Wiktionary
alt. (context British English) A traditional English dish of roasted sausages in batter. n. (context British English) A traditional English dish of roasted sausages in batter.
Wikipedia
Toad in the hole is a traditional British dish consisting of sausages in Yorkshire pudding batter, usually served with vegetables and onion gravy. The origin of the name "Toad-in-the-Hole" is often disputed. Some suggest that the dish's name comes from its resemblance to a toad sticking its head out of a hole. It is rumoured to have been called "Frog-in-the-Hole" in the past, although little evidence exists to support this theory. It has also been referred to as "sausage toad".
An 1861 recipe by Charles Elme Francatelli does not mention sausages, instead including as an ingredient "6 d. or 1 s. worth of bits and pieces of any kind of meat, which are to be had cheapest at night when the day's sale is over." This recipe was described, as "English cooked-again stewed meat" (Lesso rifatto all'inglese) or "Toad in the Hole", in the first book of modern Italian cuisine of the nineteenth century, ( Artusi's "La scienza in cucina e l'arte di mangiare bene", 1891), in which the meat was nothing but left-over stewed meat cooked again in batter. During the 1940s, a wartime variation on the original used pieces of Spam in place of sausages. An earlier recipe with a similar style is found in Hannah Glasse's 1747 The Art of Cookery, where she presents a recipe for "Pigeons in a Hole", essentially pigeons cooked in a Yorkshire pudding batter.
The recipe itself is rather simple but requires some skill to cook perfectly. A pan is placed in the oven and heated for about 15 minutes while the batter is prepared. The sausages and batter are added and cooked for half an hour. With frozen sausages, the meat is placed in the dish while heated. It is normally accompanied by gravy (often onion gravy), vegetables and potatoes, often mashed.
This was a traditional Monday dinner dish. First, it got rid of the leftovers from Sunday's roast; Second, Monday being laundry day something simple was requiried as the women of the household (even in middle-class families with servants) would be too tired to make anything elaborate.
Toad in the hole is a pub game, involving throwing brass coins at a lead topped table with a hole in the middle. A variation of this game has been played in pubs in East Sussex, UK, the 'hole' being in the centre of the lead which is on top of a wooden table. Toad in the hole is a more refined version of the coin-throwing game Pitch penny.
The only known league in the country is based in East Sussex, and has three divisions, involving roughly 21 teams based in pubs around the county. There is also a major "International Competition", run by Lewes Lions Club and held in Lewes every year.
The game itself involves throwing four brass coins or "toads" from the same distance as a dart board, to a square toad table, made of wooden legs and with a lead surface. If a toad goes down the hole it scores 2 points, or if it lands on the top it scores 1. If it hits the back of the table, or falls off it is void, so a grand total of 8 points per turn can be scored. Scoring is performed in darts fashion, playing from 31 down. The first competitor throws 2 toads, with their opponent then throwing 3, and from then on they throw all 4, until they reach scores of less than four, wherein only the number of toads equal to the required finishing score may be thrown. Like darts you must finish exactly - scoring more causes you to "bust".
For the last two years the Laughing Fish have won the league, but the game is getting a lot more competitive with teams trying ever harder to improve. Pubs outside the county are also trying to compete, with The Woolpack, Burgess Hill aiming to compete in the near future.