OK, I give up and I know there are some good cooks on here...I'm not, I admit it.
I usually buy Aunt Bessie's frozen Toads but have been yearning for one with really good quality sausages in it for ages.
Knowing I had a full days work ahead on the PC, at 4 am today I emptied a packet of Aunt Bessie's Yorkie Mix into a bowl and broke 2 eggs into it as directed. I don't own a whisk so I used a fork but there was a huge white cloud of flour (?) I presume, landed all over the kitchen so I added the 200ml of water to be able to stir it and made the batter. It's a bit lumpy but will have to do.
Now, I have 8 huge proper sausages but no matter how much I Google, all the recipes say they use chipolatas, so I haven't a clue how long to put them in the oven for before I add the lumpy batter mix.
I usually cook sausages in the oven for about 40 mins so how /when do I put the batter mix in so they don't burn?
Quick response please as dinner is due to be served at 6pm!
TIA
Pat
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I'm no expert but Mrs ON puts the (big) sausages in the oven raw and it comes out when the batter has risen and is browned. No idea on temperatures or time, any hints on the batter box? Mrs ON will be in in half an hour, I will ask.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 8 Nov 18 at 16:23
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Thanks ON, please ask her, I have a bit of spare time.
Never again will I try to do it myself, I hate cooking.
Pat
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On second thoughts maybe not raw, I will ask.
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If you are going to use large sausages, they go into your dish with your fat and into the oven for 20 minutes. 200c
Take them out pour your batter mix over the top into the sizzling oil/fat then back into the oven for another 20 or until risen and brown
But honestly, I think you will find chipolata type are best in a toad
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 8 Nov 18 at 16:30
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You do need a whisk, manual, mechanical, or electric. Not having one is a serious handicap to Yorkshire pudding making!
Those Auntie Bessie jobs aren't much cop, I've tried 'em.
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I haven't been trained to use a whisk Manatee an I don't want to be either!
Thanks Z, will the batter cook in 20 minutes?
Pat
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>> I haven't been trained to use a whisk Manatee an I don't want to be
>> either!
>>
>> Thanks Z, will the batter cook in 20 minutes?
With a fan oven usually, but the "till risen and brown" is your guide to cooked.
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Got a fan oven so about 17.20 they need to go in then?
Give me a Haynes manual and an oily engine any day.
Pat
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17:15 to be on the safe side - a pre heated oven
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 8 Nov 18 at 16:53
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>> I haven't been trained to use a whisk Manatee
It was my job as a bairn to make the batter for the Yorkshire puddings. 4oz flour, 1 egg, 1/2 pt of milk and water, salt. That does four loaf tins.
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>>Those Auntie Bessie jobs aren't much cop
Quick & easy though - take box out of freezer, open box, remove contents and stick 'em in the oven = job done.
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I usually do that but the sausages leave a lot to be desired! I have 8 proper Lincolnshire sausages here just waiting to be cooked:)
Pat
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>> I usually do that but the sausages leave a lot to be desired! I have
>> 8 proper Lincolnshire sausages here just waiting to be cooked:)
Sausage pasta, Sausage and mash, Sausage casserole/cassoulet, Sausage curry, Chile dogs
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Thanks, Z, I wouldn't know how to cook any of those but I can do a mean Sausage Sarnie with Mustard and mushrooms!
Pat
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Have you got a slow cooker?.
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Mrs ON agrees with Zero, at least someone does! :-)
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Thanks On, actually I agree with Zero today too:)
But he always comes good for me when I need him despite all his (local phrase!) bum & bluster:)
That's how it should be!
Pat
Last edited by: Pat on Thu 8 Nov 18 at 17:13
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What made me think raw was she sometimes seals the sausages in a frying pan depending on their size and then puts them and the batter into fat pre heated in the oven.
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Yorkies are almost impossible to mess up unless you overcook them.
Even using a cold tin doesn't make much difference (though I still use pre-heated fat).
www.seriouseats.com/2015/12/food-lab-yorkshire-pudding-popover-best-method-science.html
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Well, that's technical but it still doesn't say anything about lumpy batter!
