Toad in the hole and the best Yorkshire pudding recipe.

Feb 4th is Yorkshire Pudding Day and a perfect excuse to indulge in some comfort food. Toad in the hole with onion gravy.

What’s not to love, Yorkshire puddings, sausages and onion gravy, made with pork neckbone broth.

I always cook my Yorkies in cast iron. and like them risen at the edges and dipped in the middle - otherwise, they are a popover. I have a cast iron muffin pan for the small yorkies or I use my cast iron skillets.

There are tons of recipes out there, some use water, some beer, and some use a lot of eggs.

I have been making my recipe for over 30 years. I use more milk than flour because when I was trying to be self-sufficient, many years ago, I had a house cow and lots of milk, but I had to buy flour and eggs were sometimes in short supply so you can make it with 1 egg if you like..

Toad in the hole

Toads

• 1 lb our breakfast or Cumberland sausages

  Yorkshire pudding batter

• 2 eggs

• 1 cup full-fat milk

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

• good pinch of salt

• 1 - 2 tbsp lard

  Onion gravy

• 2 onions sliced

• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour

• 2 tbsp butter

• 500 ml pork or chicken stock

• Soy sauce

  Directions

1. Make Yorkshire Pudding batter. I mix mine in a jug, it’s easier to pour and saves washing up. Start with the eggs then add flour, salt and milk. I always use a stick blender but you can hand whisk, or an electric beater, however, you like to mix your batter.

2. Rest the batter for at least 30 mins, but the longer the better, overnight if possible

3. Put the oven on 425 ℉

4. Cook sausages until browned, don’t overcook because they will cook more in the oven. I use a cast iron skillet.

5. When sausages are browned take them from the pan and add 2 tbsp lard to the pan and put it in the oven and get it sizzling hot.

6. Once it’s sizzling add the sausages back in and then pour the batter over them and put in the oven for about 40 mins. I usually take a quick peak at 30 mins.

7. While the toad in the hole is cooking melt 2 tbsp butter in a pan and fry the sliced onions.

8. Once they are soft sprinkle the flour over and stir to mix, then add a quarter cup of stock. stir over the heat and as it gets thicker keep adding more stock a little at a time, bringing it to a boil each time to cook the flour. Add as much or as little stock as you like to your desired thickness.

9. I always use soy sauce to season my gravy, Thai mushroom soy sauce is my current favourite, and sometimes I add a drop of oyster sauce too, yes I know it’s not traditional - that would be to use bisto or oxo.

10. When toad in the hole is cooked serve with onion gravy and your favourite veg. We like cabbage seasoned with salt and pepper and fried in butter or bacon fat.

    The Yorkshire pudding recipe makes 6 muffin tin yorkies or 1 large - frying pan size

    Enjoy! Let me know if you have a gluten-free version

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Small Pig Farmers Guide to Pork Processing

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4 ways to render lard incuding an Instant Pot method!

Pork fat was more valuable than the Pork Years ago!

They never wasted anything and pork fat Had so Many uses, not all were in our food.

• soap making

• candles

• wound healing/medicinal

• salves and balms

• greasing machines - (I use lard to season my cast iron skillets and wok)

The 2 types of pork fat are:-

1. Leaf lard - this is the internal fat that is around the kidneys - this is best for pastry crusts.

2. Back fat - although we call it back fat, on our pigs it is fat that the butcher trims off the pork cuts. - This is best for sausage making but can be used to render into lard.

Culinary uses for Lard

• Render the leaf lard for making the best pastry/pie crusts - Check out my best pastry ever recipe here

• Rendered lard is a great butter substitute for cakes and cookies - it is best used in cakes like chocolate cakes or heavier spiced cakes, like ginger cake - you can’t taste the pork fat but you won’t get the buttery flavour that you would be looking for in a plainer - non spiced cake.

• Use lard to make the best chips/fries!!!

• Season your lard with herbs and spices and use to roast vegetables.

• Sear meat

• Sausage making - Unrendered Back fat is popular with hunters to add to lean game meat when they make their own sausages.

• ****I use both back fat and leaf lard for cooking - but leaf lard does not work in sausage making - you need unrendered back fat for that.****
  

You won’t find canola or avocado oil in my house I am strictly a Lard girl!

