the Great Plains Toad has large dark blotches with many small warts while the American Toad has smaller dark blotches with 1–2 warts per blotch. The Plains Spadefoot lacks cranial crests and parotoid glands and has vertical pupils.

​Identification:

American Toads are medium-sized creatures with very dry warty skin, and they move by hopping rather than leaping. The ground color of an American Toad can be dark brown, grayish, yellowish-brown, light brown, or reddish. Some are covered with dark spots but others are almost plain in color.