Pat
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It assumes the batter will not be lumpy
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It also assumes that 6 PM will actually be 6 PM, but a tractor has shed a load of Heston bales on Tesco roundabout at March, so it will be nearer 7 PM.
Today's alarm clock went off at 12.30 AM so I do wonder why I bother at times:)
Pat
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Never tried lumpy batter for Yorkies, but slightly lumpy batter works well for pancakes...
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>> Never tried lumpy batter for Yorkies, but slightly lumpy batter works well for pancakes...
While its possible to have sausages with pancakes, sausages IN pancakes is decidedly weird, even in deep fried mars bars land
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>> While its possible to have sausages with pancakes, sausages IN pancakes is decidedly weird,
>> even in deep fried mars bars land
The main ingredients of pancakes and Yorkshire puddings is identical. Pancakes have more liquid.
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take the sausages out of the dish, leave the oven on with the fat in it, put the sausages back in the fat 20 minutes before he is coming home, and then pour in the batter
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Good link that Lygonos. Looks as if my mum got it bang on. Hot tins, rest the mixture.
I've pondered the thickened-French-onion-soup gravy myself, but never tried it. I will now, using Baxter's soup as the base.
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You seem to have proved one of your past observations here Pat, the blokes on here all wear pinnies. Apart from ON:)
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That's true Manatee, and I'm more at home with a Haynes manual and a can of Castrol R:)
Pat
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Let us know how impressed Ian is with his superb tea!
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Trouble is ON, by the time he gets here after leaving the house at 01.45 this morning he'd eat 'a scabby horse' and be pleased. (another local saying!)
He'll be here in 5 minutes as the local farmer is out with a Teleporter picking up the bales and all the locals are out waiting to turn the farm trailer back on its wheels again!
Sausages have been in for 20 minutes, Yorkie gone in and Onion gravy, made at 4 am today is in the microwave:)
Pat
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>> That's true Manatee, and I'm more at home with a Haynes manual and a can of Castrol R:)
>> Pat
>>
I have just referred to my Haynes "Men's Cooking " manual Chapter 5 page 69
More frog, anyone? Toad in the hole.
Rated difficulty - 3 spatulas. Actual work 16 mins. Total time 35 mins
This is more of an assembly-line job than a make it from scratch.
The bottom line...
Serve with gravy and a pint of Throgmorton's Yorkshire Wallop or similar.
There! Haynes has spoken.
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You joke about Haynes manuals but I have an Italian DK recipe book and have for ages. At least 3 or 4 recipes I do regularly based from that. Easy and very good.
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>>You seem to have proved one of your past observations here Pat, the blokes on here all wear pinnies. Apart from ON:)
I'm not daft, I got myself banished from the kitchen years ago for getting in the way and being a general nuisance. I am self sufficient though, I cooked Mrs ONs tea for about ten years after leaving the RN due to our working hours.
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"I cooked Mrs ONs tea "
A cooked tea? A quick visit to Mr Google has furthered my education. Was not previously aware that in Sotland, "tea" (or should it be high tea?) is often regarded as the main cooked meal of the day. Not for southerners, who prefer something more like tinyurl.com/southernerstea
The origin of Scottish high tea as a meal
Despite its aristocratic name, the truth is that ‘High Tea’ began as another name for a workman’s supper, and was far from an elegant meal. Relegated to the working lower classes in the early days of tea drinking in the 1600s, afternoon or high tea was served on a high table at the end of the work day, around five or six o'clock.
Well, I suppose it is better than a fried Mars Bar :)
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Here in Surrey land, in time order we have
Breakfast, Lunch, Afternoon Tea, and Dinner
(sometimes breakfast / lunch is replaced by Brunch around 11:00am usually as a precursor to High tea at about 3-4 pm)
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We last had that type of afternoon tea a the Gleneagles hotel.
afternoontea.co.uk/uk/scotland/perthshire/gleneagles-hotel/
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 8 Nov 18 at 19:13
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A lot of the top chefs are male you know. I'll leave it at that.
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Was it edible Pat? He won't have complained either way I am sure. But next time get at least a balloon whisk for this task.
img.tesco.com/Groceries/pi/151/5057373274151/IDShot_540x540.jpg
Last edited by: rtj70 on Thu 8 Nov 18 at 20:22
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>> Was it edible Pat? He won't have complained either way I am sure. But next
>> time get at least a balloon whisk for this task.
