Savory French Toast

When we think of "French toast," our minds shift to images of golden fried slices of egg and milk soaked bread topped with butter and likely maple syrup, some fresh fruit or perhaps our favorite jam, and maybe even some whipped cream. Well ... forget about that! This is about savory French toast. Food historians have traced the general dish back to the Roman Empire in the 400s A.D. The general idea of soaking bread in milk and egg is known by various names, with "French toast" being the term used in the U.S., seemingly, however, that term was brought to the American colonies by settlers from England in the 1600s, while in France it is known more as "pain perdu," which means "lost bread." The idea with the French term was that this was a way to use up stale bread, rather than wasting it ("losing it"). In England and Britain, in general, the term "French toast" is common, but some also call it "eggy bread" or the more interesting term "Poor Knights of Windsor," named after (in more modern times) retired knights who live at Windsor Castle, and who perform ceremonial duties, although the original term seems to have just been "Poor Knights," which is the same term used for the dish in German speaking areas; that is, as "Arme Ritter." The German term also dates back hundreds of years and it seems too much of a coincidence that the English and German terms developed independently of one another, but which had the original is unknown to me. In England, the "of Windsor" addition to the term came from a group of impoverished knights who were given living quarters at Windsor Castle for their service to the Crown, and who staunchly supported the king or queen, including in their prayers. Eggs, milk and stale bread were cheap and were readily available to provide a filling meal for these men. Why the dish is known as "French toast," is seemingly unknown with any certainty, but one explanation by some is that it was named for a man in England with the family name "French," who served it a lot at his inn a few hundred years ago. Others have speculated that the reputation that had developed for French cooking brought someone in England to dub it "French toast" to make it sound classy.  

 

There are various recipes for savory French toast, but this is my own version and it uses one of my favorite things ... KETCHUP, which is used for some French toast recipes in England and Britain, and I'm calling this an "English recipe." It's best if you use bread that is a couple of days old, but if all you have is fresh bread (especially spongy fresh sandwich type bread), give it a little time in the toaster to firm it up a bit.  

 

Ingredients:

 

4 slices of white bread (preferably a couple of days old, or lightly toasted to firm it up)

3 eggs 

1/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon seasoned salt

oil for frying (I use olive oil or sunflower oil)

ketchup for serving 

 

In a cup or small bowl, add the garlic powder, onion powder, ground black pepper and seasoned salt; mix together well, set it aside. Use a shallow dish to add the eggs and milk, and beat until well mixed, but you don't really want this to be frothy. Add 1 or 2 slices of bread (whatever you can fit into the dish you use) and let the bread soak for about 30 seconds, then flip it over to let the other side soak in the egg/milk mixture (if the bread is particularly dry, you might want to give it a little more time in the liquid). Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a skillet over medium heat. Sprinkle a little of the dry seasoning mix onto the soaked bread slices. Add a slice or two of the soaked bread to the skillet, seasoned side down, then sprinkle some of the seasoning mix on what is now the top of the bread slices in the skillet. Let the bread fry to set the bottom of the bread (in the meantime, start soaking another slice or two of bread in the egg/milk). When the egg is set on the bottom, turn the bread over and fry the other side. You can always fry the bread longer on one side or the other, if it is not brown enough. Repeat for the remaining bread slices. Serve with some ketchup squirted over the top of each piece of savory French toast, which is a REAL FAVORITE of mine.  

 

WORD HISTORY:

Stout-This word, primarily used as an adjective, but also used as a noun, is related to "stall," the noun forms meaning "place for animals or small business outlet or kiosk," and "avoidance for taking some action," and to the verb form "to lose power, or to come to a stop," to "stalk," the noun for "plant stem," but NOT to the verb form meaning "to follow someone in a stealthy way," to "stilt," and to the main part of "install," with all of these words coming from Germanic, but with "stall," with the meaning "avoidance of taking action," being borrowed from French, which had it from Germanic Frankish, and "install" being a word borrowed by English from French, which had it from Latin, which had it from Germanic. "Stout" goes back to Indo European "stel," which had the notion, "to stand something in place, to put or place." This gave West Germanic "stult" (from one of the Old Germanic forms that likely produced one or more of the related words above, but which is uncertain), meaning "upright, rigid, firm," and thus figurative meanings, "proud, strutting, bold." There are forms in the continental West Germanic languages from long ago, but no Old English form is known, "perhaps" because this form developed after the Anglo-Saxons had gone to Britain? (Of course too, it could have been little used and, thus, unrecorded, and then died out?) Frankish, one of the continental West Germanic languages, had "stolt," and Old French absorbed the form as "estolt," meaning "courageous, bold," but seemingly also at times "foolhardy" (bold to the point of foolishness), and this then became "estout," meaning "courageous, bold, fierce, temperamental." English borrowed the word in the early 1300s as "stout" meaning "bold, courageous, valiant, steadfast, vigorous, strong." Within a few decades, the word had also developed the meaning "powerfully built," but by circa 1800, this had gone to "heavy set, fat, bulky" and has been used as a softened term for "fat in build." The noun use of "stout" for "strong ale" is from the 1670s. 

