The only few things I can think of are ....did you put the pan with the
sausages in the oven to heat before you poured in the batter. It's
im****tant
the pan, grease/oil and sausages are really sizzling hot so the batter
will
start cooking as soon as it hits those surfaces. That's part of what gives
it the wanted top and bottom crispy brown surfaces. This is also why you
don't need to cook the sausages all the way through, better if you don't,
when browning them off. No problem I can see with the sausages you use,
I've
used the same type with fine results. If the sausage isn't sizzling hot
when
you pour in the batter, the batter around the sausage won't cook as fast
and
also absorb fat from the sausage, hence "stodgy" glump.
The moisture leaching out of the onions into the batter is very possibly
keeping the batter from cooking properly. Try leaving the onions out of
the
batter, leave out the herbs too. You can always sauté onions with the
herbs
in the pan you browned the sausage and serve them as a side dish or
condiment. York****re pudding and popovers are deceptively simple; eggs,
flour, milk, a pinch of salt tossed into a blast furnace. POOF!
YUM!.....it
takes only a miniscule wobble in the chemistry to produce less than
stellar
results. If you must add herbs used dried, not fresh.
The next thing I'd recommend is to get a stand alone oven thermometer.
They
aren't expensive and you set it in the center of the oven when you preheat
it. Check the thermometer reading when your oven is supposedly at the set
temperature and see if they are the same. Ovens can be notorious for
getting
out of whack with the setting on the knob and what the interior oven real
temp actually is. Also some ovens are slower to heat than others.
York****re
pudding needs an immediate blast of high heat to start puffing up. Putting
it in an oven not up to temp will be a sure bet to bring on gummy,
deflated
failure.
Are you using a sheet pan, like a jelly roll pan, to catch any drips or
are
you using just another larger pan like what you're baking in. If you are
using a sheet pan preheat it at the same time with the baking pan and
sausages. If it's just another larger baking pan/dish you're setting the
Toads in it may be slowing down cooking somewhat as a water bath does. If
you are having trouble with the batter spilling over try only pouring the
amount of batter to be just short of half way up the sides of your baking
tin and hopefully eliminate the need for that second pan.
Are you mixing the batter until is absolutely satin smooth? You don't want
any lumps. I mix mine in a blender and give it a good long whizzz. Do you
let the batter rest for at least 1/2 an hour on the counter before you
pour
it into the pan. I don't feel I get the best results if I don't let mine
rest.
Boy, I sure hope some of this solves your problem, I'm running out of
trouble shooting solutions. I'd say preheat the baking dish and sausages
to
sizzling and leave out the onions for your first try. Let us know how
your
next batch of Toads turns out after trying these ideas.
Val
"noname" <noname@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:4871044b$0$26075$db0fefd9@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Val thanks for the reply
> I used six large sausages about 4 inches long and slightly less than 1
> inch in diameter.
> I put sun flower oil in a dish about 4mm deep, and put that dish in
> another disk to catch any spillage, set the oven to 240-250ºC/475ºF/gas
9,
> and left for 20 minutes to make sure it’s hot.
> Browned off the sausages in a frying pan, added the sausages to the
dish,
> and then poured the batter on top of the sausages. The batter came up
> about 3/4 of the depth of the sausages.
> Put the whole lot back in the over and left for 30 minutes.
> Some of the batter did rise, but there was a lot of stodgy batter round
> the sausages. The batter mix is shown below.
>
> 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary
> 2 large red onions, peeled and sliced
> 285ml milk
> 115g plain flour
> 3 eggs
>
>
> Any ideas, looks pretty much like you suggested,
>
>
> Val wrote:
>> Since you didn't say how many sausages you use or how deep you pour the
>> batter it's difficult to give you an answer but I don't think that's
your
>> problem. When I made Toad in the Hole I did this...
>>
>> Preheat the oven to 425°F . I don't know how your UK ovens gage temp,
>> you'll have to check on that, I think it's Gas Mark 6. Position the
rack
>> in the lower half of the oven. Make up York****re pudding batter and set
>> aside on the counter to 'rest'. I usually used 8 fat sausages about 4"
>> long, sauté the sausages till just lightly browned and some fat is
>> rendered. I always used a 9" x 13" x 3" deep metal roasting pan. When
>> your oven has reached temp place browned sausages equally spaced in
pan,
>> pour in enough of the rendered fat to cover the bottom and put this in
>> the preheated oven for about 5 minutes. Remove hot pan from the oven,
>> quickly close the door back up, pour batter into VERY hot pan about
half
>> way up the sides, no more than half full or until the sausages still
peek
>> through (whichever comes first), and immediately put back in the oven.
>> Bake 20-30 minutes until puffy and brown. Do NOT open the oven the
first
>> 20 minutes of baking or your batter may not rise properly.
>>
>> I had on occasion used twice the amount of sausages in the pan so I
don't
>> think that's your problem, if your are using a smaller pan they just
>> shouldn't touch when equally spaced in the pan. Filling the pan more
than
>> half full will most likely cause over flow and a mess in your oven.
>> Sounds like your problem would more likely be either not completely
>> preheating the oven and the pan, oven temp too high or baking rack is
>> placed too high in the oven or you are constantly opening the oven door
>> to check progress....or any combination of the above if your pudding is
>> browning before the bottom bakes and not rising to puff up as it
should.
>>
>> Give it another try and let us know how you did.
>>
>> Val
>>
>> "noname" <noname@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
>> news:487081d4$0$26087$db0fefd9@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>> Every time I make Toad in the Hole, some of the batter rises, but most
>>> of it just becomes a sloppy mess in the bottom of the tin and fails to
>>> rise.
>>>
>>> I have an idea the cause of this is down to two items.
>>> 1. The sausages are too close together
>>> 2. There is to much batter poured into the tin.
>>>
>>> Can any one recommend the correct spacing of sausages and also the
depth
>>> of batter to be poured in to the tin.
>>>
>>> Thanks
>>
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