Yorkshire puddings

[sprogs]

Will someone PLEASE, tell me how to make Yorkshire puddings properly ?
I have tried for decades to get them right but can only make Yorkshire neutronium puddings or Yorkshire wet clag.

Liz

[hatler]

It's all about the heat of the oil.

Pop the tray in the oven with the oil in (220C). Wait 10 mins. Then bring the tray out and put it over a really low gas flame to keep the oil hot and then fill the slots with the batter. Return to the oven as soon as you can. and wait 20 - 25 minutes.

Don't leave the batter standing around before you use it.

[Gattopardo]

What oil tho... I match the smoking point of the oil to the temp.

How are you making the batter?

Depending on the size of pudding you want, choose the correct fairy cake, muffin pan.

[L CC]

https://www.ocado.com/products/aunt-bessie-s-12-bake-at-home-yorkshires-67815011?

[hatler]

Olive oil and I use Delia's recipe.

https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/international/european/british/yorkshire-pudding-for-6

[Mr Larrington]

What kind of Southern Poncery is that?  Olive fookin' oil?

Lard, lad, that’s what tha needs!

 

[rafletcher]

Olive oil is way too low a smoke point. Lard is what you want to use. Failing that, rapeseed oil. But keep it HOT.

ETA x-post with Le Maire. 

[perpetual dan]

It's all about the heat of the oil.

...
Don't leave the batter standing around before you use it.

I make the batter a bit before and put it in the fridge. I’m sure that was advice I read somewhere.

[citoyen]

It's all about the heat of the oil.

...
Don't leave the batter standing around before you use it.

I make the batter a bit before and put it in the fridge. I’m sure that was advice I read somewhere.

Some people are adamant you should let the batter rest. Others are equally adamant you should use it immediately. This leads me to suspect that whether or not you let it rest probably isn't as important as some people imagine. Similarly, some people insist the batter should be at room temperature, others that it should be fridge cold...

As is so often the case, Felicity Cloake is worth reading on this:
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/feb/16/how-make-perfect-yorkshire-puddings

[Gattopardo]

https://www.ocado.com/products/aunt-bessie-s-12-bake-at-home-yorkshires-67815011?

No, they are not a patch on the homemade ones.


Well decent homemade ones.

Olive oil is way too low a smoke point. Lard is what you want to use. Failing that, rapeseed oil. But keep it HOT.

ETA x-post with Le Maire. 

I do use dripping as smoke point is higher than lard.

[pcolbeck]

The batter needs to be put outside for half an hour to get some proper Yorkshire air according to at least one person I know.

I think really its mainly the type of fat used and keeping it hot. Preheat the pudding tin with fat in until smoking then keep it hot whilst you pour the batter in.
Vegetable oil works but lard is the traditional and best fat.

And remember you eat them by themselves as a first course with gravy not with the main course!

[Peter]

Yorkshire batters/puddings might be a fair description of the Roses match, just now!

[Andy64]

Fridge cold mix with a final whisk before pouring into a hot oiled tray.
A side note: My wife and her sister alternate making Sunday dinner for each other, and have gotten into some sort of unspoken war with Yorkshire puddings. My wife currently seems to have the edge using Jamie Whassisname's recipe, nice and light and crispy. His method recommends using a spoon to catch any stray drips on the tray. I presume this helps keep an even heat on the tray, as they all seem to rise uniformly.

[Gattopardo]

Can a non yorkshire person make proper yorkshire pudding?

Can a lancastrian make yorkshire pudding and not feel ancestral pain?

I do like a crunchy outside and fluffy inside yourkshire pudding.

[citoyen]

The batter needs to be put outside for half an hour to get some proper Yorkshire air according to at least one person I know.

Priceless. Is that some kind of Yorkshire sourdough technique? 
 

I think really its mainly the type of fat used and keeping it hot. Preheat the pudding tin with fat in until smoking then keep it hot whilst you pour the batter in.

Even this seems to be a matter for debate. One source I read suggested that it's not so much the temperature of the oil or the tin that's crucial as how quickly it gets up to temperature when in the oven. So if you have a heavy cast iron tin, it will need a lot of preheating to ensure it doesn't just reduce the oven temperature when you put it in. If you have a thin aluminium tray, preheating isn't so important. This is why it is possible to make perfectly decent Yorkshire puds in silicone moulds.

And remember you eat them by themselves as a first course with gravy not with the main course!

My gran (from Pontefract) would serve Yorkshire pudding with onion gravy as a meal in itself. An 8-inch flan tin is just the right size for a large individual pud, and makes the perfect receptacle for a generous helping of gravy.