English Lemon Posset

This was originally a drink (beginning in the 1300s?) of warmed curdled milk with wine and some spices that was also used for medicinal purposes for colds and flu, but by around the 1500s or 1600s, the recipe had shifted to something more of a pudding that was thickened without the use of eggs, flour or starch. By that time, citrus fruits were becoming more available in England, as trade and shipping made many previously scarce items much more available, and at lower cost. Posset is incredibly easy to make, but you need to use the basic ingredients of heavy cream, sugar and lemon juice, or likely it won't thicken properly.

 

Ingredients (4 to 6, depending upon serving size):

 

2 cups heavy cream

5 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon lemon zest

2/3 cup sugar

blueberries and/or raspberries and/or blackberries and/or strawberries, rinsed and drained on paper towels (you don't want them dripping with water)

In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, bring the cream, sugar and lemon zest to a boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Adjust the heat to maintain a light, steady boil and let the mixture boil for 10 minutes, then remove it from the heat. Add the lemon juice and stir to mix it in well, then let the posset sit for about 15 minutes to begin to cool down (it will have begun to thicken somewhat). If you want the posset to be super smooth, strain it, but myself, I don't mind the fine lemon zest, which is barely detectable, so I don't strain it. Either way, then pour the strained or unstrained posset into ramekins or glasses and refrigerate them for about 4 hours (I cover them with plastic wrap after they have cooled a bit, or moisture may collect on the inside of the plastic wrap), until the posset is firmly set. To serve, sprinkle some berries on top of each serving.

 

Lemon Posset with raspberries, then plain, then with blueberries ...

WORD HISTORY:  

Beach-This word's ancient ancestry is uncertain, although it may go back to something like Indo European "bhog/bhok/bhak," meaning "moving/flowing/streaming water." Old Germanic had "bakiz," meaning "stream," and also "the land area adjacent to a stream, worn away by the running water." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "bec" (dative: "bece"), meaning "small stream," and this then became "bæche, bæch, bæcche," by which time the meaning of "the sandy and/or pebble covered area along a shoreline" began to push to the forefront, where it has remained (Note: English had words that easily filled any void for the "stream" meaning: stream, creek, brook). The early part of the 1800s saw the verb form develop, meaning, "to run a water going vessel into the shore," and later also it came to be applied to whales, dolphins and porpoises. "Beach ball," an inflated ball typically batted and tossed around in water, seems to have been developed in the late 1930s (originally much smaller than what came along a couple of decades later). Relatives in the other Germanic languages: German has "Bach" (brook, stream, creek), Low German has "Beek" (creek, brook), Dutch has "beek" (brook), Danish has "bæk" (brook), Norwegian has "bekk" (brook), Icelandic has the now archaic "bekkur" (brook), Swedish has "bäck" (brook, stream).  

English French Fries Sandwich: Chip Butty

This sandwich originated in England, but it is not uncommon in other parts of Britain and Ireland. "Chip" comes from the name of the fried potato pieces,* and "butty" comes from the butter slathered over the bread slices. The word "chips" should not be confused with the American word used in reference to very thin slices of potato that are fried (sometimes baked) until crisp, and which are then called "potato chips," as these are called "(potato) crisps" in Britain. You can use bread or rolls for the sandwich, and you can toast the bread a little, which will cut down on sogginess, as a chip butty is likely to require a good number of napkins. You can fry your own potatoes (some prefer to bake them), or you can buy some french fries, steak fries or chips to take home from a restaurant (then keep them in a warm oven, like 225F, until you are ready to place them into the sandwiches), although this may cause your personal invitation to Buckingham Palace to be canceled, IF you have one). You can top the sandwich with ketchup, or you can add some mayonnaise and some chopped herbs like rosemary, thyme or parsley, or you can add British brown sauce, which is very similar to some types of American steak sauce,** or you can give the sandwich a dose of some malt vinegar.

Ingredients (per sandwich): 

2 slices of bread or a split bread roll

butter

potatoes, peeled or unpeeled, cut into slices about 3 inches long and 1/2 inch thick

salt

Let the butter soften somewhat to make it easy to spread. For each sandwich, butter one side of two slices of bread (or the inside parts of a split bread roll) with a good amount of butter. Fry or bake the potato pieces (then salt them to taste, but I use salted butter, so you can skip lots of extra salt if you so choose), or keep restaurant fries/chips warm in the oven until right before you put them into the sandwiches. Put a double layer of warm/hot fries/chips onto the bread or roll. If using a topping, top with ketchup or mayonnaise and herbs or brown sauce or steak sauce or malt vinegar, then place the other slice of bread on top (or close the bread roll) and press down a bit to secure the sandwich. The heat from the potatoes will begin to melt the butter, coating the potatoes in yummy, buttery delight. Have plenty of napkins handy.   

 

* British "chips" are not necessarily the same as American french fries, which are often a thinner cut of potato, sometimes referred to as "shoestring fries," although I'm not certain what the guideline is for the shoestring terminology, if there even is a guideline. British "chips" and American "steak fries" are more similar. The term "chips" of the British usage is not completely unheard of in the U.S., especially in reference to "fish and chips," as some American restaurants market this common combo under that name, while many use "fish and fries," or "fish and french fries."   