You need technique for that.
One with a cranking handle might be more in Pat's line.
amzn.eu/d/0yId3xR
Making the batter at 4am was high class cookery. It gives the gluten time to develop.
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Well, how did it go Pat, everyone still alive? :-)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Fri 9 Nov 18 at 13:50
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Well, thanks for all the advice yesterday from the gourmet chefs on here!
Ian finally got home at 18.50 and the 'toad' was delicious! It could have risen a bit more but that would have been the lumpy bits, I think.
I shall definitely do it again but not when we have to be in bed an hour after eating it:)
Pat
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Well, I've had a pinny on this morning, making a massive batch of Bol. sauce for the freezer.
1.25kg of beef mince plus 0.5kg of pork mince and all the other ingredients makes a heck of a lot, I can tell you!
(Recipe on demand!)
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>>Definitely do it again
So please buy yourself one of these things. No more lumps.
You put the flour in a bowl, you make a dimple in the middle of it big enough to take the eggs without any risk that the eggs touch the sides of the bowl, crack the eggs into the middle and Bob's your uncle.
tinyurl.com/yakmvqb3
Last edited by: Mapmaker on Fri 9 Nov 18 at 14:08
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I will get one Mapmaker but I was going to mix the eggs and water together before I added it to the flour mix.
The Onion gravy was the best bit!
Pat
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Forget the balloon whisk, far too much agro, and only really of any use for a pro to make Soufflé or a fondant
Get your mitts on these, and enjoy high rise lump free batter for ever more, with no effort.
www.amazon.co.uk/Breville-Simplicity-Hand-Mixer-Watt/dp/B00DGLUYWE/
I'll then teach how to make my signature Sunken amaretto chocolate cake with whipped amaretti cream.
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 9 Nov 18 at 14:49
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I've got one of those, it's pushed to the back of the cupboard with the sandwich toaster we never use, and I don't want to use it....or the mixer.
Souffle, fondant, cake? Not impressed, give me savoury anytime, did I mention the onion gravy was delicious:)
You forget Z (all men do) that you have a woman to do all the washing up after your preparations but I have to do my own.
Pat
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> You forget Z (all men do) that you have a woman to do all the
>> washing up after your preparations but I have to do my own.
>>
I do my own thanks!
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>> You forget Z (all men do) that you have a woman to do all the
>> washing up after your preparations but I have to do my own.
We have a dishwasher. And no I dont mean the wife.
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So, here's your starter for 10 then!
Find me something easy but interesting with Smoked Haddock
Different with Whitebait, and what can I do with Sea Bass and Red Mullet?
Ham Hock recipe with interest
Gammon other than grilled
And the ultimate challenge find me a cold Christmas dinner that will travel and can be eaten cold.
I'll make it easy now, I love Asparagus and mushrooms and all veggies.
I don't much like any pasta.
I don't like anything sweet with anything savoury!
Now let's see how good you are!
Pat
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>> So, here's your starter for 10 then!
>>
>> Find me something easy but interesting with Smoked Haddock
www.deliaonline.com/recipes/occasions/easter/easter-traditional-recipes/smoked-haddock-with-creme-fraiche-chive-and-butter-sauce
or what about kedgeree?
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Now, that's the other thing I don't like....dishes all mixed together so every fork full is the same!
I have bad memories of Kedgeree too from when I had to serve it for breakfast as a 15 year old to the Lady of the Manor whose tied cottage we lived in and my Mum cooked for.
They got Kedgeree, we got porridge made with water in the kitchen:(
Pat
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>> Find me something easy but interesting with Smoked Haddock
Take your smoked Haddock and flake it. Boil up some spuds, and mash them (lots of butter and season well)
Mix your flaked haddock into the mash, and you can now make a hash (glop the whole lot into a frying pan and fry) or make fishcakes and fry. Serve with fried or poached egg
>> Different with Whitebait
Nothing only good deep fried, maybe chucked in a jar of curry sauce,.
