Toad in the hole

Toad in the hole

Toad in the hole, ready to be served
Alternative names	sausage toad
Main ingredients	sausages, Yorkshire pudding, batter, onion gravy

Toad in the hole or sausage toad is a traditional British dish consisting of sausages in Yorkshire pudding batter, usually served with onion gravy and vegetables.

Batter puddings only began to be popular in the early 18th century. Jennifer Stead has drawn attention to a description (albeit without the name) of a recipe identical to 'toad in the hole' from the middle of the century. In 1747, Hannah Glasse's The Art of Cookery gave a recipe for 'pigeon in a hole', calling for pigeon rather than the contemporary sausages. The dish appears in print as early as 1762, where toad in a hole is referred to as a "vulgar" name for a "small piece of beef baked in a large pudding."

Isabella Beeton in 1861 gives a recipe calling for rump steak and lamb's kidney. Similarly, an 1852 recipe by Charles Elme Francatelli mentions "6d. or 1s. worth of bits and pieces of any kind of meat, which are to be had cheapest at night when the day's sale is over." This recipe was described as "English cooked-again stewed meat" (lesso rifatto all'inglese) or "toad in the Hole", in the first book of modern Italian cuisine, where the meat was nothing but left-over stewed meat cooked again in batter.

The origin of the name 'toad in the hole' is unclear. It is often thought to refer to the sausages peeking out through the gaps in the batter.