** To my knowledge (I know, that's a low standard), there is no mandatory list of ingredients for "steak sauce," but when I hear the term used, I think of "A-1 Steak Sauce," long a popular brand in the U.S., and which is now marketed as "A-1 Sauce," which can trace its roots to the 1800s in England; thus, its similarity to British brown sauce.  

WORD HISTORY:

Bare-This word goes back to Indo European "bhosos," which meant "barefoot, unshod, uncovered." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "bazaz" meaning "naked, uncovered," which gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "bær" meaning "naked, not hidden."^ This then became "bar," before the ending 'e' was added to show the interior vowel was long. Some Germanic relatives also use forms to mean "pure;" often applied to "immediately usable money;" that is, "cash." The verb form was "likely" from the adjective and was "barian" in Old English, and meant, "to make bare, to uncover." Note: Some people believe there was an Old Germanic verb form that was passed down in various forms to its descendants and that's possible. Relatives of "bare" in the other Germanic languages: German has "bar," in modern times Low German uses forms in compounds for "barefoot" as "barft," "boorfoot" and "barfs" (Low German is not a standard language, but rather a number of dialects), and for "cash," as "Boorgeld," Dutch has "baar" ("seemingly" not used much, but used in reference to "cash" (baar geld) and to "gold ingots" (pure gold), Frisian once had "ber," but it apparently no longer uses a form of the word, Danish has "bar," Norwegian has "bar," Icelandic has "ber," Swedish (not standard, dialects only) has "bär."  

 

^ The change of 'z' to 'r' is called "rhotacism," and it was common in Germanic, although for whatever reason, some Germanic dialects did not always follow suit.   

English Oxford Sausages

Oxford sausages date to the 1720s in Oxford, England (where did you think it would be, Edinburgh, Scotland? haha). The usually skinless sausage became much more popular by the mid 1800s because of recipes included in various cookbooks. 

 

Ingredients:

 

1 pound ground pork

1 pound ground veal

1/4 cup shredded beef suet 

2 1/2 cups breadcrumbs

1 heaping tablespoon grated lemon peel

1/2 teaspoon ground mace

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon well crumbled dried sage leaves

1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram, crushed in the palm of your hand

1/2 teaspoon dried savory, crushed in the palm of your hand 

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

1 teaspoon salt

flour to coat the sausages

 

Put all of the ingredients, except the flour, into a large bowl and mix everything together well. Let the sausage mixture sit for about 10 to 15 minutes. It's best to use a little flour on your hands, then form the the mixture into sausages (roll them between the palms of your hands). Put the sausages on a plate, cover them with some plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least six hours, but 12 hours is better. Before cooking the sausages, roll them in a little flour to coat them (shake off excess flour). You can fry, bake or grill the sausages.  

 

I had Oxford sausages with mashed potatoes ...

WORD HISTORY:

Tallow-The origins of this word are uncertain, but Old Germanic had "talga(z)," which seems to have meant not just "fat," but "firm or solidified fat," with the "firm, solidified" meaning perhaps having been the original meaning of the word, as Gothic, an ancient Germanic language of the East Germanic branch of the Germanic languages had "tulgus," meaning "firm, solid, steady." (Gothic died out completely in the 1700s, but it had been very much reduced in usage long before that.) The Old Germanic form gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "tælg," which meant "dye" (perhaps from the idea that 'dye' becomes fast in materials?). By the mid 1300s the form became a number of spellings/pronunciations, like "talugh, talgh, talwugh," and the meaning fell in line with its Germanic relatives of being "hard or solid animal fat," with the meaning "seemingly" taken from its close cousin Low German. Eventually English settled on "tallow." The verb form came about in the 1400s from the noun and meaning, "to use tallow to grease or lubicrate." Forms in the other Germanic languages: German has "Talg" (borrowed from Low German "talch" in the first part of the 1500s), Low German has "Talg" (previously "talch"), Dutch has "talk" (not pronounced as the English word of the same spelling, but more like as if, "tall-k"), West Frisian "talk," Old Norse had "tolg/talg," but this may have been borrowed from Low German. Old Norse speakers had lots of contact with Low German speakers, and influences went in both directions, and Danish, Norwegian and Swedish all have "talg," while Icelandic has "tólg/tólgur."       

English Toad in the Hole: Sausages in Pudding

This dish with the funny name seems to have originated in England in the 1700s to use up leftover meat. The pudding was a way to make the meal more substantial, as this dish seems to have humble origins from poor families, where meat, or at least quality meat, was something of a rarity in their diets. The pudding for this dish is really a recipe for Yorkshire pudding. Many Americans will likely be confused by the term "pudding," as in the U.S., the every day meaning of  "pudding" is for a sweetened powdered mix one buys in a small box at a grocery or supermarket. There are "instant" varieties, where the contents of the box is mixed together with some milk, then refrigerated for a short time, when the "pudding" sets and it is then served as a dessert. There is also a "cooked" type, where the powder is also mixed with milk and cooked briefly in a pan, then emptied into a bowl or individual serving dishes, chilled, and then served as dessert. Typically these puddings come in flavors like vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, banana, butterscotch, and several others. These puddings are also commonly used as the basis for cream pies, like banana cream, strawberry and chocolate. In England, and in Britain in general, this type of flavored powdered mix is usually called "custard powder." 

