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Toad in the Hole

A British dish of sausages baked in a batter of flour, eggs, milk, and beef dripping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,759 recipes. Both carry 1-hexanal, which smells fruit. The science ↓

Toad in the Hole

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Make a batter by mixing the flour, baking powder, and eggs with the milk.

  2. Let the batter stand for 2 hours before cooking.

  3. Steam the sausages for 5 minutes.

Bake

  1. Put the beef dripping into a pie dish and place it in a 400°F (200°C) oven until it boils.

  2. Pour the batter into the hot dripping and add the sausages.

  3. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Beef + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,759 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).

  2. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Beef + flourtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together10,677 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the batter and help it set and rise into a firm, airy structure.
Flour
Forms the batter's body, which sets as it bakes to hold the puffed shape.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter to help it rise in the oven.
Milk
Hydrates the flour and adds moisture and richness to the batter.
Beef dripping
Heats until smoking in the pan, crisping the batter's base and adding savoury fat flavour.
Sausages
Provide the main filling, browning and adding savoury meat flavour.

The step that matters

Heating the beef dripping until it boils before adding the batter. Batter poured into very hot fat sizzles immediately on contact, which starts the crust setting and helps it puff. Cold fat lets the batter soak in and steam, leaving it flat and greasy.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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