If it looks familiar it’s because it’s almost identical to popovers, though just a tad richer. The main difference with Yorkshire pudding is that — classically — it’s baked in one large pan instead of individual servings (like American popovers). That pan needs to be heated and have at least a few tablespoons of smoking-hot meat drippings in it.
Just as with popovers, a successful Yorkshire pudding depends on well developed gluten, which is why I suggest using a blender, food processor or lots and lots of whisking is you want a decent puff. Assemble:
1 ounce (2 tablespoons) melted, unsalted butter
5 ounces (1 cup) all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, room temperature
8 ounces (1 cup) milk, room temperature
1 ounce (2 tablespoons) melted fat from a roast, or lard or butter
Once your roast is finished and resting, crank up the heat in the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Add a few tablespoons of fat from your roast to a casserole dish, about 9″ x12″. Put all the ingredients in the blender or food processor and blend for about 30 seconds. When the drippings are simmering or even smoking, carefully remove the pan from the oven and pour in the batter. Return the pan to oven and bake for 20 minutes. Lower the heat to 350 and bake another 15 to 20 minutes until the pudding is well browned. Cut into squares and serve.
Why are the pan drippings so important? I’d get it if the desire was just to grease the pan, but I thought pan drippings have more broth than fat in them. What does the broth do for the bottom of the pudding? Especially broth concentrated from being boiled over a large surface area?
Hey Mari! I’m going to make a note that it should be fat skimmed off the top. But you’re right, it’s to lubricate the pan and give some flavor.
Thanks for pushing me on this point!
- Joe
We always have Yorkshire Pudding with a roast for Christmas dinner. My English recipe calls for the batter to be rested for 30 minutes after having the bejeezus whipped out of it. The batter thickens significantly.
If anyone s-l-o-w roasts their roast á la Shirley O. Corriher — and I certainly recommend that — you won’t have enough drippings accumulated when the Yorkshire pudding needs to go in the oven. Consequently, I trim the roast the night before and render the fat I remove. That way I have enough for the YP and also a generous supply to coat the potatoes.
The beef fat adds soooo much flavor!
Great tip, Rainey, thank you!
- Joe
The only yorkshire pud recipe I’ve ever used is the one from my Mum’s 1950′s British home economics cookbook which is full of hilarity and unfortunately named “Essentials of Modern Cookery.” It has a few perfect recipes and this is one of them which is partly why I still hold on to it after all these years.
The Yorkshire Pudding is in a chapter titled Batters with the helpful subtitle reminding us that “Batter comes from battre “to beat”, which implies that batters must be well beaten.”
The recipe calls for 4 ounces flour, 1/2 british pint (10 ounces) milk, 1 egg and 1/4 tsp salt. This has a more milky ratio than your recipe and doesn’t have any included fats. It calls for whisking everything together and then allowing the batter to stand “as this softens the starch grains in the flour and makes the batter lighter.”
To bake, put 1.5 ounces of drippings (or veg oil and butter mix if you’re vegetarian like we were growing up) into a shallow baking tin or individual moulds, then “Make hot. Pour in batter.” Bake in a “hot” oven (400-450) and reduce to “moderately hot” (300-350) after 5 minutes. It calls for 15-20 minutes for individual and 30-40 minutes for a casserole.
I do love that book and the descriptions for how to use a piece of paper to tell how hot the oven is (black paper = too hot) but I am just intrigued enough by your recipe to test it side by side.
Also that means more yorkshire pud or toad in the hole for me! Thanks Joe!
Wonderful! Thanks Twinkles! Letting a batter sit is another way to develop gluten, by the way, so that makes a good deal of sense.
But yes it’s ironic that most things called “batters” really shouldn’t be beaten terribly much. Funny that.
Tanks for the comment,
- Joe
My grandpa used to make yorkshire pudding with his Sunday roasts when I was a kid. He made a thick, egg-heavy pancake batter with bisquick to which he added a little cooled rendered suet. (He always bought extra suet with his roasts, to have enough for yp, roasting the potatoes with the meat & for making gravy.) I remember this as bread that tasted like meat. Heaven! Thanks for posting something with dear memories attached.
My pleasure, Jennifer! Thanks for the great comment!
- Joe
Try this method someday: make the batter in the morning: 1 C. each flour and milk, 2 eggs, 1/2 t. salt. Refrigerate it until you’re ready to bake. If the roast is too big to fit in the 10″ cast iron skillet (lucky you), put the pan with the meat *on top* of the skillet in the oven to roast. The idea is to get that skillet as hot as possible, which doesn’t usually happen with only oven pre-heating. Pour the batter into the hot pan with beef fat (and drippings) in it as quickly as you can and close that oven door! 450° for 15-20 minutes, depending on how brown you like it.
BTW, has anyone else tried brie on a spare piece of still-warm yp? Yum!
Sally, I think I’ll be buying a roast for dinner this evening. Thanks for the excellent ideas!
- Joe