 

Anyway, in England and Britain, the dish's humble origins seems to have had some elements of society look down on "Toad in the Hole," the name of which seems to come from the idea of the sausages peeking out of a hole, like a toad. Eventually the leftover meat began to be replaced by sausages, thus giving us the "standard" modern day version, and more and more parts of British society came to favor the dish, making "Toad in the Hole" one of the most popular of English and British recipes. As with many popular recipes, there are variations, and some people and restaurants use other meats besides sausages. Traditionally 3 to 5 inch long pork sausages are used, but other sausages are now not uncommon in the dish, and I'm sure Churchill's ghost won't flick cigar ashes onto your meal if you use sausages made of something other than pork. I've made this dish over the years with all kinds of sausages, and when I made it for this article, I used relatively large fresh bratwursts made here in Cleveland. Naturally, you can adjust the recipe to the number and size of the sausages, and for the size of the pan you use. I used a rather shallow pan of about 14 x 9 1/2 inches, and the ingredient amounts in the recipe reflect what I used for that size pan. In England I've read where some use smaller, but deeper pans, as they prefer the "pudding" to be puffed up more.   

  

Serve with mashed potatoes and onion gravy and green salad or peas. When I read over articles about this dish, some mentioned that mustard is served on the side, although the overwhelming number of articles and photos did not mention or show such.

 

Ingredients (serves at least 4): 

 

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour 

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon dried thyme (crushed in the palm of your hand)

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 to 6 fresh sausages

2 tablespoons oil + 1 tablespoon butter (for cooking)

oil for greasing the baking pan/dish

1 tennis ball size onion, peeled and thinly sliced

Mix together the all purpose flour, baking powder, dried thyme and salt; then, add the eggs and 1/2 cup of the milk. Mix and continue to add and mix in small portions of milk until the milk is gone and the batter is smooth. Let the batter sit for about 20 or 25 minutes. (Note: A short time before you will need the oven, heat the oven to 400 F.) In a skillet over medium heat, add the oil and melt the butter. Fry the sausages until browned. Use some oil to grease the baking pan/dish. (Note: I've found that this helps, as one of the biggest complaints about Toad in the Hole is that the pudding sticks.) Pour half of the sausage oil (drippings) from the skillet into your greased baking pan/dish, then place the sausages into the dish. Return the skillet with the other half of the drippings to the stove and saute the onions until softened. Add the remaining drippings and onions from the skillet to the batter a little at a time and mix it in well. Pour the batter over the sausages and onions and bake for about 30 to 40 minutes, until golden. 

 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Cricket-This is the name of the insect, not the game (it has a different history). "Cricket" is related to "crack," "creak," "crow" and "crane," all from Germanic. While the overall history of "cricket" is good, some of the specifics are tough to research. "Cricket" goes back to Indo European "gereh/gerohn," which meant "to shriek, to cry out in a rasping voice." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "krakonan," meaning, "to give out or give off loud sounds, noises." This gave Frankish, a Germanic language/dialect, a form like "krakon," and perhaps a variant form like "krekon," which gave Dutch the verb "kreken," meaning, "to creak, to screech," which produced Dutch "kriek," meaning "cricket, locust," seemingly a dialectal form in the Gelderland region of what is now the east central part of the Netherlands, with the more prevalent diminutive form "krekel." French borrowed the verb form as "criquer," with the same meaning. French then formed the insect name as "criquet," a diminutive form perhaps patterned after the Dutch form, with the "locust" meaning eventually prevailing, and the word "grillon" being used as the primary word for "cricket" ("grillon" traces back to Latin, then to Greek). English borrowed the word "criquet" initially as "crykette" in the early 1200s.        

English Potted Shrimps

Potted shrimps seem to have come from northwestern England, where the small shrimp commonly caught off the coast there have been used. The process of using butter to seal jars or pots of food has been around for a number of centuries, as it was a way of preserving food. As I've noted here before, Americans, and likely "some" (many?) Canadians, use the word "shrimp" as both the singular and plural; while in England and other parts of the British Isles, "shrimp" is singular and "shrimps" is plural. Since this is an English dish, I'll use "shrimps" for this article. For "potted shrimps," use small shrimp (51/60 shrimps per pound), and then cut them in half, or use the tiny size (61/70), which can be left whole.

Ingredients:

1/2 pound small shrimps (or small cooked shrimps), halved if small, left whole if tiny/extra small
2/3 pound butter*
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon mace (or nutmeg)
1 pinch cayenne pepper (more if you like a "kick")
1/4 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon anchovy paste, or fish sauce, or shrimp sauce

In a pan or skillet, melt about half the butter over low heat. Add the lemon juice, mace or nutmeg, cayenne pepper, black pepper and anchovy paste. Mix well and let cook for about 90 seconds over low heat. Add the halved or whole shrimps and cook until pink and tender (if you use already cooked shrimp, just heat the shrimp through; don't overcook them, they get rubbery). In England they usually put the shrimps into small dishes or ramekins, but I just put them into a larger bowl. Whatever way you choose, try to have the shrimps covered with the seasoned butter before it cools. Let the shrimps cool to the point of setting up, and while that is going on, melt the remaining butter, then let it cool a bit. Pour that unseasoned butter over the seasoned shrimps and let it cool, then refrigerate to let it set. You can use it before the butter totally sets up, or you can let it set, then remove it and let it sit until it is less solid and somewhat more spreadable. Serve with warm toast or toast wedges. If you like more "heat," spoon some of the shrimps onto your toast, then sprinkle cayenne pepper to taste on top.    