Lard is listed in the top 10 of the worlds most nutritious foods so why wouldn’t you use it - and its sustainable & delicious!

I regularily use it for!

• the best chips ever, (fries to my non Brit readers)

• pastry,

• bread - forget the butter and olive oil, I have a recipe for a sourdough sandwich loaf and I only ever use lard!

• sauteed meats and veg

• Stir fries - yes I use pork fat and lard all the time in stir fries

Making your own lard at home is easier than you think.

Stove top, Slow Cooker, Oven and Instant pot all work great!

Rendering fat into lard

It is not as hard as it sounds, in fact it is super easy.

If you are a bit of a kitchen gadget fiend like me you likely have every labour/time saving kitchen appliance going.

Though I did resist the instant pot for a long time, I just didn't think I needed one.

Then someone told me they had made a million (slight exaggeration) freezer meals in a day and that it would change my life.

When I burned some potatoes in one of my best pans, which was so badly burned on I couldn’t rescue it, I finally caved in and got an Instant Pot.

I needed a pot that I didn’t have to babysit, and it turns out the perfect way to make small batches of lard!

Use muffin cases to store lard.

When I discovered I could render lard in the instant pot I felt like a cavewoman that just discovered fire!

It is perfect in summer when you only want to do small batches and not heat up the house.

To make rendering quicker use ground pork fat but you can also just chop up pork fat.

I sometimes use my food processor to chop the fat which is easier if it is still slightly frozen.

INSTANT POT

• Put ground fat into Instant Pot - don’t go above the max fill line.

• Add 1/4 cup cold water

• Press Pressure Cook (High) for 1 hour

• Allow to cool with natural pressure release

• Strain into containers (See tips about straining)

Tip - lard rendered in the instant pot may have some water which will settle as a gel under the cold rendered lard - I always strain mine into pans lined with parchment or cling film.

When its set turn it over and scrape off the gel, then store the lard as normal.

SLOW COOKER

• Place the fat in a slow cooker and set it to LOW.

• It will take several hours.  The cracklings will soon sink down and then rise up again.  

• When they rise again the lard is done.

• Strain into containers (See tips about straining)

  STOVETOP

• Place fat in a heavy pot (cast-iron Dutch ovens are perfect because they distribute heat evenly), and set it to “2”.  

• Once it begins melting set it to “1”.  

• As the fat melts Strain into containers (See notes about straining)

OVEN

• Set oven to 200 degrees F

• Place it in a Dutch oven or roasting tray don't put a lid on you need the moisture to evaporate.

• Strain into containers (See tips about straining)

If you over-cook it the lard will begin to brown and you’ll end up with lard that has a stronger porky flavour.  It’s still completely usable for things like frying and sauteing, it’s just not ideal for making sweet pastries and pie crusts.

In its liquid state, the colour of the lard will be like lemonade.  Once it cools and hardens it will become pure, delicious, white goodness.

Tips for Straining

Strain it through a fine mesh sieve to remove the cracklings.  Then strain it again through 3 layers of cheesecloth to remove the remaining small bits and sediment.

• It’s critical that you remove any bits of fat and gristle along with any tiny bits of sediment, otherwise, your lard will get mouldy.

• Pure fat doesn’t grow mould, it goes rancid.  So if there’s mould on it it’s because it wasn’t rendered long enough to remove all the water and/or it wasn’t strained properly.  So be sure to properly strain it.

• Let it sit undisturbed at room temperature until it has cooled down and is firm (it firms up pretty quickly).   

Tips for storage

• Jars

• Bread pans - I line with plastic wrap - then I have brick-shaped lard

• OR for pre-measured portions and easy clean up  - Measure how much a muffin tin holds, line with muffin casings and pour lard in. This is my personal favourite - Then I freeze the lard and take out as I need it.

What to do with the bits left behind - crispy cracklings!  Transfer them to a frying pan and fry until they’re puffy and crispy.  Add your favourite seasoning. Then if you don’t eat them straight out of the pan you can add to salads as a crispy topping!

Clean up Tips

Yes making lard can get a bit messy - If you have cast iron pans you need to season then put your lard covered utensils and sieve in the pans to catch all the lard drips.

You can also use parchment paper to lay your utensils on - then you sue this lard loaded paper to grease bread or cake tins, or to season cast iron.

Happy Rendering!

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