Yorkshire Pudding...

are not just with beef any more…

Similar to popovers, Yorkshire Pudding is actually a bread. It is light, spongy and fluffy… perfect for soaking up gravy, sauces or dessert creams. Traditionally, Yorkshire Pudding is cooked in a large tin underneath a roasting joint of meat, in order to catch the fat and juices that drip down, and then cut appropriately. Nowadays though, individual round puddings ~ baked in muffin trays or small skillets ~ are increasingly popular. I like to make them in muffin tins, so there is usually a dip in the center of the top, where the pudding refuses to rise and I can pour gravy into the “hole” or fill it with various sauces, much like a puff pastry shell.

All good cooks have their own favorite Yorkshire Pudding recipe, and this is mine! The recipe is actually very easy to make. It will produce the best, light and crisp pudding that you have ever tasted! I always use this recipe when I'm cooking roast beef and I find that it also goes perfectly with roast chicken or pork.

But, I like to fix them for breakfast or as a delicious dessert, too. That way I can serve them with a drizzle of melted butter & honey or fill them with sweet dessert creams & fruits.

Yorkshire Pudding

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup of milk
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of salt
1 cup (roughly) of beef drippings.
Substitute melted butter or bacon drippings, if you have no beef drippings

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk. Then stir in the milk, flour, and salt. Cover the batter with a towel and let it rest for a while to become bubbly. A while can be 2 minutes or half an hour… whichever you have.

Put about a tablespoon of drippings or melted butter into the bottom of each muffin cup and put just the drippings into the oven. Let the pan and drippings get hot (about 3-5 minutes).

Remove the pan, and quickly fill each muffin cup about halfway with the batter. Return the pan to the oven. Bake for 15 minutes. Then, reduce the temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, until toasted and “set”.

Makes 12

__________

George’s notes:

• In 1737 a recipe for 'A dripping pudding' was published in "The Whole Duty of a Woman" ~ Make a good batter as for pancakes; put in a hot toss-pan over the fire with a bit of butter to fry the bottom a little then put the pan and butter under a shoulder of mutton, instead of a dripping pan, keeping frequently shaking it by the handle and it will be light and savoury, and fit to take up when your mutton is enough; then turn it in a dish and serve it hot.
• Similar instructions were published in America eight years later by Hannah Glasse under the title of 'Yorkshire pudding'.
• Here is the recipe card given to me by a dear friend Helen Smythe from Wales, who called them ‘pudding breads’ and served them at every meal, as her bread serving.