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| Twelve Yorkshire Puddings - like Jesus's disciples |
When I was a boy, my mother made a traditional roast dinner for the family every Sunday afternoon. For the first course, she would take a massive Yorkshire pudding from the oven and divide it into six. Then we would sit at the dining table consuming our slices of pudding doused in meat gravy ahead of the main course - meat, mashed potatoes and two or three vegetables.
Shirley and I have never eaten our Sunday Yorkshire puddings that way. Instead, we make small puddings that we place on our main course plates. Since I retired from teaching, I have done most of the cooking and yesterday was no different.
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| Yorkshire puddings from above |
I roasted a chicken and carrots. Additionally, I prepared green beans, mashed potatoes, onion gravy and a tray of small Yorkshire puddings. I never bother to measure Yorkshire pudding ingredients as the recipe is in my DNA. I could make them with my eyes closed.
There are several small tips that Yorkshire pudding cooks might share - to do with the thickness of the mixture, the heat of the oven, the fat or oil used and the timing. The amount of egg mixture included is also pretty significant.
Accompanying this blogpost you can see pictures of yesterday's Yorkshire puddings. We ate four of them and the other eight were popped in our freezer ready for another mealtime. Second time round they take just three or four minutes to warm up in a hot oven.
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| The Yorkshire Pudding as Art |
I like Yorkshire pudding. However it doesn't turn out very well here. I guess it's not in the genes here!
ReplyDeleteHa-ha! I see what you did there as The Micro Manager's real name is Gene!
DeleteI've never had one but they look absolutely scrumptious!!
ReplyDeleteThey are simple things... just like the blogger of that name!
DeleteI thought you were going to share your tips!! Now I'm crushed.
ReplyDeleteI also thought - erroneously, it seems - that Yorkshire puddings were only served with roast beef. Clearly I need all the education I can get on this topic, YP. Feel free to edit your post or write a follow up.
I will guard my mother's recipe till death. She whispered it to me on her own deathbed. You will have to look elsewhere on the internet for fake Yorkshire pudding recipes. However, I will emphasise HEAT - at the top of the oven to make the puddings rise rapidly.
DeleteI can remember being served Yorkshire pudding with gravy and wondering where the rest of the meal was!
ReplyDeleteThey say that puddings were served in that way to fill the belly before the main meal.
DeleteMy Mum used to make a large Yorkshire pud and we had it for " pudding" with Tate and Lyle Golden Syrup drizzled over....yummy! I guess it was a cheap dessert in those days!
ReplyDeleteIn the end, there is little difference between a pancake mixture and a Yorkshire pudding mixture. Was your mother from Lancashire?
DeleteYour Yorkshire puddings look exactly the same as my mother's used to - they were cooked the same way, and hers were always picture perfect, very light and scrumptious too ! She always said it took a "light" hand with the batter mix. Providing I followed her instructions to the letter, I got more or less the same results.
ReplyDeleteDo you cook yours in an electric oven, or gas? A friend once told me that a gas oven won't give the same crisp results as electric.
It is an electric oven CG. It sounds like your mother must have been from Yorkshire.Either that or she simply worshipped all things Yorkshire. She had good taste.
DeleteThose look absolutely divine! I may have to try my hand at making them one day if I can find a recipe. Shirley is lucky to have such a good cook at home!
ReplyDeleteI blame women's liberation. She treats me like her slave.
DeleteThey look lovely! Are you competing with Ian? I’ve never eaten Yorkshire Pudding. I like to try foreign recepies - foreign for me - and I made Toad in the Hole for the first time in my life this year; I believe the batter is similar. What are Yorkshire Puddings filled with and do you only eat them with gravy?
ReplyDeleteGreetings Maria x
If you made a successful "toad in the hole" then effectively you made a Yorkshire pudding mixture Maria! Well done! In some British pubs and restaurants you can order filled Yorkshire puddings containing meat stew or other ingredients but I think this is sacrilege!
DeleteI have only ever eaten Yorkshire puddings with gravy but some people do treat them like risen pancakes - adding syrup or jam. Such people are generally not from Yorkshire!
Yes it turned out very nice because my husband, who only likes traditional Italian dishes, enjoyed it very much and went for a second helping. Thank you Neil, I will try to make Yorkshire Puddings and, as you say, no fillings.
Deletex
Hot oven with the puddings at the top. Add a very small amount of salt to your mixture. The pudding tray hollows should have lard or vegetable oil in them and you should heat the tray up for five minutes before quickly adding the mixture and getting the tray back in the over pretty quickly.
DeleteThank you for the tip!
