Aren't sausages amazing? Not your mass-produced supermarket rubbish, obviously - but a real butchers' sausage. Every single butcher I've ever been in has had a range of sausages with different meats, herbs and spices, made on the premises that morning, and on sale for a vanishingly small amount of money. They're filling, delicious and cheap - what more could you possibly want?
I'm a bit of a traditionalist with sausages: I like a good, old-fashioned pork Lincolnshire or Cumberland without too much mucking about. The important thing is good quality meat and a well-constructed sausage - I hate it when they fall apart!
Our local butcher does a good 'un, and we get a good choice of different varieties from the Farmers' Market too. Tonight I used some I found at the back of the freezer - I didn't label them so I have no idea where they come from! I think they're from the local butcher but I can't be sure.
A classic Toad is a dead easy dish to make, but I have occasionally had failures. They've always been for the same reason: not enough heat in the oven. I've always lived in rented homes and moved quite frequently, so I've had to use a variety of cookers. Generally I can get used to anything, but if your oven is struggling you simply won't get nice crispy brown batter. Don't trust your oven thermostat but invest a fiver in an oven thermometer, and if you suspect a problem with the gas supply - which turned out to be the problem at my last flat! - contact British Gas immediately.
So: Get your oven heating up to a verified 220C, and don't even think about putting the Toad in the oven until it's fully up to temperature.
Meanwhile, get your batter mix ready. I don't really understand the science of batter, but I'm told it improves with standing for a little while so get it going as soon as you've turned your oven on and let it rest in the fridge while the oven heats up.
In a large bowl, whisk together 2 eggs and 300ml of full-fat milk. This is important - low-fat milk simply won't work.
Then add a good pinch of salt, a generous spoonful of mustard and 125g plain flour and whisk until smooth.
It is possible to spend a stupid amount of money on kitchen equipment and while I'm sure it's all very sexy and lovely, it's not entirely necessary. A fork will do this job, a hand whisk will do it slightly more easily, and my electric whisk which cost £4.99 from Argos does it in seconds with no effort at all.
When the oven's warmed up, select your roasting tray (this ceramic one has high sides which keep the batter in!), put some cooking fat in the bottom (I used lard today, butter is fine) and put it in the hot oven for a couple of minutes until it's smoking hot.
Pouring the batter into hot fat will give a lovely brown crust on the underside as well as on top.
Now, gently slide your sausages into the batter and put the whole thing back in the oven for about half an hour.
You'll want some sort of veg with this. Baked beans would probably be the traditional thing but sadly I can't digest the things, so I cooked up some sprouts from the freezer. The oven was on, so I roasted them for 10 minutes in some olive oil rather than wasting water and gas on boiling them.
I felt that onion gravy would be a good addition to this, so I sweated half an onion in oil and butter over a low heat, then added the sprouts and all the juice out of the bottom of their roasting tray and turned the heat up a bit to brown them all off.
Next, add a generous sprinkling of cornflour and mix everything up until it's all coated in the cooking fat.
Add stock - about 300ml - and keep on the heat, stirring all the time, until you have achieved gravy.
When that's done, it'll be about time to get your Toad out of the oven.
Taste verdict
A crispy crust, soft batter, lovely onion and sprout gravy and excellent sausages (which I take no credit for), perfectly cooked (which I do take credit for!). Good quality sausages really benefit from being baked in something - the texture goes meltingly smooth. Lovely. You've just got to use decent quality sausages though.
Financial verdict
Four butchers sausages - £2
Two eggs - 50p
An onion - 20p
Flour, milk, stock, seasoning, some sort of canned or frozen veg - pennies, from store.
£1.35 per portion
The skinny
Preheat the oven to 220C.
Make the batter by whisking together 2 eggs, 300ml milk, 125g plain flour and a generous spoonful of mustard.
Put some fat (a knob of butter, lard or goose fat) into your roasting tin or casserole and heat it in the oven until melted.
Pour the batter into the roasting tin, and slide the sausages in. Roast in the oven for about half an hour.
Meanwhile, prepare the vegetable and onion gravy. Start by roasting sprouts in the oven for about ten minutes. Sweat an onion in oil and butter until translucent. Add the roasted sprouts. Add a tablespoonful of cornflour and stir until everything is coated. Add 300ml vegetable stock and stir until you have achieved gravy.
Serve.
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