Sausage in Batter aka Toad in the Hole, 1974

There's a joke going around Facebook. It goes something along the lines of taking so much time to compose a response to a text message in your head that you think you've actually texted it even though you haven't.



Like all memes, it's funny because it's true. Although in my case I actually had convinced myself I'd blogged last week's cookbook recipe. Imagine my surprise when I discovered today I hadn't.

So, a week late, but delivered to prove I did indeed cook from a cookbook, I offer you a post on Sausage in Batter - better known as Toad in the Hole.

This recipe is from A Permanent Collection of Recipes From Around the World, published in 1974. If you're of a certain age, you'll remember a time when recipes appeared in magazines, and you could send away for a binder to collect them in. This is one of those compilations. It has a dark blue binder, multicoloured divider tabs, and recipes with that telltale perforated edge that indicates they were designed to be torn out and placed in a binder so you could keep them permanently.

'Round the World Publishing put this selection together. I don't know which magazines these recipes were pulled from, but the editorial note indicates that the recipes were sent in to their Amsterdam, Holland office, then sent to the US for testing and adaptation for American kitchens. There are photos of dishes that are in colours and styles I remember well from my childhood, and the dishes come from all parts of Europe: England, Rumania, France, Italy, Israel...

The definition of Europe was obviously much broader in 1974 than it is now.

Toad in the hole is a recipe I've had a few times. We had it on a trip to England several years ago, at the oldest pub in London to survive the Blitz. I've had it in the pub up the road from where I live here in Canada, and it was terrible breakfast sausages in a rubbery, oily breading. I thought this might make a nice change from our usual casserole and roast menus, but I had no idea if I'd end up with something completely inedible when I was done.

I made this in a Dutch oven, browning the sausages and baking the final dish in the same pot. The batter mixed together easily by hand, and prep time was pretty quick.

The result was a nice, tasty, dense bread that had some lovely local beef sausages inside. The blender step would likely have added more air to the bread, making it puffier and lighter, but the dish ended up working out really well anyway.  With some salad and vegetables on the side, it's a very filling meal.

Sausage in Batter (Toad in the Hole)
England
4 servings

1 pound small link pork sausages
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Fry the sausage until lightly browned and all the fat has rendered. Place sausages in a 9 inch square baking dish. To prepare the batter, place milk, eggs, flour, salt, pepper and butter in a blender. Blend one minute until smooth. pour batter over the sausages and bake uncovered in a 400F oven for 30 minutes. The batter will become puffed, crisp, and golden brown.