For something a bit more extravagant, when I was a student in Leeds, there was a pub in Burley-in-Wharfedale we used to go to where the lunchtime speciality was large individual Yorkshire puds with a choice of fillings. They were awesome. Can't remember what the pub was called, but it was on the main Ilkley Road (or what used to be the main road - before they built the bypass).

[Mr Larrington]

Can a non yorkshire person make proper yorkshire pudding?

Mrs Larrington (decd.) was Welsh and used to make awesome Yorkshire Pud until she got a new cooker which wouldn’t get hot enough chiz.  Probably the fault of the Unelected Bureaucrats of Brussels^TM, like they did with are vacum cleeners & and are haredryors and

[“cont. p94 of tomorrow’s Daily Express” – Ed.]

[Gattopardo]

My gran (from Pontefract) would serve Yorkshire pudding with onion gravy as a meal in itself. An 8-inch flan tin is just the right size for a large individual pud, and makes the perfect receptacle for a generous helping of gravy.

I agree with your Nans flan tin sized pud.

Why is it called a pudding tho.  As it is not the pudding part of the meal.

[Peter]

Can a non yorkshire person make proper yorkshire pudding?

Can a lancastrian make yorkshire pudding and not feel ancestral pain?

I do like a crunchy outside and fluffy inside yourkshire pudding.

Answers to 1 and 3 - definitely!  My Mam made perfect Yorkshire pudding as described in 3, above, and she was from County Durham.

I'll have to ask my wife about the ancestral pain involved in 2.  She is a Lancashire Lass and therefore makes Yorkshire pudding wrong but I eat it because she is well hard.  (Actually it is very good and I am very grateful.  You could also lag a hot water cylinder with it!)

[pcolbeck]

Why is it called a pudding tho.  As it is not the pudding part of the meal.

To confuse Americans.

Presumably though its the same root as steak and kidney pudding. An older definition of pudding than sweet last course.

[pcolbeck]

Even this seems to be a matter for debate. One source I read suggested that it's not so much the temperature of the oil or the tin that's crucial as how quickly it gets up to temperature when in the oven. So if you have a heavy cast iron tin, it will need a lot of preheating to ensure it doesn't just reduce the oven temperature when you put it in. If you have a thin aluminium tray, preheating isn't so important. This is why it is possible to make perfectly decent Yorkshire puds in silicone moulds.

What no ancestral pudding tins blackened with decades of use that are never ever ever to be washed lest they lose the magic. My sister has my mums.  Ours alas are only thirty years old.

Our village has an annual pudding competition where the entries are judged in the village pub on a Sunday morning. Points awarded for rise, colour ant texture. Should be crispy on the outside but not right through.

[nicknack]

I still use my mum's pudding tin for the individual round variety. I still use her recipe too:
1. Pour some milk into a blender.
2. Bung some plain flour in.
3. Break an egg or two into it.
4. Whizz for a bit.
5. Heat dripping in pudding tin in hot oven.
6. Pour in batter.
7. Back in oven.
8. Remove when done.
Quantities and times by experience.
Thank you mum (born and raised in Sowerby Bridge, got out in '38 to go uni (Royal Holloway), didn't go back - much to her mother's disgust).

[Peter]

Bet she didn't use a blender!

[nicknack]

Bet she didn't use a blender!

She did. I don't remember her ever being without one (and a Kenwood Chef).

[ravenbait]

I use Mr Bait's method.

In a large jug, mix two eggs with an equal weight of plain flour, using a fork, until you have a dense paste. Then add an equal weight of milk, about 3 tablespoons at a time until the mixture has loosened enough for you to be more generous, and beat well. Once it has loosened to the point where it's not forming thick clumps when more milk is added, you might wish to switch to a whisk. It should have a consistency somewhere between single and double cream.

Leave to stand for 20-30 minutes. It will be slightly thicker.

Place a scant teaspoon of oil in the base of each cavity (just enough to cover the bottom) of a 12-cavity cupcake tin. Turn the oven to 180 of your metric degrees (fan, 200 otherwise) and put the oiled tin inside. By the time the oven is hot and the oil is just smoking, your batter will be ready.

Remove the tin Pour enough batter into each cavity (it should sizzle and bubble, take care) so that they are about 3/4 to just shy of full. Return to the oven until well risen and browned to taste (I prefer mine slightly soft in the base and blonde). the timing for this will depend on your oven, so I suggest you keep an eye on it the first time and just see how long it takes to get the result you like.

Sam

[perpetual dan]

...Turn the oven to 180 of your metric degrees (fan, 200 otherwise) and put the oiled tin inside....

That’s much cooler than the recipe we have. Mine is always inconveniently hotter than what I’d be finishing a roast / spuds at.