>> and what can I do with Sea Bass and Red Mullet?
pan fried served with a lemon and butter sauce with boiled new potatoes and asparagus* or sauteed leaks
>> Ham Hock recipe with interest
As the hash /cakes idea above, shred it, heat it up with a jar of cook in sauce, serve with rice
>> Gammon other than grilled
Needs to be grilled - end of.
>> And the ultimate challenge find me a cold Christmas dinner that will travel and can
>> be eaten cold.
You make a xmas pie, but I guess thats a step to far so its like this. The whole christmas dinner will travel if all cooked, cooled and packed separately (yes even the yorkies)
At the other end, serve as you would normally and then pour lots of red hot gravy over it.
Its good, I have done it.
>> I don't much like any pasta.
Replace any dish on line that say pasta, with rice. Cant go wrong with microwave in the bag rice.
>> I don't like anything sweet with anything savoury!
Then use limes or lemons to give stuff a kick
Monday night in our place is always a left over night from the weekend, even if its a chinese! usually ends up in a sauce, a pie or a hash
*How do you cook your asparagus? I assume you get them just so, and that takes a bit of skill and technique so I am guessing you ainit quite so dumb gastronomy wise as you are making out
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 9 Nov 18 at 17:00
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Gammon does not have to be grilled..unless it has already been sliced.
Try this Pat.
SWMBO wraps a gammon or bacon joint in bay leaves ( we have a couple of bay trees in pots )then wraps it loosely in foil which has been coated in olive oil and cooks it at 160 degrees for around 1 hour for a 1 kg joint. Cooking time is dependant on weight of course .
Leave for around half an hour and carve or let it go cold and it is beautiful in sandwiches or as a basis for a salad.
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>> Gammon does not have to be grilled..unless it has already been sliced.
>>
>> Try this Pat.
>>
>> SWMBO wraps a gammon or bacon joint in bay leaves ( we have a couple
>> of bay trees in pots )then wraps it loosely in foil which has been coated
>> in olive oil and cooks it at 160 degrees for around 1 hour for a
>> 1 kg joint. Cooking time is dependant on weight of course .
As she didnt say gammon joint, (and you cant grill a joint) I assumed she meant sliced.
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 9 Nov 18 at 18:20
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>> Different with Whitebait
Whitebait sandwiches - A must. Ask a Kiwi
>>How do you cook your asparagus?
In my Asparagus steamer.
In season I buy my asparagus from my local urban farm shop on the site where they are grown.
( I used to pick them myself but they stopped that joy in the morning sun .)
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Must eat fish * chips as it's been a long day but will answer all more fully in the morning before I go to work!
BUT, Z, Christmas dinner will be eaten on a hotel balcony with no facilities to warm anything up so more ideas please!
Pat
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The hotel room will have a kettle?
You take a jug, gravy powder, hot water, Bingo.
(I have boiled eggs in a travelodge kettle)
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I just worry too much about the people that may have pee'd in them
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>> I just worry too much about the people that may have pee'd in them
coffee still tastes good to me
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>> I just worry too much about the people that may have pee'd in them
>>
Who urinates in hotel kettles? Is it some sort of a 'thing' or a fetish or some sort of underground club?
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I don't know, certainly not me, it's possibly a myth in the "industry"...but plenty of anecdotal stuff out there.
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Britannia hotels are all terrible. Invariably run down and dirty. Regularly voted worst hotel chain. They only sell on price.
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>> Britannia hotels are all terrible. Invariably run down and dirty. Regularly voted worst hotel chain.
Was reminded of this thread while in Scarborough at weekend as Britannia have acquired former English Rose Hotels The Royal and The Clifton to add to The Grand which they've had for some time. Not tempted by any of them though I've stayed previously at Clifton with kids when they were still quite small.
Mrs B and I used the Adelphi in Liverpool in January. OK so far as it went but it's a long way down market from the eighties when it was a British Transport Hotels place and our judicial types stayed there while clerks slummed it at the Bradford in Tithebarn St.
Actually in decor and ambience it's still just as it was in eighties but the rest of the world has moved on.
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>> I just worry too much about the people that may have pee'd in them
>> Who urinates in hotel kettles?
>>
In the years ago when I was travelling abroad on business a standard warning was...
