Toad in the Hole with London Pride

For me, one of the greatest of British comfort foods is Toad in the Hole. Opinion is divided as to what should be in the perfect toad and there is considerable evidence that this dish was originally made with all kinds of meats. Lamb cutlets. beef topside, pork cheeks and, of course, sausages. In essence, as with everything that involves Yorkshire pudding batter, it was a way of making an expensive piece of meat fill more bellies than it probably should.

For those of you who are reading from outside the UK a little explanation on Yorkshire pudding is required. It is actually a very simple flat pancake batter; the sort you would use for Crepes. Just a simple mix of eggs, flour and milk. This is then added to a hot deep roasting tray (one could use the tray that the meat has been roasted in as it rests on the side) or a muffin tin for individual Yorkies. Either way the fat has to be fearfully hot before the batter is added. Traditionally Yorkshire pudding was served only with beef and also sometimes as a starter with gravy to lower the appetite for the expensive meat mail course.   

This is a classic, and with all classics, less is more! Don't mess with near perfection.

Toad in the Hole. (Serves 2)

• 4 good large Butcher's Sausages. 
• Plain Flour. 
• Milk. 
• 1 egg. 
• Salt and pepper

Sieve about 200 gms of flour into a bowl and add enough milk to make it the consistency of single cream add the egg and beat in - DO NOT OVER WHISK - its not a meringue!

Gently fry the sausages, just to seal them then pop them in a high sided roasting tin with a little nugget of lard, dripping, or oil with a high burn point. Pop them in a hot oven and let them sizzle for about 5 minutes. The fat in the tin needs to be really hot, almost smoking. Pull out the tin and pour in the batter so that the edges sizzle and bubble a little. Then its back in the oven and enjoy the magic of a rising Yorkshire pudding. Serve when it is crisp on top and has a bit of fluff underneath. Make sure there is something green and squeaky to go with it and lashings of onion gravy.

For the Toad in thepicture has some streaky bacon wrapped round the sausages, this is not a necessity but I had some spare. I also served it with peas as I didn't have any greens. (I have lifted a lot of this recipe from my previous post of this recipe)

The Match

A British classic dish deserves a classic British beer. I decided to match this dish with another British classic: Fullers London Pride. When I first moved to London for University in 1987 you were either A Young's fan or a Fullers drinker. They were the two largest independent breweries in London. Youngs in Wandsworth and Fullers in Chiswick.

Only Fullers remains and it is now owned by  Asahi, but still brrewing in the same manner. London Pride is named after a little flower which is the first to grow in ruins or land broken up with bricks and rocks. It was particularly important during the Blitz for obvious reasons. It was also the first beer I ever pulled from the cask with a beer engine.

It is a classic "Best Bitter". It is tawny in colour and on the nose it gives clear malt spine with a subtle English hop herby high notes. On the palate it has a sweet maltiness balanced with bitter hops. Nothing about this beer is overdone, all is in balance.

It was a super match with the toad; the malt matched the savour of the batter with just enough hop edge to cut through the fattiness of the sausages. the gravy sat up with the sweetness and reclined with the malt!