Names for an Egg in Toast Dish

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Gail from Mattapoiset, Massachusetts.

Hi, Gail.

Hey, what’s up?

Mattapoiset?

Mattapoiset.

Okay.

It’s a Wampanoag term, means place of rest.

Okay.

Learn something new every day, just like today.

What’s on your mind, Gail?

I have a friend who, he posts pictures of his breakfast on Facebook. Not every breakfast, but, you know, spectacular, you know, interesting breakfast.

So one day he posted a picture of, it was some bread that had a hole cut in it and an egg fried in the bread. And he said, this morning I had gas house eggs.

And I posted a comment saying, no, that’s toad in the hole. And his wife posted back saying, no, toad in the hole is sausages and Yorkshire pudding. And another friend of mine from up here in New England said, no, we call it toad in the hole.

So it went on to the website Chowhound. The friends that post on Facebook are from Philadelphia. And so we got this list of what it’s called in Chowhound.

So we were wondering, I said, it’s gone beyond culinary and into the realm of vocabulary. So I said, I’ve got to ask the way of the words, guys, because, you know, toe in the hole can mean both things, but we’re wondering where, why.

This is a great question. It happens a lot with food.

It sure does. Food and flowers, you know, the same name can apply to two very different kinds of things.

Yeah, the common names for animals and plants tend to vary from place to place, even for the exact same species, and food is the same way. And actually, there are at least a dozen terms for this dish. I wrote a bunch down that she got from the Chowhound website.

So we’ve got eggs in a hole, egg toast, eggs in a basket, eggs in a frame, which came from, someone said it came from the Betty Crocker Kids Cookbook. Gast house eggs, spelled the German way, so must mean guest house eggs. Hole in one, and one that I would have used if I’d known about it, one-eyed Pete.

Oh, nice.

That’s interesting about one-eyed Pete, because when I grew up, it was pirate’s eye.

Oh, interesting.

I didn’t know it. I learned it from some book I read when I was a child. But since then, I’ve learned bull’s eye eggs and spit in the ocean.

Ew.

And many of the ones that you just listed off.

So appetizing.

Yeah, living near the ocean here, when I do, I can see how that would get that term. But the toad in the hole thing is really interesting.

Yes, there is a dish called toad in the hole, which is bread wrapped around a sausage, right? With the sausage poking out both ends.

Or sausages cooked in Yorkshire places.

Exactly.

Right. That’s a thing. But toad in the hole is also the name of the same dish. And there’s no reason that the same name can’t apply to both dishes.

In my mind, I’m trying to imagine the kind of restaurant menu that would have them both. And there would be confusion. I can’t think of anywhere where there would be true confusion.

We could fake confusion. We could pretend confusion. But real confusion, I just can’t imagine it.

Oh, I know.

I know. Well, Gail, as you know, as an avid listener to the show, we love it when language and food come together. So thanks so much for that.

Oh, good.

Yeah, so it can mean both. And the asshouse eggs is the most popular term. And I have to report back to these people, too. If anybody gets their knickers in a twist over it being one term applying to two different dishes, you should just tell them to have seconds, and they’ll feel better.

Yeah, okay.

Thanks, Gail.

All right, thanks, guys.

Bye-bye.

Thanks, Gail.

Bye-bye.

Gas house eggs. Super easy. We didn’t give how you make them. You take a piece of bread. You tear a hole out of the middle. Some people butter both sides of the piece of bread. You put it in the hot skillet. You crack an egg right in the hole. You let it fry for 30 to 60 seconds. Turn it over, fry the other side, serve it. Super fast.

Some people will take the piece of bread that they cut out of the hole and put it on top of the egg before they flip it. Like a little hat.

Really? Okay.

That should inspire an even fancier name, wouldn’t you think?

So Topham Hat Eggs? I don’t know.

Yeah.

What do you call them? Call us, 877-929-9673. Or send your language stories, any language story, to us in email, words@waywordradio.org.