Deletex
I've never heard of slicing up one big pudding -- I've only seen them as you made them, small individual puddings. Dave makes them now and again, though I'm sure yours (being Yorkshireman-produced) are more authentic!
ReplyDeleteIn working class Yorkshire homes, filling up with Yorkshire pudding was very common. My mother inherited the habit from her mother and grandmother. Nowadays, I don't know of anybody who still eats Yorkshire pudding that way.
DeleteStill watching the Today Show and it looks like Ian and Henry are going to be on during that 9:30 - 10:00. They are listed on the program, doing "Make Ahead Monday" meals.
ReplyDeleteI just saw the Bosh! segment and the boys were fantastic! They are real pros in front of the camera and they never talked over each other, and they present their food quickly, deliciously, and extremely professionally.
ReplyDeleteAnd they are cute as all get-out.
They made four dishes that all looked beautiful -- and everyone in the studio audience gets a copy of the cookbook.
In face, I am rushing to Amazon right now to get my own copy now that it's available in America.
I have photos -- where can I email them to you?
I'm at vivianswift@yahoo.com.
Please share your tips for yorkshires, mine are never as good as yours look.
ReplyDeleteBriony
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My main tip is to sell up your flat in Brighton and move to Yorkshire!
DeleteBit late for that now, probably just get there and settle in and then croak, lol
DeleteOkay then Briony - Will give you the same advice I gave to the lovely Italian lady, Maria:-
DeleteHot oven with the puddings at the top. Add a very small amount of salt to your mixture. The pudding tray hollows should have lard or vegetable oil in them and you should heat the tray up for five minutes before quickly adding the mixture and getting the tray back in the over pretty quickly.
Her family were from Manchester. Does that explain eating it as pud, Pud?
ReplyDeleteMy suspicions were accurate!
DeleteI think your mother served it in the true way. I have heard before that the Yorkshire pudding was originally served as the starter with gravy to fill people up so they wouldn't have room for meat, which people could barely afford. Now it's just part of the main meal.
ReplyDeleteMy mum used to make one big one and cut it up into about eight sections to go with the beef rather than make little ones.
DeleteI find the big ones can go a little soggy. It is easier to get light and crispy little uns.
DeleteI just saw the Bosh Boys Today Show segment online. You should be able to get it here:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.today.com/food/make-ahead-monday-3-vegan-sauces-versatile-veggie-meals-t127920
There is a video of the segment on that page you can enlarge. I don't know how long it will be available because they do change their online videos. I recorded the Today show and did not get it but it turns out they were on Megyn Kelly which is connected with the today show and comes on after it. I was so happy to find it online. They were great!
Thank you for your interest and support Bonnie. I have now seen the Bosh! segment and I also think that Ian and Henry did really well.
DeleteI love Yorkshire Pudding...always serve with the meal...didn't know that you should eat it ahead of time.....just started cooking it in the cupcake tins....used to use an iron skillet....as we love lamb so much around here, that is when I usually make the puddings. By the way, my family loves a roast chicken stuffed with a lot of parsley and lemon wedges and rubbed with olive oil and garlic.
ReplyDeleteAnother by the way, your Bosh! boys were on the American telly this morning. I have not viewed it yet as this morning was busy in the garden. And, Amazon let me know that I will get my book tomorrow when, of course, we are expecting snow.
We had pictures taken yesterday and the home should be on the market by Friday. Very sad but grateful that we had a lot of years here. If you and Shirley are going to come to the mountain, better make it quick!!
Your chicken recipe sounds very tasty. I have just noticed that you might be returning to blogging with "The Autumn of My Life". Well, you have got one devoted reader already! I have seen Henry and Ian's segment. It went pretty well and of course it was a smashing advertisement for the book.
DeleteMight is the definitive word. IF I can see better after yet another surgery on the 10th. If not, it is just too hard.
DeleteI always was told that a PROPER Yorkshire Pudding was a large one with gravy which was eaten BEFORE the meat
ReplyDeleteYour mum was right
DeleteIt was to fill you up so you ate less of the more expensive meat
ReplyDeleteThe trouble is that while you are eating your slice of Yorkshire pudding as a starter, the main meal - meat, vegetables etc. is cooling down in the kitchen.
DeleteYes, YP, my mum is from just outside Bradford, and on Sundays we always had a large Yorkshire pudding with gravy divided between the four of us as a starter before the Sunday roast. I was amazed (and aghast) when I first encountered the miniature, southern impostors!
ReplyDeleteI, too, have only made and eaten Yorkshire Pudding the way you and Shirley do, Yorkie.
ReplyDeleteThe times, in the past, I've made it in the various commercial kitchens in which I've cooked...that is how I've served it, too.