Sausages, one of the greatest things on earth. Batter puddings, another example of simple but excellent food, put it together though, and what you have transcends the mere mortal realm and becomes food heaven.
Not a huge amount to say here other than keep the temperature at 180 (ESSE dial guide MODERATE), have the steam vent open and do not open the door of the oven after you have the batter in UNTIL at least 20 mins after you have closed it. This can be nerve wracking but trust me on this, you do not want flat hole! It’s happened to us all at some point it’s really not the dream.
Serves: 4
Prep time 10 mins
Cooking tome 40 mins
Oven 180
Stove top 4 5ths
Ingredients
- 8 Good snags
- 50g lard
- 2 large eggs (est 120g)
- 120g flour
- 200g milk
- 1 pinch salt
- Ground black pepper
- 1 pinch dried mixed herbs
Method
- You need a good oven proof pan for this, or a good pan and a decent oven proof dish which will require a swap round and a little extra washing up but is better than melted pan handles or failed attempts. I’m lucky, I have a trustworthy stainless steel lined copper pan that is just about perfect for this.
- Make a batter by mixing the eggs, herbs, salt, pepper, flour and milk together in a mixing bowl, give the mix a good whisk then let it rest for ten minutes whilst you do the other bits and bobs.
- Heat the pan on the stove top and add a little lard, begin to fry the sausages to get a good colour on them – around 4 5th’s of the full throttle on the ESSE hob controller.
- Once you have a decent browning on your snags, lob in the rest of the lard and pop the whole thing in the oven for just 3 mins, using a cloth or oven gloves on the now “hotter than the sun” pan handle, remove the pan and place it on the hob, but just on the side where it won’t get too much more heat.
- Make sure the sausages are evenly spread out and ideally not touching each other and then pour in the batter.
- Replace the pan in the oven and gently (or as gently as possible) shut the oven door, make sure the steam vent is open and leave the magic to happen behind closed doors for a minimum of 30 mins, and if you are brave enough, aim for 35.
- After that time, gently open the door and take a squint inside – hopefully you have a risen pudding and it may want a few more minutes to crisp up or it may not – technically I always think around 35 to 40 mins cooks a batter pudding beautifully, but your idea of perfect could be different from mine, You definitely do NOT want the top of the pudding to get burnt, but a crispy base and sides is a thing of joy.
Recipe created by Tim Maddams. Tim is a chef, food writer and cookery teacher who produces seasonal recipes for ESSE at his home in Inverness using ingredients grown in his kitchen garden. ESSE first met Tim over ten years ago when he regularly co-featured in the hit TV series River Cottage. During his time as head chef at River Cottage Tim pioneered ethical, local, seasonal produce and became a key spokesperson in the area of responsibly-sourced food.
Tim’s aim is to show off the “tremendous versatility” of the ESSE 600 X electric range cooker. The new 600 X has ESSE’s classic heat storage construction, patented ovens, beautiful colour finishes and the reassuring ‘solidity’ with modern, electric controllability and responsiveness.
