The Dorset Meat Company’s Toad-in-the-Hole Recipe

It’s our pleasure to welcome The Dorset Meat Company to Mr Toad’s mouth-watering and taste bud-tingling Food & Drink Month, a celebration of delicious West Country fayre…

A commitment to traditional British farming and a passion for ethically-reared and exceptional tasting meat, these are the watchwords of The Dorset Meat Company.

 

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Working with twenty small, family-run farms tucked away in the lush, rolling pastures of Dorset and Wiltshire, company founders Jane and Nick Somper remain stalwarts of small-scale farming practices where animals are slow grown and unrushed, fed only on a natural free-range diet of pure grass, wildflowers, clovers and legumes and hand-reared by farmers who feel duty-bound to their welfare.

 ‘We founded The Dorset Meat Company to provide you with the finest grass-fed, outdoor-reared meat produced sustainably and in harmony with nature. We believe strongly that small-scale farming is better for the farmer, the animal, the local ecology, and for you.’ – The Dorset Meat Company

You can buy The Dorset Meat Company’s ethically-reared meat products and have them delivered directly to your doorstep, a service enjoyed by customers all over the West Country, and beyond – people who truly appreciate the value of naturally farmed and ethically sourced meat

Step One:      Build your own grass fed, free-range meat box with all your own choices or order one of The Dorset Meat Company’s set boxes

Step Two:     Your order is then hand prepared by a master butcher and carefully packed in a specialist stay chilled box

Step Three:  Your bespoke meat box is delivered directly to your doorstep fresh, safe and secure.

‘Farming is as old as the hills but the way in which our food has been produced changed dramatically with the advent of mechanised, industrial farming on a large-scale. There is no trace of factory farming here.’ – Jane and Nick Somper, founders of The Dorset Meat Company

The Dorset Meat Company has kindly shared its delicious recipe for the classic British dish Toad-in-the-Hole

Toad-in-the-Hole byThe Dorset Meat Company

‘Our Toad-in-the-hole recipe is the perfect dish as summer begins to fade and we have the hint of autumn, and our appetite begins to change. We find ourselves craving comforting warmer meals with rich thick sauces and stronger flavours. Our favourite recipe uses our delicious Saddleback sausages. No preservatives or nasties in these handmade bangers.’

 

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Ingredients:

Saddleback Pork Sausages (or beef if you prefer)
225g of plain flour (sifted)
3 large free-range eggs
300ml of full fat milk
3tbs of olive oil (if you have any goose fat add a large dollop as well)
Pinch of salt and pepper

Method:

Heat the oven to 200 ֯C

  1. First make the batter by whisking together the eggs and milk, then add the sifted flour and seasoning. Leave to rest for 20 minutes (we do but you don’t have to)
  2. Place the oven dish in the oven to warm, then add the oil/goose fat to the dish and place back in the oven – it’s really important that the fat is smoking hot, so leave for 5-8 minutes.
  3. Add the sausages to the dish, and brown in the oven (but not cook through), turning them over so all sides are brown.
  4. Ensuring the oil is smoking hot, pour the batter mix in to the dish all around and over the sausages. Cook for 30 minutes until the batter has risen and turned golden brown.
  5. Serve with delicious vegetables – Below is our method for making onion gravy to pour over the toad in the hole.

Onion Gravy

Slice two onions thinly, cook over a medium heat with some butter in a pan until soft, add half a tablespoon of plain flour and gently stir until absorbed, add a heaped teaspoon of mustard and then pour in 500ml of lamb or beef stock, stir until thick and re-heat when required.

‘Follow the herd to Toad Hall Cottages and see why we’re one of the leading purveyors of holiday cottages in the whole of the wild West Country. Our dedicated team are 100% committed to finding your dream setting, so much so, they’ll keep working ‘till the cows come ’ome!’ – Mr Toad of Toad Hall Cottages