With May being coronation month and all, the NYTimes Cooking section has a selection of dishes it deems British, and suitable for the occasion.
I’ve made a few of these recipes and can recommend the Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie, Bacon-Wrapped Dates, and the Orange Marmalade Cake.
The Cider-Spiked Fish Pie was OK. Classic Scones are always good but best eaten in the garden of a tea shop in some quaint west country location with fresh clotted cream and a view of the bay. Fish and Chips are best eaten on a bench on a chilly windy seafront in mid-summer, and Coffee Walnut Layer Cake is memorably best in a bookshop with a teashop on the north Norfolk coast any time of the year.
But let’s get serious for a minute
It’s all very well trifling (!) with fancy foreign food like Quiche Lorraine and posh quaffs like Pimm’s but where are the true British stand-by dishes? The traditional, indigenous, native Chicken Tikka Masala? Where’s the kebab and chips, the mushy peas, and Curry Vindaloo?
And wait a minute. What’s this?
Looks like scrambled eggs on toast with grated cheese. Nothing wrong with that, coronation or no coronation. Would be better with some baked beans, mushrooms, and fried tomato but nothing is perfect.
But according to the NYTimes, this is Toad-in-the-Hole.
What?
I can’t see whether this was posted on April 1st but it certainly is a good joke.
But if it is a cooking prank, then the joke’s on the NYTimes – every schoolchild knows the window for April Fool jokes closes at noon and this is still up on their website. The joke is on them.
You thought scrambled eggs was just cracking a few and serving them on toast. Simple, right? Wrong. Just look at the equipment you need.
Among the breakfast options at SingleThread is an English menu, with toad-in-the-hole as its centerpiece. Mr. Connaughton calls it an homage to Heston Blumenthal — the innovative English chef and owner of The Fat Duck — for whom he worked for several years. For the eggs, Mr. Connaughton uses sous-vide techniques: vacuum-sealing the eggs, processing them in a water bath and using a siphon canister. Lacking such equipment in your kitchen, you can still approximate the result by gently and softly scrambling the egg mixture. And if you prefer, even a well-trimmed poached egg can be centered on the toast and cheese
Hello NYTimes: THIS – on the right – is Toad in the Hole.
OK – so been gussied up to look fancy with sprinkled herbs but – here it is – sausages cooked in a Yorkshire pudding batter. No sous-vide techniques, no vacuum-sealing the eggs, no processing them in a water bath, and no using a siphon canister.
OK – so make me look like a gullible idiot and tell me it was an April Fool.
I appreciate the humor and lighthearted jabs at the pretentiousness of some food trends. I’ve had my fair share of “gussied up” dishes that claim to be something they’re not, and this post had me nodding my head in agreement. Who needs sous-vide techniques and siphon canisters when a good ol’ fashioned sausage cooked in Yorkshire pudding batter will do?
Coronation toad in the hole I think is a good recipe for vegetarians.I would like to try myself.
I hope they were joking. I only thought of Toad in the Hole in its original incarnation as you pictured. Mine looked a little less tidy though.
I honestly did wonder if it was an April Fool’s joke and they had “got” me. Unfortunately not.
Yes, that Toad pic is most photo perfect. And the recipe looks solid too. I hope the creator – https://insanelygoodrecipes.com/toad-in-the-hole/ – got a few hits from my use of her work.
No one has mentioned you need to catch a Welsh speaking rabbit first. And as for catching and cooking toads….i know they walk slowly but folding them into batter, now that would be a skill. Its good to know these British traditions have not died out….
Mmm now I want to make Toad in the Hole! Thanks. And a lovely Welsh rarebit recipe would be nice 😉 That was a Sunday teatime favourite but it’s too late to ask my mum how she made hers.
This is the Welsh Rarebit recipe from the NYTimes. But it’s probably not a patch on your mother’s.
INGREDIENTS
Yield: 4 or more servings
2tablespoons butter
2tablespoons flour
1tablespoon mustard powder, or to taste
½teaspoon cayenne, or to taste
¾cup strong dark beer, like Guinness
2tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, or to taste
1pound Cheddar, Double Gloucester or other English cheese (or other good semi-hard cheese, like Comté or Gruyère, or a mixture), grated
4 to 8pieces lightly toasted bread
PREPARATION
Step 1
Put butter in a saucepan over medium heat and, as it melts, stir in flour. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and very fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in mustard and cayenne, then whisk in beer and Worcestershire sauce.
Step 2
When mixture is uniform, turn heat to low and stir in cheese, again stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and pour into a broad container to set (you can refrigerate for up to a day at this point).
Step 3
Spread mixture thickly on toast and put under broiler until bubbly and edges of toast are crisp. Serve immediately.
This is so kind of you! I am saving this one for later.
My family has made many a Yorkshire Pudding, but I’ve never seen this. I love sausages, so I will definitely try it.
Sausages and Yorkshire pud are a hard combo to beat!
We haven’t got Toad in The Hole in New England, but I grew up with everything else. Shepherd’s Pie and Fish n Chips were, and are, my favourites. NE pie is done with beef, though, not lamb. At least in Maine.
You use the meat you have. Although shepherds tend sheep so lamb and mutton would have been the traditional filling. The NYTimes vegetarian version has a few steps to it but it’s delicious and meat eaters don’t miss the meat. Makes for a great “holiday” meal.
They sell veggie haggis at a British importer a few towns out. Real haggis is illegal here. Shame, that is.
I didn’t know haggis was illegal in the US so went off on a wander and found this from the BBC with full ingredients of the “real” thing, an explanation of the ban, and the Maine-made substitute. It’s called the “offal truth” https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21128089
And also this:
“A 2003 survey suggested that a third of US visitors to Scotland believed the haggis was an animal. Nearly a quarter thought they could catch one.”
I think a good homemade hot sauce is missing off those scambled eggs and swap out the toast for a tortilla. Then use the toast for Welsh Rarebit.
Not traditional. Nor toad-in-the-hole. But very tasty.
That it isn’t! T in the H doesn’t much appeal to me, on the other hand a good Welsh Rarebit…
And of course – the NYTimes has a bizarre recipe for that too. As seen elsewhere in these comments.
Toad in the hole…oh I loved it when mother made it. My mum once went off on a mad weekend with a friend, leaving father stuck with me. I thought I would impress him by producing a T in the H. Alas, I’d never been taught about Yorkshire pudding. What I produced was sausages (themselves sub-standard being from a tin) in concrete. To his credit, he poked out the sausage and made that his lunch. I don’t think I’ve had it since! Another favourite was Welsh Rarebit.
Oh! Yes! Welsh Rarebit – now we’re cooking!
We would all be better off had we a parent who routinely indulged well-intentioned failure in a child reaching up to responsibility.