* The butter "should" be unsalted, and many recipes call for "clarified" butter; that is, butter with the milk solids removed, leaving the butterfat. If you use "ghee," from the Indian subcontinent, that's it, you've got it! Now, if you don't have unsalted butter (myself, I rarely buy it), use salted butter, which is what I do. For such a sin, the English might lock you up in the Tower of London, but they probably won't keep you there long; after all, they let me out. If, however, they threaten to have you meet Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was born in the U.S., and who has some noticeable resemblance to the current orange monster occupying the White House (I wrote this in 2019), don't be a glutton for punishment; just give in, and buy unsalted butter. 

WORD HISTORY:
Pot-This is the noun, and the less common verb, which was derived from the noun. The slang term "pot" meaning marijuana seems to be a shortening of a different word, which may or may not be related to the more common word "pot." This common word has a shaky history, and its ultimate origin is uncertain, and "may" be from a non Indo European language. Its next step doesn't get much easier, as it "may" be from Old Germanic, or there has long been speculation that West Germanic got it from Celtic. The form in the West Germanic dialects/languages, including Old English (Anglo-Saxon), was "pott," meaning, "pot, round container, jar." In English this gradually became "pot," which has carried into modern times, and the meaning narrowed to "(usually) large pan, kettle, for cooking," which also added the meaning, "container for brewing hot beverages," as well as, "container for serving hot beverages." The idea of holding bets in a container provided the meaning for "pot, the money held for card games," later expanded to include other forms of betting. The verb is rare in modern English, but it seems to have developed from the noun in the second half of the 1500s with the meaning, "drink beverages from a pot," "put food into a pot for cooking." Noun forms in the other Germanic languages: German has "Pott," a borrowing in the 1500s from Low German. Low German has that same spelling and also provided the meanings for standard German: "cooking pan," "drink container," and the slang meanings, "a ship," like English usage of "tub" for a ship; as well as the meaning "chamber pot," which then carried over into the more modern era as a slang for "toilet," a meaning also present in English, although often used as "potty" for children. As Low German is not a standard language, "Pott," as "Potte," was also used regionally in the Ruhr area of Germany for "a container for carrying coal." German also uses "Pott" for the betting pool of money, a meaning I "assume" was taken from English. Dutch has "pot" (jar, container, pot), West Frisian "pôt," which seems to be rare or antiquated ("pot, container"). The North Germanic languages of Icelandic, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, all descend from Old Norse, which had "pottr," a borrowing from Old Saxon (the Saxon that remained in northern Germany after a portion of Saxons sailed off to Britain and helped to found England along with other Germanic cousins. Latin had "pottus," a likely borrowing from Frankish, another West Germanic dialect/language that had MUCH contact with Latin speakers, although I have seen speculation that Latin borrowed its form from Gaulish, the Celtic language/dialect of the Gauls, but "from what I can find," that would have required a much earlier borrowing by Latin than seems to be the case.              

Bangers & Mash with Onion Gravy

 Updated with gravy recipe and one new photo 4/5/22

 

This is a common dish in England and other parts of the United Kingdom. It seems the name "bangers" came to be used as a slang term for sausages in the World War One era in Britain, as meat shortages led to the use of more water and other fillers (grains or bread) in the production of sausages. When fried or grilled, the sausages would often burst with a "bang." Some people prick the sausages with a fork or a knife to prevent them from bursting, while to people with a more traditionalist side, such a thing is heresy. Besides "Bangers and Mash," there are some interesting names for food in British English, with "Bubble and Squeak" being another,* as well as, "Toad in the Hole."** I dare say, few Americans would know what these names mean in more recent times, especially as there aren't many men and women still around from the days when they may have been stationed in Britain during World War Two and they likely heard these names used.   

 

 

This is not really a recipe, as such, but rather the serving of three distinct parts, each of which can be readily obtained in prepared forms in supermarkets: mashed potatoes available in refrigerated sections, gravy available in jars or cans, and sausages available in already cooked form in refrigerated sections, sometimes in packages, but sometimes available at a per sausage price in deli sections or at butcher shops. In this case, you would simply need to heat the sausages, chop some onion and saute it until it's softened and browned at least somewhat, add the gravy to the onions and heat it through, heat the mashed potatoes according to the package instructions and you're ready to eat. Of course you can make your own mashed potatoes the way you like them, make your own onion gravy, and you can buy uncooked sausages, unless you like making sausages and stuffing them into natural casings.

