Shannon Costello

Ordinarily I buy frozen chicken pot pies and do a Wendy’s run when CJ goes out of town.

But today I broke with tradition in one bold stroke and make Toad in the Hole, a British main dish consisting of sausages baked in Yorkshire pudding. (”Italian dish” and “Mexican dish” sound very normal but “British dish” does not.) I have been curious about Toad in the Hole ever since my last reading of Roald Dahl’s Danny the Champion of the World. And of course “Yorkshire pudding” sounds delightfully British. It would be something to say I had actually tried Yorkshire pudding!

The whole process was ridiculously easy, with the exception of the hunt for good quality, herby British pork sausages. Since no one here knows about Toad in the Hole, no one has any need for herby British pork sausages. It made the most sense to go for Italian sausages instead, but I settled for a package of organic (or something like that) maple breakfast pork sausages. I figured I would be eating it anyway…and I was thrown off by a somewhat unusual encounter in the meat aisle.

Yorkshire pudding is made of flour, eggs, and milk. The batter is baked until a hard crust is formed on the outside (looks like bread) and it is what one recipe called “succulent” on the inside. In his naval novels Patrick O’Brian tends to refer to British puddings as “glutinous.” It’s all in the perspective.

I would describe the interior of the dish as having the consistency of mashed potatoes. I quite liked it. I think succulent is probably an exaggeration, though. And given that CJ would certainly prefer “glutinous” to “succulent”, I am glad I took advantage of this chance at wild experimentation.

Herby British sausages next time.