It is England in the 1700s, and bits of meat are being thrown into a pot, t heir sizzling drippings cooking a thick batter that’s poured on top, making it puff up and crisp spectacularly. The batter, plus a good serving of gravy, transforms the random off-cuts into a satiating, delicious meal.

The dish was first referred to quite literally, as “meat boiled in a crust,” or described as “batter-pudding with a hole in the middle containing meat.” Later on, sausage became the commonplace meat and a more figurative name was given; with that, toad-in-the-hole, along with spotted dick and bubble and squeak, became one of Britain’s most popular (and peculiarly named) dishes.

There are all kind of theories as to the origin of the name toad-in-the-hole (which differs from American toad-in-the-hole, made with a slice of bread and a fried egg), none to do with the cooking of amphibians. That, I am delighted to announce, belongs to the realm of hearsay.

Only that hearsay tends to stick, though, much like the idea that British food is inherently bland, stodgy and lacking in imagination. Alas, this perception is how so many outsiders came to get a kick out of thumping British food for a very long time and, to an extent, still do.