MONDAY MORNING RECIPE - YORKSHIRE PUDDING

An addition to my Monday Morning Recipe. I added another Christmas Card today as I enjoy putting them together and hopefully it will bring you a smile. The ornament is one of mine, and the frame is from Pip, an app I have on my iPad

On Christmas Day our special meal is a Standing Rib Roast with lots of gravy, roast potatoes and all the fixings.

Whenever we make this, we always add a Yorkshire Pudding. It has become our tradition. With us having a turkey for Thanksgiving, years ago it was put to the vote if the family wanted it again so soon after. The general feeling was that they wanted a change and I asked if they would prefer this meal instead. The vote was most definitely. 

I normally put the batter in one large pie dish, but I have had four-space Yorkshire Pudding pans for a long time and decided to make individual ones. 

You've probably done these yourself, but I always followed what my mother did. In the States they look almost identical to popovers (I've never actually made them). These definitely looked as though they popped over all over the place!

The last two times I made the pudding in the usual pie plate, they didn't turn out very well, so I felt it was time to give this recipe a test run before the 25th. I think my dear mother would have approved.  

I found the original recipe at food.com here. To give you an idea of what the pan I used looks like, I added a link here. I'm not saying go buy it just for this recipe. I've seen people use muffin pans, or the one pie plate I have always used.  If I didn't already have this pan in my supplies, that's probably what I would have used. I just wanted to give you an idea of what I was talking about.

Individual Yorkshire Puddings - serves 6 to 8

8-16 Yorkshire Puddings

1 cup beaten egg

1 cup all-purpose flour 

¹⁄₂ cup milk

¹⁄₂ cup water

Salt and Pepper

1 - 2 tablespoons cooking oil or 1-2 tablespoons beef dripping

Preheat your oven to 475F. 

You can go to the website linked above, to see metric measurements and tips about making this recipe.

Put a small amount of oil or beef dripping into each Yorkshire Pudding pan and set aside until your oven has preheated. 

Put the pan with its drippings added into the pre-heated oven about 5 minutes. 

Put flour, salt and pepper into a large mixing bowl. Give it a stir to mix in the seasonings.

Make a well in the center and add the beaten eggs bit by bit, mixing as you go along.

Add the water/milk mixture gradually and whisk between each addition.

Keep whisking until all the liquids have been added. The batter may be lumpy - not a problem.

Cover and leave to rest for up to 1 hour.

Just before cooking, whisk thoroughly to break down any lumps (again, no problem if there are a few). This will make it a bit more airy.

When you have taken the pre-heated pie pans out, carefully fill the pans with batter just under the fill line. You might have to wing it a little bit as the amount will be up to you, depending on how you like the look of it after cooking.

The oil will be sizzling hot so please take care in not only filling the pan with the batter, but while placing them back into the oven. I have already put my pan onto a larger baking tray, for lifting in and out of the oven more easily.

This should be done relatively quickly to keep the heat in the oven and in your pans but again, don't rush and go carefully.  

Cook for about 20 minutes until well risen and golden brown. 

Even if you are tempted to take a look, don't open the oven in the first 10-15 minutes, or they will sink!

If you have two pans cooking at the same time, rotate them from top to bottom shelves after the 10-15 minutes so they cook evenly.

Serve with Roast Beef and gravy!

What did we think? I really enjoyed the smaller, individual Yorkshire puddings. They turned out on the crispy side. These first test ones aren't that pretty as seen in my first photo. 

Gregg preferred it done in one pan and a little more dense/cake-like. 

We cooked another batch a few days later and used my own stand-by glass 9" pie plate. It came out really well but again more crispy.

 My dear other half suggested using all milk next time. I am not making this a third time until Christmas Day so fingers crossed, this is it. That's not to say we didn't enjoy both versions, we just had different ideas on making it and the finished pudding.

Two comments I took note of but there are many at the website. 

 

"I have tested many recipes for Yorkshire, this by far has been the best. Did them in muffin tins (used bacon grease for tins) and they were superb. Really impressed my dinner guests. Thank you for such a great, easy and foolproof."

 

and

"My family love these when I fix a prime rib roast. However, they're great with any roast beef with lots of gravy. I put about 1/2 teaspoon of dried, crumbled parsley in the batter, and used bacon grease instead of beef fat as we always have bacon grease in a pot in the fridge." 

Back to my notes: personally I wouldn't use bacon fat, only because I'm a traditionalist with this recipe and wonder if the bacon flavor would be overpowering. One day I will try it but for now I will stick to beef drippings.

This was on the second try and done in the 9" glass pie plate. When I looked at it, I thought "Dutch Baby", or at least what I had seen them look like in photos. I have never actually made one. (There is a recipe for Dutch Babies here. Also, a recipe for Popovers can be found here.)

This second try rose so high in the oven it almost touched the oven roof, and I actually let out a 'good grief' when I opened the oven door. It was still crisp (which I loved), but hubby asked for all milk and no water next time.

I had read somewhere that a slice of Yorkshire topped with baked beans and a poached egg would go nicely. It may have been the notes in this recipe, I can't remember. Anyhow, we used leftover slices the next day.

Gregg had his poached eggs on toast, along with baked beans and a slice of Yorkshire on the side. I topped my slice (no bread) with beans and a poached egg. Honestly, it was a nice change of pace, but there again, I wouldn't use Yorkshire Pudding with anything other than roast beef and gravy. I just prefer it that way. I'll stick with poached eggs only toast.

My own father heated up his leftover slice and spread with strawberry jam. This was something given to him by his mother when he was a child.  Gregg tried this also and thought it was very good. I prefer mine savory.

Last but not least, it is very important to give the pudding room to ‘grow’.  Set it in the middle of the oven.  And most definitely don’t use the top shelf. In days past, when making this recipe, I have always put it on the central rack on its own, after taking the roast out to rest. 

Do not use more than the 2 tablespoons of beef fat either, for safety reasons. I heard recently of an oven fire and this is what I thought of when someone cooked this. My whole life since as far back as I can remember, there has never been a problem, but safety when cooking anything is paramount. 

The following is the full recipe address:

https://www.food.com/recipe/my-mums-easy-and-traditional-english-yorkshire-pudding-203349

If you have any of your own tips for making Yorkshire Pudding, I would love to read them in the comment section. Have you made Popovers or Dutch Babies?