My suggestion for 4 servings is that you buy uncooked or precooked sausages. You can use whatever kind of sausage you like, but pork sausage is traditional. In a skillet, heat about a tablespoon of oil and fry 4 sausages over low heat. Cook them until they are well heated through (especially if using uncooked sausages) and lightly browned (they will be reheated again, read on). Remove the sausages to a plate and add 2 chopped or sliced onions to the skillet. You can up the heat to medium. Cook the onions until softened, but it is nice to have the onions browned a bit for more flavor. Stir pork gravy mix into 2 cups of water (or follow the gravy mix instructions on the package). Add the gravy to the onions and mix well. Bring the onion gravy to a simmer, add the sausages to the gravy, and take the heat back to low. In the meantime, if making your own mashed potatoes, peel and dice some potatoes, put them into a pan, add a sprinkle of salt and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook the potatoes until softened, but not mushy. Drain the potatoes WELL, add some butter and mash the potatoes a little with a fork, potato masher or the beaters of an electric mixer (it doesn't have to be turned on, at this point). Microwave some milk until it is just warm (I use canned milk), then add it a little at a time to the potatoes as you mash them well (if using a mixer, now you need to have it on). Keep control of how much milk you add to prevent the potatoes from being runny. Add and mix in salt to taste, and pepper, if desired.  


Ingredients (4 servings):

4 sausages (pork or beef)
1 tablespoon oil 
2 pounds potatoes, peeled and diced (can be large dice)
5 tablespoons butter
"about" 4 to 6 ounces canned (evaporated) milk
salt to taste
(optional) black pepper to taste
2 chopped or sliced onions
2 cups water with gravy mix, or store bought prepared gravy***

* "Bubble and Squeak" originated in the 1800s in England as a way to use leftover meat and vegetables, which were cooked with mashed potatoes, causing a "squeaking" sound as it was cooking. In more recent times, while leftovers are still often used, the dish is also made fresh.

** "Toad in the Hole" is a dish of sausages in a Yorkshire Pudding dough. Here is the link to the article about "Toad in the Hole:" https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2021/02/english-toad-in-hole-sausages-in-pudding.html

*** I did the above article to keep things simple and relatively quick, but if you don't mind taking your time, this is a good recipe for onion gravy; so if you try it, you won't need the gravy mix and procedure mentioned above, but to be quite honest, it is very much dependent upon using good beef stock, and I'm not saying that you necessarily need to make the stock yourself, as there are some decent store bought brands. To be blunt though, if you're just going to use soup base, you just as well stick with the gravy mix in the main article.

Ingredients: 

 

1 tablespoon vegetable oil 

3 tablespoons butter

1 cup chopped onion

2 1/2 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 cups beef stock

1 1/2 tablespoons thick ketchup

1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire

1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, according to preference

Add the oil and butter to a pan over medium heat, add the onions and cook, stirring often, but no need to stir continuously, until the onions soften, about 5 to 6 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the onions and stir it in, reduce the heat slightly and continue to cook for about 2 minutes, to remove the raw flour taste. Add the stock, ketchup, Worcestershire and black pepper and bring the gravy to a steady simmer; turn the heat to low and simmer the gravy until thickened to your preference (about 3 to 5 minutes). 

 

 

WORD HISTORY: 
Shire-This word goes back to Indo European "sker," which meant, "to cut, to scrape," and it is distantly related to "scribe" and to "scribble," both of Latin derivation and borrowed by English, and more closely related to "shear," a word that goes back to the Germanic roots of English, and it is the first part of the compound "sheriff," initially "an official of a shire, now of a county." The Indo European form gave Old Germanic or West Germanic "skiro," which meant, "a division of land under a particular authority;" that is, "land cut up into areas of authority." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "scir," with the same general meaning. The spelling later changed to "shire," but its use for an official land division was replaced in England by "county," a word taken from French, as it was eventually established in England by the Normans, circa 1300. The word "shire," however, has lived on into the present in geographic names and it was even taken to the New World, as in "New Hampshire." German had "scira," with a similar meaning to its English cousin's original meaning, but unlike English, the German word has now died out, "apparently" as it has in other Germanic languages. Just a question: did the move of some Germanic dialects from the continental mainland to Briton as Anglo-Saxon (Old English) save the word "shire" from extinction?    

Lobscouse or Labskaus: A Dish From The Sailing Ship Days

English "Lobscouse" and German "Labskaus" aren't so much true recipes, but rather they are an assembling of various parts of a meal, all easily bought at your local store and none really requires much preparation, unless you choose to make some things from "scratch." Lobscouse, pronounced as if, "lops-cowse," developed from foods commonly carried on sailing ships in the 1700s. The term "may" have developed in England, as "Lobscouse," and then spread to the close cousin of English, Low German, where it was borrowed by standard German. On the other hand, there are those who believe the term developed in German and spread elsewhere. The problem I have with this theory is, in the 1700s, most Germans in the coastal north of Germany spoke Low German, as standard German was not really that common in those areas at that time. Further, there are some obviously related terms in Denmark and Norway, as well as clear over in the areas of the eastern Baltic Sea, all areas, in those times, much more in contact with Low German, but the similarity in the terms and the passing of the base term from area to area is not surprising, as trade between the various regions of the Baltic and North Seas was quite common, but still the word's exact history is unclear.

