Great British Chefs: Yorkshire Pudding Recipe

My misadventure with Mr Toad who lives in the hole made me wary of British batter puddings. After all, in France we have the lovely clafoutis announcing the delights of spring and I was quite satisfied with my version of far aux pruneaux. So, I would certainly have never tackled Yorkshire Puddings hadn't it been hadn't been asked by Great British Chefs' to look into Chef Galton Blackiston's Yorkshire pudding recipe. 

 

First impressions: This recipe is so easy to make and it doesn't have to be done in a great big tin, handy individual portions are excellent. These little puddings make a nice alternative to  rice and pasta.

James Tanner the  resident chef on Ready, Steady, Cook's chef reckons that with a bit of cream, mushrooms and guinea-fowls single Yorkshire puddings are a great dish for two.

Something else directed my attention to Yorkshire Pudding this summer and strangely enough it happened during the Olympics. One of the iconic moments pictured Nicola Adams winning an Olympic gold medal for boxing. Nicola is from Leeds. During the interviews she couldn't stop grinning and joking, it was a pleasure to watch how proud she was of her fabulous achievement which she attributed to....Yorkshire pudding.

Yorkshire Pudding should deservedly be more popular.

 

With this in mind, I took a closer look at the recipe.

The batter,

Like most batters is made with milk, flour and eggs. Some recipes advocate lighter batter where the milk is halved with water but I don't really see the point, especially now that Yorkshire puddings are not cooked underneath the roast to catch the drippings like it was done in the old days. They are not heavy as it is.

The batter needs to rest, it is quite important not to miss out that step so that the flour absorbs the liquid and in doing so improving the potential to rise.

The cooking,

The secret is the heat, lard is a fat which turns very hot and tends not to burn, the hotter the tray is, the crispier the puddings will be. So think hot hot hot and let that fat smoke, after all if the recipe really was first cooked in the mid-1700's one can't really imagine that Yorkshire folks who were cooking their meat on a spit were pussyfooting around being concerned about health and safety.

 

 

 Yorkshire Pudding

a Glaston Blackiston's recipe

40 minutes plus resting time

serves 6



Ingredients 

• 175g of strong bread flour
• salt
• 4 eggs
• 1 pinch of ground nutmeg
• 300ml of full-fat milk
• 1 dollop of lard

Method

1. Beat together the flour, salt, eggs, milk and nutmeg to form a batter. Leave to rest for at least an hour.       

 

Keeping batter: The final batter mixture can be kept in the fridge for 3-4 days if required.

      

2. Heat a non stick Yorkshire pudding tray with the fat and place in the oven at 200°C/Gas mark 6 until the fat is smoking.

       

3. Pour in the batter and cook for approx 20-25 minutes until well risen. Serve immediately as an accompaniment to a traditional roast.    

 

Disclaimer : This post is sponsored by Great British Chefs, Opinions expressed are my own.