Have you ever made Yorkshire pudding? No? Here’s your chance to grab on to the opportunity and make your very first Yorkshire pudding recipe today!
Even if you have made it before, there’s no harm in just brushing that up a little. Because today, I have brought the best Yorkshire pudding recipe you have ever eaten.
What is Yorkshire Pudding?
Yorkshire pudding is hardly a dessert. Yorkshire pudding is a baked pudding prepared from eggs, flour, and milk or water and is a popular English side dish. It’s a flexible cuisine that may be prepared in a variety of ways. Now I know you are confused. We all are.
Usually, with the American understanding of ‘pudding,’ you may imagine a cup of thick chocolate dessert. But, people in the United Kingdom, on the other hand, will think of it as a steamed or boiled sweet or savory meal with meat, gravy, or animal fat.
It’s frequently served as a side dish with the traditional Sunday dinner in the United Kingdom, known as “Sunday roast” or “Sunday lunch.”
Buying full dinners with meat, root vegetables, and potatoes served in a giant, circular Yorkshire pudding, much like a stew or casserole in a battery casing.
It’s sometimes stuffed with additional items to form a full supper. Yorkshire pudding is known as ‘Toad in the Hole’ when sausage is added. Sausages are baked inside a huge Yorkshire pudding and served with onion gravy in this dish.
The Traditional Yorkshire pudding recipe is baked in a big, shallow roasting tin. Still, preparing individual Yorkshires in a tartlet tin is now more customary, with the lard or oil heated in each hole. Vegetable oils can be used for animal fluids in vegetarian Yorkshire puddings.
A Brief History of Yorkshire Pudding Recipe
Originally, Yorkshire pudding was a way to use up leftover fat. The fat at the bottom of the cooking dish must be as hot as possible for the Yorkshire Pudding mixture to rise.
In 1737, the first recipe for the dripping pudding was published in the “Whole Duty of a Woman.” The dish takes its name from Hannah Glasse’s publication of the Yorkshire pudding recipe in her 1747 cookbook, The Art of Cookery.
So why did she choose to name it Yorkshire? No one knows for sure. But some think it has something to do with the region’s association with charcoal, as high heat is essential for the pudding’s crunchy texture.
The batter pudding was originally served before the main course, with gravy, as an appetizer course, rather than as part of the main meal, as it is now with typical roast dinners. This is because when meat was scarce, the Yorkshire pudding could operate as a filler, satisfying the appetites of working men.
Of course, the batter recipe is the same as for sweet meals like pancakes (without the ground pepper). And this is how leftover Yorkshire pudding pieces were used up the next day: warmed and served with jam, fruit, or syrup.
The crispiness of the Yorkshire puddings ensured that they were stored well for subsequent use, and nothing was thrown away.
What is the difference between Yorkshire pudding and popover?
Yorkshire pudding is an English side dish that originated to use up the drippings following a meat roast. As the beef/meat roast is left to rest, the drippings are heated until sizzling hot, and then water, milk, eggs, and flour are added to it.
Yorkshire pudding is generally baked in a roasting pan. However, it can also be made in smaller individual portions.
The hot pan and eggs enhance Yorkshire pudding’s puffy, airy nature, and it is broken up and served with the beef roast to absorb all the juices on each person’s plate.
Pop-overs are similar to Yorkshire puddings, except they’re baked individually in a popover pan, which looks like a muffin tray but has taller, straighter sides. The term originates from the fact that they “pop” dramatically over the top of the pan. Butter is generally used to oil the pan instead of beef drippings.
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- 150g all-purpose flour (about 1 cup plus 2 teaspoons)
- 175g whole milk (3/4 cup)
- 2g kosher salt (about 1/2 teaspoon)
- 25g water (1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons)
- 100ml beef drippings, lard, shortening, or vegetable oil (about 1/2 cup)
Which pan should you use?
The best part about the Yorkshire Pudding recipe is that it can be made in various pans. Use a 10-inch cast-iron pan for a large pudding, which retains heat well and creates an impressively large puff.
You can also use a regular oven non-stick pan – make sure it’s straight, so the dough has room to cling and climb. The handle of the pan makes it easy to get in and out of the oven. Other goods such as tin cakes do not have a high enough degree of laterality.
Equipment Required
- 6-well popover pan or regular-sized 12-well muffin tin, or 1 straight oven safe
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Baking sheet
- Medium bowl
- Whisk
How to make Yorkshire Pudding Recipe
Step 1: Make the batter. Place 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 cup whole milk, 3 large eggs, and 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt in a medium bowl and beat until smooth. Leave for at least 20 minutes while preheating the oven.
Step 2: Preheat oven to 450°F. Remove all racks from the oven except one in the bottom, then preheat the oven to 450°F.
Step 3: Put oil in the pan. Pour 1/4 cup cooking oil, olive oil, or juice (or mix 2 tablespoons melted unsalted melted butter with 2 tablespoons vegetable oil) into a regular cast iron or 10-inch straight-sided cast iron skillet. Alternatively, add 1 teaspoon of oil or beef broth to each well of a 12-well muffin pan or 2 teaspoons to a 6-well baking pan.
Step 4: Place the skillet in the oven or place the muffin tin or a popover pan on a baking sheet and put it into the oven.