The component parts of the dish also varied, with English "Lobscouse" being a stew of salt cured beef, soaked a bit in water to lessen the saltiness, then stewed with potatoes, carrots, onions, or perhaps some other vegetables, when available. It seems that some sea cooks thickened the stew with bread crumbs made by pounding stale bread. Some stories I've read mention that beets were often served with the stew (see German Labskaus, below). In more modern times, the basic idea has remained, but the meat nowadays is often mutton or beef, or even ham, and more seasonings are included, as well as other vegetables and rich meat stock. Of course, in the days of the great sailing ships, the beef was salt cured to preserve it. Lobscouse is a specialty of the city of Liverpool in England.  

German "Labskaus" is well known in northern Germany, especially in the cities of Hamburg and Bremen; in fact, I first had "Labskaus" in Hamburg in 1985. "Labskaus" is typically canned corned beef (there's the salt cured beef), potatoes, pickled beets, pickled herring and pickles; then the dish is topped by a fried egg (German: Spiegelei). Rather than use canned corned beef, some people simmer a piece of beef with some salt and seasonings for a couple of hours. They then grind the meat. Sometimes, the pickle, along with a bit of onion, is wrapped up in herring fillets, which is called "Rollmops." Other preserved fish is also used at times. The potatoes are peeled, diced and simmered until just tender, but not falling apart. They are then drained and mixed into the corned beef. A good serving of the beef and potato mix is put in the middle of the plate and it is ringed by some pickled beets, pickled herring or other fish, and some sliced pickles. A fried egg goes on top of the corned beef and potatoes. Some cooks grind or chop the beets and the herring and mix them into the corned beef and potatoes.

So, what you'll need:

canned corned beef or beef simmered with salt and maybe some peppercorns and bay leaves
potatoes, peeled, diced and simmered just until tender
pickled beets from a jar are fine or make them yourself
pickled herring or other herring or sardines
dill pickles, cut into slices lengthwise    
fried eggs

In the picture, I used "Rollmops," a German herring specialty of pickle slices and some onion rolled up in herring fillets, which are then held in place with wooden picks. You can find Rollmops in some supermarkets, but some seafood places may also have them, but regular pickled herring is totally fine to use, as are sardines. I made my own beets, and I improvised, as I had a couple of green onions, so I cut them up, green and all, and used them in the beets. 

WORD HISTORY:
Wade-This word, distantly related through Indo European to the "vade" part of both "invade" and "evade," words of Latin derivation that were borrowed by English, goes back to Indo European "wahd," which had the notion, "to go through." This gave its Old Germanic offspring, "wadan," meaning, "to go through, to cross through," seemingly also with the underlying notion of "go against hindrance." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "wadan," with the same meaning, but more specifically, "to cross a shallow part of a river or stream, to ford, to walk through generally shallow water." This then became "waden," before the modern form, along with the figurative meanings, "to proceed regardless of difficulty, to become involved in some difficulty." The other Germanic languages have: German "waten" (to wade), Low German Saxon "waden" (to wade), Dutch "waden" (to wade), Danish "vade" (to wade), Icelandic "vaða" (=vatha, meaning, "to wade"), Norwegian "vade/vada" (to wade), Swedish "vada" (to wade). (I found what appeared to be forms of the verb in West Frisian, but I could not find the infinitive form.) The "Wadden Sea," known in Low German as the "Wattensee" and in West Frisian as the "Waadsee," is the name of a coastal area of shallow water and wetlands in the North Sea running from southwestern Denmark, northern Germany and the northeastern Netherlands. In a way, you could say, it's the "Wading Sea," as the term is derived from the same Germanic source, with the idea being, "an area of the sea being shallow enough to be waded." By the way, French "gué" ("ford") was borrowed from Germanic Frankish.

Welsh Rarebit (or Is It Rabbit?), A Great Comfort Food

From what I've read over the years, and don't ask me where at the moment, the real name of this dish is "Welsh Rabbit," with "rarebit" simply being a variation. Why it was/is called "rabbit," is unknown, as it has nothing to do with that animal, nor does it have ANY meat in it. Furthermore, it seems to have nothing to do with the Welsh either, in the national sense, but it is rather, from what is known, an English dish. Check the "Word History" below, as "Welsh" had more meanings prior to the modern era, one being "foreign" and another being "inferior," but whether either of these meanings ties in with the name of the dish is not known.

