As I continue my voyage to try dishes from a lot of different places, we’re heading the UK make a Toad in the Hole. I don’t ever recall British food being the top of anyone’s bucket list as far as cuisine, save for Fish & Chips, but here we are. I don’t know what spawned this idea, or the internet search, but I stumbled about something that sounded bizarre and we’re going to do it.
The Prep Table
Yeah, this will be a pretty basic dish, which you no doubt would’ve guessed when you knew I was heading to the United Kingdom for this idea. I’m writing this many weeks later (as is unfortunately what’s happening – too much cooking, not enough typing). I have in my freezer now some scottish sausages of various types, and no doubt would’ve been more local than a bratwurst.
We’re going to whip up some Yorkshire pudding batter and we’re going to make this in the RecTeq. Which I have no idea how it’s going to go. Because I’m using a wood fired “stove” by way of pellet smoker .. and also because I’ve never made Yorkshire pudding before. There was some caution points about getting the fat hot or else we won’t get that traditional puff – but again, we’re going to try.
The last bit was to make a heavy onion gravy. The red onion did leave a rather odd looking hue when topping the meal with it – but it was quite strong, which I enjoyed.
The Process
Not only are we going RecTeq, but we’re going griddle top as well. Brown up our sausages and lets get ready for the Yorkshire pudding. Let’s get this Toad in the Hole made
Greased the hell out of the 8×10, laid down the batter and topped with the cooked sausages. Wasn’t too keen on the preparation quite yet, but let’s have the Brits have their day. Let’s not judge it quite yet.
I get it, “If you’re looking you’re not cooking”. Well, I gotta show you this thing as it cooks, and I was a bit surprised this was actually coming out the way it should be. Sure, it’s not done yet, but we’re on the way. Let’s finish this thing off. This thing went in cold and the I maxed this thing out at 500. We’re going to run it hot and pull it when it looks done – roughly a half hour.
The Result
Well I’ll be damned, we got a toad in the hole after all. Let’s dress this thing up with some of that onion gravy and garnish with.. yes.. more onions.
Now, I can’t imagine I’ll be making this any time soon – there’s a lot of way better meals to eat than this. However, it was worth the experiment, and I really enjoyed this. It was basic, it was big on the onion, and it had bratwurst. I’d go with something other than a red onion – only because it looks a bit weird plated, but the taste was good. I thought it was good.
I threw a side of apple sauce on there because I thought it was going to be savory overload – and it really wasn’t. But I also thought apple sauce was boring enough for the UK dish. RecTeq does it again!