Why do the British eat Toad in the Hole? (2024)

FAQs

Why do the British eat Toad in the Hole? ›

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.

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.

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 in American English

(ˈtoudɪnðəˈhoul) noun. Brit Cookery. a dish consisting of beef or pork sausages baked in a coating of batter. [1780–90]This word is first recorded in the period 1780–90.

The most commonly accepted explanation for its name is that the sausages resemble toads peeking from a crevice made of crisp batter.

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.

Traditional British dishes include full breakfast, roast dinner, fish and chips, toad in the hole and shepherd's pie. Traditional desserts include trifle, scones, apple pie, sticky toffee pudding and Victoria sponge cake. Cheddar cheese originated in the village of Cheddar in Somerset.

It has been suggested the pudding was given the name “Yorkshire” due to the region's association with coal and the high temperatures this produced that helped to make crispy batter.

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”.

Sausages were made with cheap ingredients and high levels of water, which meant that they had a tendency to explode during cooking as the water turned to steam. 'Bangers' today are far less likely to explode. 'Mash' of course, refers to mashed potatoes.

What is Yorkshire pudding made of? ›

Yorkshire pudding is a savory popover-like dish made from a simple blend of eggs, milk, and flour. Yorkshire pudding was originally made with drippings from roasted meat, but many modern recipes use oil and butter in its place.

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.

It's earned a slew of monikers, from the strange to the provocative: bird's nest, egg-in-a-basket, the Popeye, the one-eyed jack, and in a confusing twist to Brits, a toad-in-a-hole.

Verdict: Depends on what you want. Warmer batter will create taller, crisper puddings with a more hollow core (I kind of like them this way), but colder batter will create denser puddings with a more distinct cup.

There are a few things that will make your batter soggy and stop it from rising nicely. You need to make sure your batter is a good consistency – not too thick and not too thin. This recipe seems to work nicely for us. If your batter still isn't rising well it could be that you haven't used enough oil.

Unlike frogs, British toads have bumpy, warty-looking skin that's virtually always dry. They also have much shorter legs than frogs and prefer to crawl around rather than hop. Toads are quite squat and dumpy, with a much broader nose than the frog. Toad spawn forms in long strings.

The American toad can be found in the eastern half of North America near fresh water sources. Toads do not drink water; they absorb it through their skin. American toads have glands that produce a poisonous fluid that tastes bad to many predators.

Their bellies are white or yellow. Males, which are smaller than females, have black or brown throats while females have white throats. Similar Species: Distinguished from the Fowler's toad by the space between the cranial crest and the parotoid glands; these features abut in the Fowler's toad.

American toads are the most widespread toad species in North America. There are two subspecies of American toads, eastern and dwarf. Dwarf American toads live mainly in the west, eastern American toads live in the eastern portions of the range.