If you are staying in an hotel used by airline crews do check ( if there is a the kettle ) as it may contain a pair of knickers it having been used like a washing machine.
Similarly if there is a a light round scorch mark on the carpet by the bed it is probably due to someone using an electric cup heater ( as there was no kettle)
All performed to save on spending expenses .
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>> The hotel room will have a kettle?
>>
>> You take a jug, gravy powder, hot water, Bingo.
>>
>> (I have boiled eggs in a travelodge kettle)
>>
I’ll preface this by saying I’ve never tried it, but...
Precook and thinly slice the turkey
Precook some pigs in blankets
Precook the roast potatoes
A plastic washing-up bowl, some dinner plates and a few hotel kettles of water will give you nice hot plates.
Put the foil wrapped turkey slices, pigs in blankets and potatoes (keep them small I reckon) in another bowl of boiling water.
The kettle, as Z says, will also give you gravy easily enough
And frozen peas, if already defrosted, will cook quickly in boiling water
At a push, stuffing mix, a knob of butter and that kettle of boiling water again will give you the stuffing. Take a blow torch as well, plus some foil, and I reckon you could make it crispy
Take out the plates which will be really quite hot
Put the sliced turkey and pigs in blankets on the hot plates
Blowtorch the potatoes and stuffing for crispyness
Put them plus the peas on the plate too
Drench in hot gravy
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CG, the Restaurant is closed on Christmas Day and that's why we chose that hotel
fieldheadhotel.co.uk/
Most wouldn't let us check in on Christmas Day but others wanted us to do the whole Xmas Package thing which defeats the object and is why we're escaping family in the first place!
The Fieldhead is leaving the room key on reception for us as we're having breakfast early with Family in Leics before heading down the M5.....where we escape to have our own adventure how we like it!
The balcony is huge with table and chairs, the view is to die for and we have furry onesie's:):)
So Peter, that is sounding good and a very real possibility. I hadn't progressed past a posh Ploughman's type meal
The hotel has offered to leave plates and cutlery for us but I declined and will take plastic ones. They really have been so good and it is their Christmas day off too after breakfast, so they should be able to enjoy it too.
We will be making up for the lack of traditional Fayre on Boxing Day though before leaving well before breakfast on the Thursday!
If I can find how to do it I will post some pics before we eat.
Pat
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Just chuck a mini-oven in the back of the Wolwo. Or is "cooking in the rooms" out of order?
Another idea - have you a vacuum packer? I haven't thought it through, but there must be a way of exploiting that.
Are you actually checking in on Christmas morning? Wrap in foil and strap it to the injun.
Sorry, it's early (for me). Just about to leave for my shift in the community shop.
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What's wrong with the restaurant?
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Love the Smoked Haddock, Red Mullet and Sea Bass ideas and will certainly try those
Asparagus, I snap the ends off and freeze to pop in a casserole for taste later and then microwave the rest in just a tiny bit of water for 3 minutes or less. Cover in butter and black pepper to serve.
It really is so cheap around this area when it's in season that we also have it cold with salads too.
Pat
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For smoked haddock, a pub on Poole Quay serves a delicious deep-dish pie. Pre-half-boil some small potatoes and put them in the dish with the haddock pieces and some chopped red peppers, then cover with a cream and cheddar cheese sauce. Add a pastry topping and bake.
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>> deep-dish pie.....Add a pastry topping and bake
goo.gl/images/H9vXRs
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This is the dog's testes in whisking technology.
We have had one for several decades, made by Prestige. My mother had one, too.
I well remember it, as I was often tasked with preparing the Yorkshire Pud batter.
is.gd/eIHsBG (Link to Lakeland)
Last edited by: Roger. on Sat 10 Nov 18 at 13:54
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>> This is the dog's testes in whisking technology.
>> We have had one for several decades, made by Prestige. My mother had one, too.
>> I well remember it, as I was often tasked with preparing the Yorkshire Pud batter.
>>
>> is.gd/eIHsBG (Link to Lakeland)
>>
Agreed, we had one for decades, possibly a wedding present. It eventually succumbed to electricity but still worked well.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sat 10 Nov 18 at 14:23
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Toad in the Hole - Old Navy