For those unaware, "Welsh Rarebit," the name I'll use, is a cheese sauce eaten over toast. "Apparently" it was developed in England in the early 1700s. There are many variations to the recipe, which generally involves melting fairly sharp cheddar cheese and mixing it with beer, butter, mustard, a bit of cayenne pepper, some Worcestershire sauce and egg (added after the sauce is taken off the heat). The variations include: using sharp American cheese, or Velveeta or Velveeta-style cheese, in place of the cheddar. Also small amounts of other cheese, like blue cheese of some type are added by some (to keep the English theme, use English Stilton, a type of blue cheese). Some use dark beer, some use light beer (in color, not calories), some use milk instead, or cream. Just to make a point, I just looked at an English cookbook I have and the recipe uses cream, not beer. For mustard, an old recipe I once had (I can't find it now) used dry mustard, and in fact, that recipe was the recipe I used the first time I ever made Welsh Rarebit (it used ale, but did not specify light or dark). Others use yellow mustard, while some use brown mustard. Some melt the butter and mix in some flour to make a roux which is used to thicken the sauce by adding the other ingredients to the roux and gradually heating it until all are mixed in and thickened. As to spiciness, I often use Asian chili paste (with no garlic), rather than cayenne pepper, but some recipes call for some hot sauce. Some add a small amount of tomato paste or ketchup, but most recipes I've seen do not use either, although I use ketchup. Some recipes use whole eggs, others call for just egg yolks. As for the toast, some use rye, some use wheat and some use white bread.

 If you've never eaten Welsh Rarebit, or if you've only had the store bought variety, to see what you might like, here's what I'd suggest, as I make a streamlined version of rarebit often, but just for one serving: get a small microwave-safe dish (even a cup), put in a couple slices of sharp American cheese (broken up a little so it melts easily), or a couple of slices of Velveeta cut into cubes. Add about a teaspoon of ketchup, a dash or two of Worcestershire, a little less than a tablespoon (but more than a teaspoon) of milk (I use evaporated milk) or cream, or half and half, a little sprinkle of cayenne (I use about a quarter teaspoon of chili paste), and a little squirt of brown mustard (I use the squeeze bottle, but use what you have; and yellow is fine). Put it in the microwave for less than a minute (if you have the more powerful microwave, maybe it will only need 30-45 seconds). You will want to watch the dish through the window to be sure it doesn't boil over, as I know from experience. I use a cup and I often, but not always, sit an over-sized microwave safe lid on top (it's from a larger microwave dish I have), just to be sure it doesn't spatter. Check to see if the cheese is melted, but if it's not completely, but is close, just stirring it through the hot mixture should complete the melting; otherwise, give it a few seconds longer. Stir it well to mix everything together and pour it over your slice of toast. This version will keep you from the involvement of opening beer; beating eggs, then mixing them with a little of the mixture to temper the eggs so they won't scramble, then blending them into the melted sauce; or melting butter and mixing in flour to make a roux, as this sauce should be adequately thick.  Once you see how you like this version, or not, you can try some of the other variations from above in small servings like this, before you move on to making larger amounts, and perhaps trying out the more elaborate style. Remember, if you use cheddar, it can often get grainy when melted.

Many years ago on the television comedy "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.," the main character, Gomer, eats Welsh Rarebit at a little restaurant. He later sleep walks, going to his sergeant and giving him a piece of his mind. A cousin of mine believed the story, but I doubt any such thing will happen to you if you eat Welsh Rarebit, although I ate rarebit three days ago and I got pulled over in the middle of the night by a policeman, whom I promptly told off. After I got out of jail I thought about Gomer Pyle, my cousin and the Welsh Rarebit. Maybe there IS something to that story; after all, I got pulled over, but I don't have a car! How will I explain this to the judge at my court date next week? Hahahaha

In the first photo, I used some fresh sliced serrano chili pepper in this Welsh Rarebit.

 

WORD HISTORY:
Welsh-This word goes back to the name of a Celtic tribe, the "Volcae," the Latin rendering, but who "presumably" called themselves by a similar form. Why they used this word for themselves is unclear, although "some" believe it is linked to the ancestor of modern English "wolf," "perhaps" because they hunted wolves? Lived close to wolves? (Maybe they were ..."Dancing With Wolves" ... hey, maybe they were ahead of their time.) Anyway, Old Germanic borrowed the word as "walhiskaz," and it was a general term used by Germanic for "Celts." The word seems to have taken on the more generalized meaning "foreigner;" that is, "non-Germanic," as later, the meaning varied, depending upon which non-Germanic people was living next to a particular Germanic group: Germanic people in western Europe used it for various Celtic elements present there,^  southern Germanic groups used it for Romans, who lived to the south of them, and the Germanic Anglo-Saxons of England used it for "Welsh," a people on the far western side of Britain, who are a Celtic people, but who do not use any form of this word for themselves, as they call themselves "Cymry" (meaning "countryman"). Anyway, the Germanic term gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "wielisc," which meant the more general "Britons, non Anglo-Saxons," and also the derived "wealh," meaning 'foreigners." Since the Anglo-Saxons used many of the Celtic Britons as servants, the word also took on the meaning, "servant, a non-free person," and that notion later evolved into the meaning "inferior." By the way, in German, "Kauderwelsch" means "gibberish;" that is, "speech that cannot be understood, speech that is foreign to one," which comes from the notion of "foreign," and German also even uses a verb, "welschen," to mean, "to speak in an unintelligible way or language."

^ Swiss Germans use "Welschland" to mean the French speaking part of Switzerland. As with other modern national groups, the French descended from a mixture of people, but the basis of the French came from Celtic people long ago. Whether modern DNA will change (or has already changed?) that historical assumption remains to be seen. My point here is only that the German population of Switzerland long ago called the French part of the area by that name, which simply ties in with Germanic people often calling Celtic people by that name.