Step 5: Remove the skillet, muffin tin, or popover pan and whisk the batter and pour all of it in the skillet or divide it between the muffin tin or popover pan.
Step 6: Cook until puffy, golden brown, and crisp. Place pan, muffin pan, or popover pan in the oven. Make sure the muffin pan or baking pan is on the baking tray to catch any water droplets. It will take about 25 minutes for the pans.
Serve immediately with roast beef! However, if you want to make vegan Yorkshire puddings, follow the video below.
Tips and Tricks
The Yorkshire pudding will puff up considerably. Follow these tips to give your Yorkshire pudding the best chance to rise to the top.
- Once your dough is done, let it rest for at least 1 hour. Do not rush.
- Beat well before pouring batter into muffin tins.
- Let the oven preheat completely before placing dishes with cooking juices.
- Heat pan and fat for 10 minutes after fully preheating the oven.
- Conventional wisdom dictates that once the dish is in the oven, you should not open the oven. We’ve seen conflicting evidence – opening the oven door a few times is fine, but if you want to get to the bottom of it, try both ways and see.
- Yorkshire puddings are ideally prepared after resting the batter for at least one night. However, they can be baked right after creating the batter if time is of the essence.
- The fat must be extremely hot when the batter goes in. Getting a good sizzle as the batter hits the dripping is the secret to a great Yorkshire Pudding.
Now that you know how to make Yorkshire puddings let’s learn some interesting facts about them. Read on!
Interesting Facts About Yorkshire Pudding Recipe
1. Yorkshire pudding race used to be held every year.
Every year, the wonderfully eccentric Yorkshire Pudding Boat Race contestants took to the waters of North Yorkshire, thanks to Simon Thackray of The Shed.
Participants who were brave enough would load themselves onto their pudding boat and float away. Yes, each boat was manufactured entirely of wheat, water, and eggs!
2. The secret to a superb Yorkshire pudding is hot fat.
Most people’s contact with Yorkshire puddings is limited to a bag of frozen Aunt Bessie’s, but if you want to make a Yorkshire pudding worthy of a northerner, the key is in the oil.
The pans must be greased and set in the oven before spooning in the batter—you want to hear a sizzle as the batter drops! Another contentious ‘advice’ is whether or not the batter should be refrigerated overnight as well, but we’ll leave that up to you to decide.
3. Yorkshire puddings are commemorated twice a year.
Because of the importance of the humble pud in British cuisine, we commemorate it twice a year. The British Yorkshire Pudding Day, which is barely a decade old, takes place on the first Sunday in February, while the National Yorkshire Pudding Day (observed in the United States) takes place on October 13th.
4. Savory dishes didn’t usually accompany them.
A Yorkshire pudding recipe, like a pancake, is made with the same basic ingredients: eggs, flour, and milk. It’s no surprise that leftover puddings (is there such a thing?!) were served with a smear of jam or a glob of syrup as a dessert.
Some establishments that are still trying to ‘reinvent’ the traditional pudding may even try to persuade you that it should be eaten sweet.
5. Yorkshire puddings were once referred to as ‘dripping puddings.’
Yorkshire puddings, it’s worth noting, weren’t always known as such. According to the 1737 cookbook, they were initially referred to as “dripping puddings.”
Why? Because they were originally produced from the drippings that spilled from cooked meat over an open fire. To avoid wasting the meat grease and add flavor to the pud, clever home chefs put the uncooked batter on a pan just beneath it.
6. Yorkshire puddings are the subject of a full webpage.
Yorkshire Pudding is a one-stop source of information for anybody interested in learning more about puddings and other Yorkshire specialties. It was founded by Yorkshire pudding recipe specialist and two-time pudding-making champion Christopher Blackburn from Yorkshire.
7. The height of a Yorkshire pudding must be four inches.
It’s a disaster if your Yorkshire pudding “flops” when you take it out of the oven. A flat Yorkshire pudding, according to the experts, isn’t a pudding at all. There are a few requirements to be met for your pudding to be classified as a perfect Yorkshire pudding.
The Royal Society of Chemistry, in 2008, decreed that a Yorkshire pudding isn’t a Yorkshire pudding if it is less than four inches tall. A proper pud, on the other hand, should be four inches tall.
8. Yorkshire puddings were once considered a stand-alone meal.
Yorkshire puddings were not only offered sweet as well as savory, but they were also presented as stand-alone meals rather than as side dishes to a roast dinner.
This is likely because they employed inexpensive, readily available ingredients and, for another, helped feed big families without having to buy a lot of expensive meats.
9. Yorkshire puffs were once a thing too
Before Yorkshire pudding came into existence, Yorkshire puffs were a thing.
10. Altitudes have a role in the rising of Yorkshire puddings
Once a man living in the Rockies in America got in touch with the Royal Society of Chemistry enquiring why his Yorkshire puddings won’t rise when he was living in lower altitudes.
11. There’s a Japanese version of Yorkshire pudding
There is a Japanese dish known as Takoyaki, made of a flour-based batter in a pan. Sounds a bit familiar, right? Because this is the Japanese version of the classic Yorkshire pudding.
Did you enjoy this Yorkshire pudding recipe? I hope your Yorkshire pudding turned out great. Don’t forget to share the recipe with your friends and family to enjoy this delicacy together.
Enjoy your Yorkshire pudding!
