Yorkshire Pudding Recipe
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
Hello all, I am Yorkshire born and bred and have made the perfect Yorkie my raison d’etre. I am an inveterate foodie; new to this fabulous blog and have just stumbled on this ancient thread.
Firstly, I should warn everyone who is not a native of the County of Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom, that the making these wonderful gems, while free and open to all comers, has PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) status, and as such, ‘Yorkshire Puddings’ are protected by British law. In order to prevent a diplomatic incident, bloggers should hitherto refer to these fabulous morsels as Yorkies. ?
And now for the good oil.
As most of the planet uses the metric system of weights and measures, I must apologise to American readers as I present my proven recipe for four people, in metric terms. It is 250ml milk; 125g plain flour; two 60g eggs and a pinch of salt. Whisk the eggs first, and continue whisking as you add the rest of the ingredients. The mixture should rest for at least thirty minutes, but I have found that two hours is better.
There are a couple of imperatives when one is making Yorkies; firstly the mixture should be adjusted to the consistency of pouring cream, before being added to a searingly hot cooking vessel. This will encourage a healthy rise in your Yorkies. The oven should be at warp speed initially, as this will ensure that the baking vessel is well preheated. A large baking pan may be used, as can a muffin pan, if individual Yorkies are preferred. My preference is to take advantage of the thermal mass of a heavy cast iron vessel, and to this end I have some four inch square ‘Lodge Logic’, mini servers. There is no need to use lots of fat in the cooking vessel; I lightly spray with oil and add a scant teaspoon of lard to the bottom of each. Fill each vessel to two thirds; this allows for expansion.
The oven temperature control should be wound back from maximum to 200 Celsius (approximately 400 Fahrenheit) immediately on loading, and the Yorkies cooked for first ten minutes, before further reducing heat to medium for the remainder of say thirty minutes total cooking. The Yorkies should be nicely browned and crisp in parts; never soggy.
Your Yorkies should rise considerably during cooking, but inevitably they will collapse back into themselves. Do not despair as this results in a lovely bucket shape into which you can pour your caramelised onion gravy. Enjoy!
Great information, Stephen! I’ll definitely give your recipe and instructions a try and perhaps re-tool the posts based on them. I always appreciate it when an expert checks in and sets me straight on a few things. As far as changing the name I wouldn’t hold your breath on that one. No one this side of The Drink would have a clue what a “Yorkie” is. When the cease and desist order from the international court arrives I’ll re-consider though — promise!
Cheers,
– 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
A few suggestions: I have seen recipes calling for three large eggs with a cup of flour and a cup of milk. Do not believe these agents of Satan! There is an English idiom, “over-egging the pudding”, which means spoiling something by trying too hard to improve it. If you put three eggs in a YP, you will understand this.
DO NOT use olive oil for the fat. Just trust me on this one. A flavorless vegetable oil will work, but beef fat or butter is the best. One of these days I may try chicken fat.
If you need more YP, you can increase the amount of batter by half — 1½ cups of flour, 1½ cups of milk, three eggs and a bit more fat and salt. Increase the total baking time to 35 minutes. If you need more than that, make two.
My mother used to make small Yorkshire puds by baking them in 2-cup ovenproof bowls for 30 minutes. As you point out, the same recipe is used for making popovers — and, oddly enough, crepes.
“Toad in the hole” is very similar to Yorkshire pudding. You take some sausages (good bratwurst is fine) and cook them by frying or boiling. You put these sausages in the hot greased pan, pour YP batter over them and bake as usual.
Bring me my eggs of burning gold,
Bring me my sausage of desire,
Bring me my milk, O clouds unfold,
Bring me my chariot of flour!
I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my dish sleep in my hand,
Till I have built toad in the hole,
In England’s green and pleasant land!
More excellent information. I was going to make toad in the hole before Christmas but forgot!
Thanks again, John!
– Joe
These are exactly the same proportions and ingredients that I use except that I go for 1.25 cups of milk. I’m using BIG eggs so I guess I can get away with it. I usually give it a good mix with fork or whisk once all the ingredients have been added and then let it sit at room temp for a few hours mixing briefly a few more times as I walk past it. If I’m making this for dinner I’ll probably make the batter in the morning and it will get whisked or stirred 5 or 6 times over the day. In any case, a few hours standing time helps and you don’t have the hassle of having to wash a blender or mixer.
Excellent tipe, Gordon. Thank you!
Cheers,
– Joe