Today’s spotlight is on Yorkshire Pudding.

Yorkshire pudding is a British dish that consists of baked pudding made from a batter of eggs, flour, and milk or water. A common British side dish, it is a versatile food that can be served in numerous ways depending on its ingredients, size, and the accompanying components of the meal. As a first course, it can be served with onion gravy. For a main course, it may be served with meat and gravy, and is part of the traditional Sunday roast, but can also be filled with foods such as bangers and mash to make a meal. Sausages can be added to make toad in the hole.

Yorkshire puddings are similar to Dutch baby pancakes,[2] and to popovers, an American light roll made from an egg batter.

 

History

Yorkshire pudding originated in the 1700s. The first recorded recipe appeared in 1737 in The Whole Duty of a Woman. The recipe was called “A Dripping Pudding” because the fat from the meat roasting over a fire was used to cook the batter. It was originally cooked in northern England over a fire with the meat roasting above it. The fats and juices from the meat would drip into the pudding and provide flavor and color. Traditionally, the word “pudding” referred to homely and rustic desserts that were commonly eaten by the lower classes.

When wheat flour began to come into common use for making cakes and puddings, cooks in northern England (Yorkshire) devised a means of making use of the fat that dropped into the dripping pan to cook a batter pudding while the meat roasted.

The name “Yorkshire pudding” was first used in 1747 by Hannah Glasse in The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Simple. The name distinguished the light and crispy puddings from other batter puddings in England.

Yorkshire puddings were originally served as an appetizer with gravy. The low-cost dish filled people up so they wouldn’t eat as much expensive meat. In poorer households, the pudding may have been the only course.

Today, Yorkshire puddings are served with meat and vegetables.

 

Here are some fun facts about Yorkshire pudding:

• Yorkshire puddings are eaten all over the world.
• The first Yorkshire pudding recipe was created by Mrs. Beeton in 1866.
• The secret to a great Yorkshire pudding is to get a good sizzle when the batter hits the dripping.
• Yorkshire puddings are similar to Dutch baby pancakes and popovers.
• The world’s biggest Yorkshire pudding is as big as a small apartment.
• There used to be a Yorkshire Pudding Boat Race.

Tips to Making Yorkshire Pudding

Yorkshire puddings work on the same principle as French pâte a choux, a thin pastry used to make cream puffs, gnocchi, and gougères. Both recipes start with a high-moisture dough and rely on steam to puff and rise.

Yorkshire puddings rise because of the egg content in the mixture. The mixture needs instant heat to create steam, so the oven must be pre-heated. You should never open the oven door while they are cooking to keep the oven as hot as possible.

Here are some tips for making Yorkshire puddings:

• Make sure the oil is hot enough. It should be bubbling and sizzling when you pour the batter in.
• Rest the batter. Rested batter comes out tastier and taller.
• Fill each hole about a third or halfway up. If you fill them too much, they may collapse.
• Whisk the batter until it’s silky smooth.

 

Here is a Yorkshire pudding Recipe for you to Try:

Ingredients:

• 140g plain flour (this is about 200ml/7fl oz)
• 4 eggs (200ml/7fl oz)
• 200ml milk
• Sunflower oil, for cooking

 

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 230C/fan 210C/gas 8.
2. Drizzle a little sunflower oil evenly into two 4-hole Yorkshire pudding tins or two 12-hole non-stick muffin tins and place in the oven to heat through.
3. To make the batter, tip 140g plain flour into a bowl and beat in 4 eggs until smooth.
4. Gradually add 200ml milk and carry on beating until the mix is completely lump-free. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Pour the batter into a jug, then remove the hot tins from the oven. Carefully and evenly pour the batter into the holes.
6. Place the tins back in the oven and leave undisturbed for 20-25 mins until the puddings have puffed up and browned.
7. Serve immediately. You can now cool them and freeze for up to 1 month.
8. Enjoy!

 

Yorkshire puddings get their distinctive cup shape because the cold batter hits hot tins. The sides rise while the center is weighed down, creating the cup shape. The heat sets the bottom almost immediately, but the wet batter creates steam that pushes the batter up into irregular puffy shapes.

The batter’s temperature can also affect the shape:

• Colder batter gives a denser, more cup-shaped pudding.
• Warmer batter gives a taller, crispier pudding with a hollow core.
• Room temperature batter gives a better rise with a crispier hollow pudding.

 

Consumption

On average, people consume Yorkshire pudding 1.44 times per year. One Yorkshire pudding addict, Jake Farrar, eats around 7,300 Yorkshire puddings per year, or 20 per day.

Yorkshire puddings are eaten all over the world. In Japan, they are served with cheese, jam, or soup as “popovers”. In Germany and the Netherlands, they are made as “Dutch babies”, which are flat Yorkshire puddings with berries and sugar on top.

Celebrating Yorkshire Pudding

National Yorkshire Pudding Day is celebrated twice a year:

• The first Sunday in February in the UK
• October 13 in the US and everywhere else

The holiday honors the traditional English dish, which is a baked pudding. Yorkshire puddings are often served with roast beef.

In the UK, National Yorkshire Pudding Day has been celebrated since 2007. The dish is still a popular topic of conversation, with different recipes and methods of service.

Let us know in the comments which date you celebrate Yorkshire Pudding. Even if it’s neither of those dates!