Toad in the hole disappointment

[APanda]

My first attempt at toad in the hole last night didn't go too well as the Yorkshire didn't rise properly, but still tasted nice. Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong? I was expecting a huge golden cloud of crispy Yorkshire goodness and got this:

[randlemarcus]

At a rough guess one of the following (in order of likelihood):
- Oil not smoking hot
- Oven opened to check how things were doing
- Batter not rested in the fridge before use

[Turn7]

I always semi precook the sausages before adding the batter as well, this stops the oil losing temperature at the critical point.

[Mobile Chicane]

Looks pretty good to me

I second the advice above, but would also suggest you try a heavy metal dish rather than an earthenware one as it will get hotter.

[anonymous-user]

Simple, too many sausages, you need to give the Yorkshire space.

[N Dentressangle]

I have exactly the same problem.

I've tried variations with the mix, religious adherence to oven heat etc, but still no dice.

I suspect the culprit is the earthenware dish I'm using - a very similar one to yours. I'll be having another go with a thin, non-stick roasting tin. I reckon that might solve the problem, but we'll see.

[escargot]

As per the above

- Oil not hot enough
- Dish type wrong
- Door being opened (I read in another thread that this can cause the temp to drop by as much as 25degC).
- Mix not quite right (I use 1 part flour, 1 part milk, 1 part eggs and a splash of vinegar)

[Huntsman]

I like TITH like that, all squidgy and soggy! Nommedy nom.

[Shaw Tarse]

APanda said:

My first attempt at toad in the hole last night didn't go too well as the Yorkshire didn't rise properly, but still tasted nice. Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong? I was expecting a huge golden cloud of crispy Yorkshire goodness and got this:

Good advice from others, & yes there have been other Toad in the Hole threads, but,
If you plonked that in front of me with a pint of onion gravy, then I'd eat it!

[21TonyK]

What was your batter mix?

[thetapeworm]

The advice given already is spot on but for the record you can add me to the list of people who prefer the thick pancake wrapped sausage variation of this dish

[dmitsi]

Overcrowded sausages, and wrong dish. Make sure its smoking hot, and after pouring the batter, swirl it around so the batter coats the side of the dish, this will help it rise. I take the skin off my sausages and pre cook them a little to warm up.

[APanda]

Cheers for the advice, sounds like its either the dish or oil not hot enough, was pretty strict with oven door etc.

I used 2 eggs, 250ml milk, 130 grams-ish of flour. I read that it should be the consistency of double cream, but not sure if there was too much egg.

It went down well anyway, had a huge pot of onion gravy on the side as Shaw Tarse mentioned!

[Mastodon2]

I've never made toad in the hole myself, but I saw Jamie Oliver or Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall cooking and the piece of info they really, really stressed was to have the oil absolutely scorching hot, and to make sure the dish was pre-heated to a similar temperature to make sure it didn't cool the oil.

[H_Kan]

Don't worry OP, it's a damn site better then my gf's flatmates efforts.

Last week, she tried to make some yorkies and gravy (no sausages to worry about even) and the result was gravy with the consistency of yoghurt and yorkies that resembled a burnt digestive in look and a dog biscuit in consistency. Needless to say I declined the offer of trying one...

[MagicalTrevor]

Mobile Chicane said:

Looks pretty good to me

I second the advice above, but would also suggest you try a heavy metal dish rather than an earthenware one as it will get hotter.

That's exactly the problem, don't use earthenware, it doesn't transfer the heat well enough for the batter.

[icetea]

APanda said:

was pretty strict with oven door etc.

Usually when someone uses the word 'pretty' in relation to how they followed specific instructions.... it means they didn't really follow them at all

[Tango13]

Too many sausages in the wrong dish.

I have a hard anodised aluminium baking tray which is about perfect for TitH.

1, Loads of olive oil in the bottom of the tray, place sausages in the tray and turn them so they are well coated in oil. I add a quartered onion but then I am a bit strange.

2, Place tray in cold oven and turn oven to 220+

3, While oven is getting hot make your batter, a fresh egg always seems to work that bit better and ffs make sure there is plenty of air in the batter!

4, When the oven with the tray in hits 220 remove tray and add batter then straight back in the oven asap.

5, Drink beer for 25mins as the TitH cooks, remove from oven and eat

[APanda]

icetea said:

Usually when someone uses the word 'pretty' in relation to how they followed specific instructions.... it means they didn't really follow them at all

Well there was the two and a half times I opened the oven door when I shouldn't have

Looks like a trip to buy a metal dish this week. I'll post my second attempt back in here, see how that one goes...

[icetea]

I'm going to try it this week also, I've already sourced a toad. Just need to fine a hole now...