#FoodieFriday – Yorkshire Puddings

Last Sunday I cooked a traditional English roast dinner. Roast Beef, roast potatoes, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower cheese, gravy AND Yorkshire pudding.

What is Yorkshire Pudding?
For those unfamiliar with the quirky accompaniment, No, it is not a dessert, as the name suggests, it is a British savoury pudding made from an equal weight of eggs, milk, flour and a pinch of salt, and traditionally served with a roast dinner.

In Britain, the term pudding historically meant any cooked dish made from eggs, milk and flour, such as Bread and Butter pudding, or Bread pudding, where you use up stale bread.

The name Yorkshire Pudding is derived from the method used by cooks in Yorkshire, where they placed the joint of beef on a trivet over the batter pan so the meat juices dripped into the batter mixture as it cooked. The result: A stodgey cake-like texture oozing with delicious meat juices. This is the method my old-fashioned mother-in-law taught me. This early version can be traced back to 1737 when it was called ‘Dripping’ pudding.

As time went on, the recipe evolved into the puffs of air we have today and is usually cooked individually in a muffin-style tray. I’ve never mastered this technique until I learned the secret ….

How to make Yorkshire Pudding

What you need: Muffin-style baking tray. Eggs, lard/oil. Eggs, milk, flour and a pinch of salt.

This made 4 Yorkshire puddings. Weigh the eggs: 2 eggs = 100 ml. Add 100 ml of cold milk, then whisk. Whisk in 100 ml of flour. I used self-raising. Season with a pinch of salt. Let the mixture stand for about an hour.

The secret … place a small knob of lard into each individual batter tin and heat in a very hot oven, 225 °C until sizzling. Quickly add the batter mixture and return to the oven for about 15 to 20 minutes. Don’t be tempted to open the oven door while they are cooking. Hey presto.

I was so proud of myself for getting them to rise, I just had to share!

I think for our American friends, Yorkshire Puddings would probably work well served with peanut butter and jelly. What do you think?

Do you have any further variations to offer?

Why not join the #FoodieFriday Challenge Blog Hop?

Let’s talk about food, whether it’s sharing your favourite recipes, growing fruit and vegetables, your harvest ups and downs, hints and tips, favourite restaurants or pictures of plates of food – even diets. If it’s food-related, why not post it on your blog and add it to the Foodie Friday Blog Hop

• Create a post about food at any point during the following week and include the tag: #foodiefriday. You’re welcome to use previous ‘food-related’ posts.
• Link to my weekly post to create a pingback, and I will endeavour to visit and comment.
• Don’t forget to add a link to your post when you comment below so we can keep track and support each other.
• Please don’t forget to check out other bloggers’ posts.
• tag #foodiefriday