Another Chip Off the 'ol B-Lax

I wanted to give my mom a break from having to think up what to make my dad for lunch. She was running out of ideas so I offered to make him Pigs-in-a-Blanket since he loves sausages so much. I'd also found some Irish Bangers at the local supermarket and wanted to give them a try. My parents really enjoyed the English bangers we had on a trip to London so I was hoping they could have something similarly tasty back home.

First off, about those bangers. I was quite scared by the intensely bright and artificaly pinkness of them. I've never seen any meat, even the highly processed Oscar Meyers stuff look this awful. I asked one of the workers and she said people loved them and she did too. Now, I purposely went to this market because of the high Irish population of the town. So I gave them a shot. My parents said they not only tasted very piggy in a bad way, they were tasteless. So much for that.

As for the "blanket" part of this concoction, I'd actually made this recipe before (prior to the start of this blog) from Nigella Lawson using plain old Nathan's brand of mini sausages. It turned out pretty good as the dough was soft and tasty unlike the processed flavors of the average pigs-in-a-blanket I've ever had.

And finally, I figured I should throw in some of the gravad lax for variety and to chip away at the 6lb stash. The conclusion is I'd do this again, but not with these Tommy Malone bangers. Maybe there's a special way to serve them up but I'm definitely not using them in my next Toad-in-the-Hole (which is what I'd planned for them). Here they are in their glorious pinkness. Actually, the photo doesn't do it justice. They were way scarier than this:

And the finished product with the lax on the left (just peeking out):

Toad in the Hole Perfection?

Well, as near perfection thus far. Yet another attempt at this British favorite. This time around, it puffed up very nicely with a crisp crust, even in middle whereas before, it'd just blow up on the sides while the middle was dense. It was a nice and solid pudding (as in it had body) yet was soft and filled with holes for lightness. Awesome! I think the proportion of oil was right. Another plus was that it wasn't too salty either nor very eggy tasting (which was great for me). Unfortunately, the vegetarian sausages I tried (yet *another* brand) was too salty. I bought them on a whim as I'd never tried them before. I really must stop buying these awful things!!! Curiosity gets the better of me. =P The secret to my final success? I tried out Nigella Lawson's recipe. I think we have a winner! =D Or at least until I come across an even better recipe...or maybe I'm just getting the hang of it? ;) Well, I gotta say her recipe was very easy to whip up as I did it in between shining my tires after I washed the car. =P Hooray! I'm ecstatic at finally being able to revisit a dish my classmates served up. I cannot help but think of them and my time in the UK each time I've tried this dish. They have found a way to gain a foothold in my sieve-like memory. How wonderful! =)

Toad in the hole

Another trip to England! This is actually my second attempt at 'Toad in the Hole' which I first had in England when my mates cooked it up for us. What? You ate toads? What is this? Basically, it's yorkshire pudding baked up with sausages peeking out. My first attempt was made with too much oil and too much time in the oven which resulted in a bit of a burnt mess. In the meat version, I used Irish bangers from Whole Foods which turned out to be too salty and not authentic tasting enough. The vegetarian version were made with some veg sausages that were ehhh. I forget the brand now. For the batter from Jamie Oliver, I had split the mixture between the two using only half the amount of sausages for each version.

On this try, I got me some Cumberland sausages from Myers of Keswick in Greenwich Village, NYC. Now those puppies are authentic! For the vegetarian version, I used some German style (not bratwurst) Smart Dogs. After a chat with really nice guy behind the counter at Myers about my fiasco last time, he suggested I try Goldenfry's brand of Yorkshire Pudding mix which was quite popular. Ok, why not since the last one came out so beautifully black. So the prepackaged mixed was used with the Cumberland sausages while the veg sausages got the 'from scratch' treatment. I decided to try the recipe in my British cookbook: Great British Cooking.

The verdict? Ahhh...the verdict. The box mix of Yorkshire pudding was incredibly salty. Unbelievably salty! The sausages were excellent though and infused with herbs. It smelled mouth-wateringly good as it fried up in the pan, and then while baking in the oven. The pudding puffed up beautifully (unlike the previous attempt) but was still slightly on the oily side which was my fault. I was afraid the oil (fat really) that oozed out from the sausages would not be enough so I added some olive oil to compensate. Oops! The vegetarian version was a reversed version of the meat one where the sausages were horribly salty but the pudding was better tasting (than the last time that is) and there wasn't enough oil. =P The pudding wasn't fabulous, but way better. It was quite eggy in taste and puffed up great on the sides, but not quite in the middle. So far, none of the pudding versions have recreated what I had taste in England. =( And how to uniformly puff the pudding up? Interestinly enough, both versions did not have the sausages "hiding" in the pudding whereas the first attempt, they did as they should.

Perhaps the next attempt will be the winner. =D The strategy to make that happen? Use those sausages from Myer's again! Make yorkshire pudding on it's own (maybe make the typical roast to go with it) to get that down pat. Find better vegetarian sausages or use marinated tofu or even marinate my own. I'm tired of how all the vegetarian 'soy-based' meatless meats are vessels for sodium. Yuck. If not for this dish, I don't even touch the stuff anymore.

As for my experience at Myer's, it was a long awaited trip to check them out. Previously, I'd gone to a Brit shop in Montclair (London Food Company) which was fun, but I'd heard rave reviews of authenticity for Myer's sausages and other pre-made goods like Cornish Pasties (yum!!!), sausage rolls (mmm!), Scotch eggs (must haves!) and various pies. All very yum and found in a nice little shop with friendly folk and pretty good variety in the dry goods department. =9~ It was most definitely well worth the trudge into the city on a very sleet-peling, slushy (unplowed streets!!), windy and bitterly cold day. It's also very easy to get to by subway. This place is highly recommended! The Montclair shop will tide me over for the most part though until my next visit to Myers. =) I really don't understand why British food gets such a bad rap. I did not encounter any bad food while there. On the contrary, all the native food was delicious and the international food was phenomenal!

Meat version

Vegetarian version